Well before November 8, 2016, many of us on the conservative side were critical of then-candidate Trump. Not much has changed.

While some continue clinging to the #NeverTrump moniker, others such as myself have semi-retired the term. It’s been left simmering on the back burner, and easily accessible should it be necessary to use again.

We understand that just because a politician has an (R) next to their name, or beat a Clinton in a divisive presidential election, doesn’t mean they should automatically receive our full-throated support. Instead, they should be praised for upholding the Constitution and conservative values, but loudly called out when the opposite occurs.

The past week has been a communications nightmare for the White House. More than once, President Trump attempted to address the tragedy that occurred in Charlottesville on August 12. After going with more specificity the second time around, Trump should have stopped there. Instead, he spoke up during an infrastructure press conference and talked about “very fine people on both sides” among other things, getting agitated at the press while doing so.

Whether anyone says it out loud or not, the feeling is that President Trump should do something to heal the racial divide within our country.

Should he even attempt such a feat, he – like his predecessor, Barack Obama – will fail. 

Has the president been too silent when it comes to those alt-right supporters who slobber over him and also love white supremacy? Yes. Has he failed to address racial issues in a timely and/or specific manner at times? No doubt. But he will never, ever be able to heal that chasm because it did not begin with him.

Racial division within our country started long before President Trump even considered running for office, and will remain long after his presidency is divided and chaptered into the history books. Racial division exists because people are wicked and sin is real. Contrary to what The Resistance and p***y hat wearers insist upon, Trump is not the reason for this division. And because he is not the cause, he is also not the one who can provide the cure.

Unfortunately, this truth is lost on too many people, including the 45th president of the United States himself.

Our great country has been divided for decades. Sometimes you need protest in order to heal, & we will heal, & be stronger than ever before!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 19, 2017

Yes, please protest and march, but do it peacefully. Be vocal about true injustice when you see it. Loudly proclaim that all lives are precious. Ridicule the tiki torch-carrying, basement-dwelling, Neo-Nazi thugs who believe skin color determines worth.

But do not expect this president or any president to be the salve which soothes a wounded nation’s soul.

While we’re on the subject, why was there no uproar over Confederate statues and monuments when President Obama inhabited the Oval Office? The answer is simple: too many rested in a false sense of victory. “A black man is president, so racism is no more!”

Now that another privileged white man is president, those who rested comfortably (for the most part) during the eight Obama years are troubled yet again. This is because they put so much stock in the ability of one person to remove a centuries-old stain.

It was never going to happen. It never will happen.

There is more than enough reason to hold President Trump accountable for what he has or hasn’t done these last seven months. The same can be said for what he does as we go forward.

But do not look to him to soothe much of anything as it relates to racial division because he will be unable to do it. If that’s something you’re struggling with, it says more about your misunderstanding of societal wickedness than it does the inabilities of an often dangerously incompetent man.