Every Republican remembers that memorable day in April of 2008 when President Obama infamously said the following at a San Francisco fundraiser to his champagne socialist donors:
“It’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
Obama, almost nine years ago, had to explain why folks chose to stick to their traditional roots rather than embrace the progressive revolution. And he did so by explaining that they were racists and rubes, too foolish and stuck in their ways to see the light.
As a way to explain why some folks wouldn’t vote for him, Obama insulted millions of Americans.
He explained that when the jobs left Pennsylvania and other blue collar manufacturing states, it made folks xenophobic.
However, after the election of President Donald J. Trump, Republicans can hardly be labeled ‘bitter clingers’ as they once were. It turns out, the real ‘bitter clingers are folks like President Obama, who blame Trump’s victory on Russia, bigotry, and fake news. The real ‘bitter clingers’ are folks like Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) who call Trump an ‘illegitimate president’. The real ‘bitter clingers’ are those who attended the Deploraball, Inauguration, and Women’s March to assault Trump supporters.
The real ‘bitter clingers’ are the democrats who refused to attend the Inauguration. The real ‘bitter clingers’ are the progressives who continue to double down on identity politics. The real ‘bitter clingers’ are the media hacks who report what Kellyanne Conway would call ‘alternative facts’, refusing to learn their lesson from the last election cycle.
President Trump was duly elected in a free and fair system. He is my president, and if you live in America, he is your President, too.
Instead of gearing up for a policy fight, however, many on the Left are doubling down on the same divisive strategy that cost them the 2016 election. By dividing Americans along the lines of race, gender, and victimhood status generally, they accomplish nothing more than virtue signaling to prospective 2020 voters.
If the Left continues on their current path of demonization and disrespect, they will only end up alienating more and more voters. This hysteria and lack of decency is truly paving the way for a Republican landslide in 2018 and a second term for Trump in 2020.
You don’t have to like Trump. You don’t have to support his policies. You can fight his policy and Supreme Court nominee tooth and nail. Republicans would do the same were Hillary Clinton elected.
It’s not dishonorable to stand for your beliefs, regardless of where you are on the political spectrum. What is dishonorable is deceiving Americans just to earn votes. Honesty certainly has disappeared in American politics, but we can bring it back. It’s incumbent on Republicans as well as Democrats to speak the truth and hold our politicians and media to the same standard.
What is not acceptable, however, is fighting the election results and the constitutional authority of the office of the President. Those who do so are bitter folks, clinging not to guns or religion, but to big government and victimhood.
