Former Dallas County sheriff candidate Kirk Launius weighed in on the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
Referring to the miraculous slight tilt of the presidential contender’s head at the last moment that saved his life, Launius made a Biblical allusion to Psalms 118:24, “It is a very good day that the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”
“THESE [emphasis in original] are the times that try men’s souls,” Launius texted The Dallas Express.
Blending gospel and patriotism in a style echoing The American Jeremiad, he turned his thoughts to the event’s meaning for the country.
“The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph,” he wrote.
Continuing this train of thought, Launius closed his words on a note about freedom:
“What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods, and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM [emphasis in original] should not be highly rated.”
Launius is a former law enforcement officer who won the Republican nomination for Dallas County sheriff in 2016. Lupe Valdez defeated him in the general election. The pair also faced off in 2012 with the same result. Nevertheless, Launius has continued to be engaged in Dallas area politics, and in 2019, he founded The Launius Companies, a firm that helps consumers buy life insurance policies.