I am grateful to have a president now who shows respect for law enforcement and the military. I am beyond grateful that someone besides Hillary Clinton will be appointing Supreme Court justices for the foreseeable future. I have been very pleased — and at times pleasantly surprised — by Trump’s Cabinet picks and key appointments so far; notably Judge Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court, Gen. Mattis for Secretary of Defense, Sen. Jeff Sessions for attorney general, Gov. Rick Perry for Secretary of Energy and Gov. Nikki Haley as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

There was one aspect of Trump’s supporters that I completely missed. I was humbled and chagrined to see how we as a county had been letting down a large, unrepresented segment of our fellow Americans. The people living in the Rust Belt whose jobs had left, and all of the other Americans who were suffering silently with no spokesperson, no lobbyists and no one advocating on their behalf. A year ago Peggy Noonan called them “the unprotected.” They found an advocate in Donald Trump. For his supporters, Trump may be a flawed messenger, but at least he was carrying the message, and he was the only one who was.

I am cautiously optimistic. For me, the big victory was the Supreme Court nominees being selected by someone other than Clinton. The rest is gravy. I’m still concerned by some of the same things regarding Trump’s temperament and character, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by many of his conservative appointments and actions so far.