Emotions are running high after Donald Trump’s election victory over Hillary Clinton. Some are spiking the football, others are crumbling in a pool of tears.
[Watch Miley Cyrus ‘Accept’ Trump, Break Down in Tears]
The country needs voices of reason and unity more than ever, and sportscaster Ernie Johnson’s hopeful reflection of what’s to come is exactly what America needs today.
“I’m hopeful,” Johnson said on Thursday night on TNT’s “Inside the NBA.”
When the campaigning began to rev up, Johnson said he felt as if the country had been “dealt a bad hand,” he said.
“There were trust issues with Hillary Clinton I couldn’t get past, and there was this inflammatory rhetoric from Donald Trump, which to me was incomprehensible and indefensible,” Johnson said. “I couldn’t vote for either one.”
Johnson said he wrote in his vote for the first time in 42 years. But despite not being happy with either Clinton or Trump, he expressed optimism for the future of the country.
Ernie Johnson's thoughts on the presidential election. https://t.co/mONk8ZCcBY
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) November 11, 2016
After watching the coverage of Trump’s meeting with President Barack Obama in the White House yesterday, he became hopeful that there will be a “difference” between Trump the candidate and President Trump.
“We have to give him a chance,” Johnson said.
Johnson added that he hopes Trump is “all in” and that he’ll fix the wounds and divides of the country, but added its up to the citizens as well to accomplish such a feat.
“For me to be a part of it, I have to look in the mirror and say, ‘How am I going to be a better man? How am I going to be a better neighbor? How am I going to be a better citizen? How am I going to be a better American? How can I be a fountain and not a drain?”
Johnson ended his calming message by sharing his faith with viewers.
“I never from one election to the next who’s going to be in the Oval Office,” he said. “But, I always know who’s on the throne. And I’m on this earth because God created me, and that’s who I answer to.”
Johnson said that he’s a Christian, and said the “greatest commandment” Jesus gave him was to “love others.”
“Scripture also tells us to pray for our leaders, and that’s what I’m gonna do,” he said. “I’m gonna pray for Donald Trump. I’m gonna pray for all those people right now who feel like they’re on the outside looking in.”
“In short, I’m praying for America,” Johnson said, adding that he hopes one day Americans will look back and say, “That Donald Trump presidency – that was alright.”