For many people, the peace and joy of Christmas morning was interrupted by a terrorist bombing in Nashville. The perpetrator died in the bombing, and authorities still do not know his motive.

But what I want to bring to your attention is what happened when six Nashville police officers arrived on the scene just before the explosion.

They heard an ominous recording coming from a recreational vehicle warning that it would explode in 15 minutes. They had no idea how long that recording had been playing, but they quickly split up and went door to door telling people to evacuate immediately.

Officer James Wells said that just moments before the blast he heard God’s voice telling him to turn around and go in the oppose direction. He quickly reversed course right before the explosion. Officer Wells is convinced he would have died had he not turned around.

The officers were a cross-section of America, but they all had several things in common. They were courageous. They understood the requirement of their job — to run toward danger, not away from it. As a result of their heroics, many lives were saved.

When a police officer violates his oath or engages in bad behavior, we are shown that bad behavior over and over again. The media harps on it and holds it up not only as a failure of law enforcement but as a failure of America.

But what these six police officers did on Christmas morning is far more representative of what 99% of police officers do every day.

Yet, these are the people the left wants to defund. These are the men and women accused of “systemic racism.” These are the people some parents feel they must warn their children about. These are the brave young men and women who are abandoning their jobs in some progressive cities where they are denigrated on a daily basis.

As terrible as the event was, no lives were lost other than the bomber’s. Maybe God wasn’t just whispering to that officer to go in the other direction. Maybe God was whispering to America to go in another direction — to stop trashing faith and law enforcement officers.

The Future

Whatever happens between now and Inauguration Day, we shouldn’t be morose. Donald Trump has shown the Republican Party the way forward to be the governing party of the United States. Even Democrats see it and are worried about it.

Trump has built an increasingly multi-racial coalition of working-class Americans. They share his opposition to open borders and cheap labor. They oppose international trade deals that send their jobs to communist China in exchange for cheap goods we don’t need.

A recent Washington Post article warns that liberal gains made in the suburbs were most likely visceral reactions to the president’s style and that much of the Democrat agenda is unpopular with suburbanite voters. As one Democrat operative put it, “We are leasing that support. We don’t own it.”

I would add that the left not only does not own those votes, I don’t believe it leased them either. Many appear to have been manufactured.

Of course, this progress of more minorities voting Republican could be undone. If we don’t fight back against the left’s cheating, it will do more of it. Trump is right to keep fighting. But the Republican Party must fight back as well.

The GOP controls the governorships and legislatures in many states. Republican officials at the state level must advance serious voter reforms and election integrity safeguards.

The party establishment must also resist the temptation to return to corporatism, in which they appeased the Chamber of Commerce by allowing millions of legal and illegal immigrants, often with few if any skills, to pour into the country. We must continue to expose corruption in Washington.

The traditional Republican message of smaller government, lower taxes, and a strong foreign policy is still valid, but it’s not enough. It must be aligned with the growing populist mood that also puts American workers and their traditional values first.

By the way, most Republicans agree with this analysis. A new poll finds that 72% of Republicans see Trump as the model for the party going forward, compared to just 24% who prefer “the average Republican in Congress.”

Pence Is a Team Player

I’m sure many of you are familiar with attorney L. Lin Wood. He has managed some high-profile cases, but he appears to be going off the rails with increasingly regularity.

The most recent example is a series of attacks over the weekend against Vice President Mike Pence. I’m not going to dignify his attacks by repeating them. But for those of you who may have seen them, I want to assure you that the vice president is a loyal partner of President Trump.

They have different styles, but they have been on the same page on every issue over the last four years. I believe Trump would have had a very difficult time winning election four years ago without sending such a strong message to faith-based voters by selecting Mike Pence as his running mate.

L. Lin Wood should save his fire for the political leftists who want to fundamentally transform America into a failed state instead of savaging everybody who is part of this coalition, including good men like Mike Pence.