It is no fun to lose. And it is certainly no fun to lose an election. But, in losing, people can be gracious and try to work with the winners, or they can demonstrate hate and disdain for the side voters chose instead of theirs.
Sad to say, a great many Democrats apparently are in the latter group.
Law professor/commentator/writer Jonathan Turley has just put out an article at thehill.com on what sore losers a good many (not all, I assume)) Democrats have shown themselves to be; and, for some, how resentful they are that any side but theirs is even heard.
Here are a few key excerpts:
Democrats who campaigned on the need for “joy” and “saving democracy” are strikingly unjoyful about the results of the democratic process in 2024.
Before the election, slips like the one of President Joe Biden calling Trump supporters “garbage” were immediately denied or deflected. But once voters had given the Republicans control of both houses of Congress, the popular vote and the White House, leading Democratic figures and celebrities have dropped all pretense of civility. They are now being open about their contempt for voters, calling them “f—-ing morons” and “arrogant, ignorant” adolescents.
For years, the contempt for Trump voters has been open and obvious in much of the media. The “Let’s Go Brandon” movement captured the lunacy of the press and politicians simply denying what citizens could see, hear and experience for themselves.
When asked for answers on issues like the economy and immigration, Harris paraded an army of celebrities to tell the public how to vote — shiny objects that they thought would be enough for shallow American voters.
They were wrong. Now that the public has made its choice, leading figures are condemning the majority of voters as a mix of misogynists, self-haters and fascists.
Some have responded to the losses by retreating further into echo chambers protected from opposing views. Many dumped X in favor of BlueSky, a new social media safe space for liberals who fear being triggered by opposing views.
New York Times tech reporter Kevin Roose wrote a column last week that offered the familiar “I can breathe again” account: “After an hour or so of scrolling through Bluesky the other night, I felt something I haven’t felt on social media in a long time: free.”
It is the ultimate irony. This election shocked many on the left precisely because they were writing and commenting on each other within their hardened media and political silos. They are unlikely to improve themselves by receding further into that safe space to rave about the “f—ing morons” who make up the majority of America.
There is more. Much more. I urge you to read Mr. Turley’s entire piece. And then to reflect on that great line from the old “Pogo” comic strip: “We have met the enemy and he is us”.
I’ll end with a note to the angry Democrats cited in Professor Turley’s commentary: disagreeing with you doesn’t make the other side stupid or ignorant or worthy of disdain. Ironically, it is precisely the arrogant, self-important, self-superior people feeling this way who demonstrate these less-than-salutary qualities.
Or, put in simpler terms, the fact that some – in this case a great many – people disagree with you politically doesn’t make them “fucking morons”. It is people who consider their views the only ones of value who are far more worthy of that description.
