Yes, Trump will be our president
Liberals need to get a grip and stop talking about a mass ‘resistance’ movement
American politics has always been a full contact sport, but some liberals are taking opposition to President-elect Donald Trump too far.
Keith Olbermann, formerly of ESPN and MSNBC, has made a video series for GQ entitled “The Resistance,” in which he hysterically outlines how the republic is coming to an end. He’s not alone. Progressive outlets such as Salon, Mother Jones and Rolling Stone also are promoting the idea of resistance, as are student groups on college campuses.
Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a civil-rights legend, said he would not be attending the inauguration because he did “not see the presidentelect as a legitimate president.” Rep. Mark Tankano, D-Calif., seconded Mr. Lewis’ comments, while Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., said she was going to spend Inauguration Day “preparing for resistance.” As of yesterday, 50 House Democrats are boycotting the inauguration.
Meanwhile, celebrities are dialing up the hyperbole to outrageous levels. Rosie O’Donnell recently tweeted that she favors the imposition of martial law to delay the inauguration until Mr. Trump is “cleared” of all charges. Never mind that no charges have been filed against him. Joss Whedon, writer/director of the blockbuster “Avengers” movies, managed to top them all, joking on Twitter about sexual violence against House Speaker Paul Ryan, whom he called a “#GOPmurderbro,” whatever that means.
Robust political debate is essential to our democracy. We have every right to criticize our leaders, especially the president. He is not an all-powerful king anointed by God, but a constitutional officer selected by the people. So, if the people think he’s doing a bad job, they should say so.
Nevertheless, nobody should joke about sexual violence against anybody, including public officials. The fact that such a crude joke came from Mr. Whedon — a dominant force in pop culture — is especially outrageous. If a conservative of his stature had said something like this about Nancy Pelosi, there’d be a nationwide boycott already in the works, and rightly so.
What about these claims of “illegitimacy”? Mr. Lewis is a national hero, but Mr. Trump won a free and fair election last November. Accordingly, his legitimacy has been conferred on him by the Constitution. Mr. Trump may not be worth Mr. Lewis’ respect, but our governing charter most certainly is. It establishes the framework for all the liberties that progressives say Mr. Trump now threatens.
This extravagant idea of resistance similarly disrespects the Constitution. Our Founding Fathers wisely established how bad leaders can stopped from doing bad things: through a system of checks and balances, federalism and, above all, the ballot box. If Mr. Trump turns out to be as awful as liberals fear, there will be congressional elections less than 22 months after his inauguration. This is how malevolent politicians are opposed in our country. In the meantime, we as citizens are obliged not to “resist” Mr. Trump as he fulfills his constitutional obligation to take care that the laws be faithfully executed.
The notion that cyberespionage by Russia justifies such rhetoric is fanciful. Did Russia try to influence the election? Clearly. Did it work? Well, ask yourself: How many voters do you know who were swayed by WikiLeaks? I personally know of none.
If liberals are looking to assign blame for Hillary Clinton’s defeat, maybe they should point the finger at Ms. Clinton herself. As secretary of state, she failed to ensure that sensitive emails were properly secured. As a candidate, she ignored the industrial Midwest for most of the campaign, never even setting foot in Wisconsin after the primary, and instead redirected her resources to Republican bastions such as Arizona and Georgia. Her hubris was her undoing, not the machinations of Vladimir Putin.
The liberal arrogance now on display is what drove the left from power in the first place. Instead of attacking our system of government, liberals should reckon with the fact that their voting coalition has fallen apart, especially in the Midwest.
Hillary Clinton won 300,000 fewer votes in Pennsylvania than Barack Obama did in 2008. Progressives can’t blame Mr. Putin for such a shocking collapse, and talk of “resisting” an “illegitimate” president insults the voters they need to persuade. They should tone it down, recognize that they lost fair and square, and figure out how to win again.