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After speaking at a pro-Trump town hall in Phoenix, I got up early the next morning to fly back to Los Angeles. I walked down outside my hotel to get into a private car that I had ordered from a highly recommended company.

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The shiny black SUV waited. The driver, a well-dressed woman, rushed to help me with my bag and open the door. She had an Eastern European accent. Her name was Dédé. She asked me why I was in town. I’m always wary of discussing politics, especially in the age of Trump. But I know that many legal immigrants, especially those from communist countries, are political conservatives.

“I work for a conservative Christian radio and television company and spoke at a pro-Trump event yesterday for listeners of our Phoenix radio station,” I said.

“Oh, I know who you are,” she said. “I have listened to you and seen you several times on television. That’s why I wanted to come get you.

For the next half hour, she told me about her life. She was born in Bulgaria 58 years ago – an only child, from her second marriage and “unfortunately” has no children. Her parents’ family was wealthy, but they lost everything “when the communists took power and took everything.” Her father died of a heart attack when she was 10 years old. His mother ran a government-controlled fruit stand.

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Dede always wanted to come to America. She waited 15 years before getting a visa and then a green card. She was 36 when she came to America. She came to Phoenix because her uncle lived there and took her in until she had her own apartment.

“When I first got here, I cleaned airplanes, I went to my second job, washing dishes, and I babysat for two to three hours,” she said.

“Then I got up early the next morning and did it all again. I didn’t speak English and now people say I talk too much, especially about politics. But I don’t care. This is America and we have the First Amendment. »

She maintained this schedule for three years.

“Then I started my own business and bought my first car.”

“Is this your car manufacturer?” I asked.

“Yes, I have 15 other SUVs and several drivers. And my husband and I have other investments.

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“Any other investments?” I ask.

“Real estate,” she said. “We have 27 houses. My uncle told me: “Work hard. Show up on time. Pay your taxes and don’t use a credit card. So, that’s what I did.

“And I’m a Republican. I already voted for Trump. I come from a communist country. I see where this country is going if people don’t wake up. It’s not really about Republicans versus Democrats. The problem is people who want something for nothing and expect the government to take care of them – and then complain when it doesn’t. And far too many people work for the government. Just like communism. She denounced the millions of illegal aliens “allowed in.”
I told him about my father who never knew his biological father.

“Unlike you,” I said, “he had a mother who, when he was 13, kicked him out of the room they were renting. A black boy in the Jim Crow South at the start of the Great Depression with literally nothing in his pockets. He was an only child. He became a staff sergeant in the Marines and served in World War II. When I was growing up, my dad worked two full-time jobs cleaning toilets and he cooked for a family on the weekends to make extra money because he wanted my mom to be a stay-at-home mom. He then went to night school to get a GED. He saved his money and opened a café at the age of 47, which he managed until the age of 80. When he retired, he owned the cafe and neighboring property, as well as the house I grew up in, which is still in our family.

By now we had arrived at the airport. When she got out of the car, she was crying. “Your story is my story,” she said. We kissed.

“God bless you,” I said.

“And God bless America,” she said. We kissed again.

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