Talkin' Politics: My reply to 'Do liberals regret being so dramatic over the 2016 elections?'
The best way I can think to answer this question, other than laugh at its silliness and not answer it, is to flip it around on you.
Do “conservatives” regret being so dramatic over the 2008 and 2012 elections?
To be fair, I know that not every American who identifies as a Republican or conservative was “so dramatic” (to use the original poster’s words) when Barack Obama was elected as the first non-white President of the United States nine years ago after defeating Arizona Senator John S. McCain III (R) and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin in the 2008 Presidential election.
Many sensible folk just accepted Obama’s win and said to themselves, “Maybe we’ll win in 2012.” They might not have been happy about the loss, but were willing to accept Mr. Obama as the duly elected President.
Others…not so much.
See the guy in the photo above? If you listen to conservative-leaning talk radio or watch TV talk shows that skew to the right, you’ll know that he’s Rush Limbaugh.
In January of 2009, only a few days into Mr. Obama’s first term, Rush, darling of the far right and a self-described enemy of Bill and Hillary Clinton, uttered this charming bon mot: “I hope he fails.”
And this guy? That charming fellow is Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky). Not long after Rush wished that Mr. Obama would fail, Mitch the Man said that he and his fellow Republicans had only one goal: to make Mr. Obama a “one-term President.”
And this handsome fellow? Why, he’s none other than Addison Graves Wilson, Sr., who is better known as “Joe” Wilson. He’s a member of the House of Representatives from South Carolina. He made his overwhelmingly Republican constituents proud when he shouted “You lie!” during President Obama’s speech at a joint session of Congress in September of 2009.
And these were the polite “dramatic” reactions by “conservatives” and Republicans to Mr. Obama’s election in 2008…and his re-election in 2012.
Now, for some of the not-so-polite “drama” created by quite a few “conservatives” and Republicans following both of those elections:
And this went on for eight years.
Without a pause.
So, in a way, the reaction that most people who did not vote for, and do not support, the current President is, unsurprisingly, a response to all of that hate from the right.
As for whether the “drama” that followed the 2016 election is justified…..
Well, I could have done without some of the less-than-peaceful things that occurred during protests after the November 8, 2016 election. I’m not pleased that some people on the anti-Trump side said or did things they should not have done.
I’m all for peaceful demonstrations and political dissent. I’m not, however, a big fan of chaotic fighting and the destruction of property.
(There is, of course, a nagging suspicion on my part that some of the violent acts and property damage may have been done by Trump supporters who want to make the “liberals” look a lot like the Weathermen and Black Panthers from the Vietnam War era. Not all, but some.)
10 months into Mr. Trump’s Administration, I am utterly convinced that the flak and protests aimed at 45 are not just “sore loserism” (as many of Mr. Trump’s supporters love to say) or “drama.”
They are a valid reaction to the most unethical, venal, unprincipled, narcissistic, and self-serving man ever elected to the Presidency of the United States.
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