This is what happens when Democrats can’t accept the 2016 election
Citizens of the United Kingdom chose to exit the European Union in June 2016. Five months later, citizens of the United States chose Donald Trump to be their president.
Today, more than three years later, Americans and Brits are still waiting for their opponents to accept the results.
Democracy is simple, at least in theory. Voters make a selection and the losing side concedes, adjusts their message and tries harder to win the next time. But 2016 shattered that norm on both sides of the Atlantic.
British voters chose Brexit 52% to 48%. Instead of respecting that clear choice, the
government rejected the people’s will through a combination of disruption, deception and delay.
Financial elites insisted the economy would be ruined. The academy mocked the voting majority’s short-sightedness. The media called them racists, xenophobes and everything short of “deplorables.” They trotted out all the same arguments that lost them the election.
Last week, we saw what happens when elites subvert democracy. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Conservative Party won a resounding 80-seat majority for the Conservatives, the largest since the days of Margaret Thatcher. The opposing Labour Party faced its greatest defeat since 1935, losing some seats it had held for a century.
Johnson’s winning message was, “Enough. Get Brexit done.”
In other words, “accept democracy.” The parallels to America’s 2016 election are unmistakable.
From the moment Donald Trump descended the golden escalator to announce his candidacy, all the experts assured us that he wouldn’t stand a chance. I wanted any Republican but Trump, yet he bulldozed his way to the party’s nomination. I left the GOP and voted third party in the general. And Trump squeaked out a win anyway.
“Well,” I thought, “this is going to be an odd four years.” Like most, I immediately accepted the results and hoped for the best. Sure, I was out of step with my country and former party, but this is a democracy and that’s who the American people chose.
Others disagreed. Condemnations from the intelligentsia, nationwide protests and the obligatory breaking of Starbucks windows are to be expected when a Republican enters the White House.
When elected officials and the Beltway bureaucracy joined this “resistance,” it became far more disturbing. Congressional Democrats demanded impeachment even before Trump took office. The FBI lied to the FISA court to gain a surveillance warrant of a Trump confidant.
Democrats spent years pushing a bizarre conspiracy theory that Russia “stole” the election. In reality, Trump’s opponents wanted to steal the election results.
As soon as Trump made his fateful phone call to Ukraine, the resistance had a new weapon to overturn 2016. All of a sudden, Trump didn’t conspire with Moscow, but with Putin’s mortal enemy in Kyiv.
Just as they promised before the president was sworn in, the Democratic House impeached Donald Trump. Soon, the GOP Senate will dispatch their desperate effort and keep him in office. Just as every sane voice predicted.
But the damage remains. As in the U.K., the US has witnessed a three-year temper tantrum over results that the losers didn’t like. Leaders in both nations could have spent their time improving the lives of their citizens; instead, they tried to block the people’s will.
A wiser opposition would have tweaked their messaging so they could win the next big election fair and square. Instead, they insulted the swing voters they needed to broaden their already large coalitions.
Impeachment has been a vast waste of energy, resources and time. Trump still polls about where he’s always been, even ticking up in recent weeks.
If Brexit presaged Trump’s victory in 2016, Boris’ huge victory is a bad omen for Democrats in 2020.
If Brexit presaged Trump’s victory in 2016, Boris’ huge victory is a bad omen for Democrats in 2020.