Since Election Day, Donald Trump has tweeted 10 times about recounts, about the popular vote at least four times, and voter fraud five times.
He has mocked the New York Times as “failing” or “losing thousands of subscribers,” unloaded on Vanity Fair for having “no talent” and “really poor numbers.”
He still keeps talking about Evan McMullin, a no-hope conservative presidential candidate, has blasted the cast of “Hamilton,” and lambasted “Saturday Night Live” as “biased” and unfunny.
Trump is a proud counterpuncher, as he showed in crushing 16 Republicans and Hillary Clinton to the White House. And now, as of Tuesday, he has finally won. The Electoral College cast its votes, and Trump carried the day.
Everyone else lost — the haters, losers, protesters, NeverTrumpers, McMullin and Crooked Hillary. It’s time for all of them, and for Trump himself, to move on. He needs to act more presidentially and they need to accept him as president.
President George W. Bush was a good role model in this regard. He took endless unfair abuse from CNN, the New York Times and others, but he never punched back, because he recognized that when you’re president, punching back means punching down. The presidency is bigger than the critics. Its occupant needs to behave that way.
President Obama mostly followed this rule, too. But when he didn’t — as when he criticized two Cambridge cops responding to a break-in call — he regretted it, as he should have.
Just as it is now time for Trump to stop grinding old axes, so too is it time for his critics to change their tune. Some seem unable to let go. They ordered recounts in states with five-figure margins of victory for Trump, sometimes alleged cheating. They lobbied electors to vote against how their state voted. They marched, walked out of class and declared Trump to be not their president. We don’t yet have data on how many liberals followed through on their promise to flee to Canada — regrettably few, we suspect.
But it’s all over now. Some will continue to preen themselves with the #NotMyPresident hashtag on their Twitter bios or Facebook pictures, but serious, less self-regarding people should now move on to the acceptance of reality.
Some, inevitably including New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, are still tweeting about the “illegitimacy” of Trump. Krugman suggests the 45th president might bring a terrorist attack on the U.S., as though there were no terrorist attacks during the 42nd, 43rd and 44th presidencies, too. Democrats in the House and Senate might seek a cheap thrill by protesting the Electoral College’s vote when it’s presented before Congress next month. Finally, some of Trump’s conservative opponents may still wear the “Never Trump” mantel. But Never Trump was a legitimate stance only until Trump won. Now, shopworn and silly.
In four years time, conservatives may decide to primary Trump, or sit out the general election. That’s up to them. But if their opposition to Trump is motivated by genuine concern for the good of the country rather than by a desire to parade their distaste, they should avoid squandering their credibility and accept the facts as they stand.
Trump is going to be president — everyone’s president — whether they like it or not. You can’t make a strong case when you try to build it on evident falsehood. Trump won. The country chose him. Only fools actually fail to believe it. Trump’s detractors need to accept that and figure out what to do next. So does Trump.
