Left inconsolable after election loss

OPINION:

First the Never Trumpers, now the Never Ever Trumpers. Once Donald Trump became the Republican Party’s nominee for president last July, the Never Trumpers vowed they would not vote for him, and some say they actually stuck to their pledge. The Never Ever Trumpers are horses of a different color. Following Mr. Trump’s thumping of Hillary Clinton to become the president-elect, some on the nutcake left are urging somebody — anybody — to actually kill the Donald. Free speech has its limits, and threatening the people’s choice with bodily harm goes well beyond it.

A stream of angry rhetoric from Trump haters has been scorching cyberspace since Election Day. Thousands of messages have been dispatched to an #AssassinateTrump hashtag. The refusal of Twitter to ban the incendiary address belies the social media site’s abusive behavior rules, which include: “You may not make threats of violence or promote violence, including threatening or promoting terrorism.”

Violent language has triggered “not my president” protests in cities across the nation, including San Francisco, New York, Dallas and Miami. In Portland, Oregon, demonstrations have burst into a riot with the smashing of store windows and attacks on police attempting to keep the peace. Students have walked out of classes at high schools and colleges to express their anger with, if not their grasp of, how America chooses the president.

Peaceful protest is a great American tradition. Popping off about taking out the president or even the president-elect is not. It can earn an offender five years in prison and a fine of $250,000. Examining the volume of hateful messages disgorged across social media is keeping the Secret Service working overtime, but only those with vows to personally harm Mr. Trump are prosecutable. To be sure, there are always low-information Americans — even at universities where the really deplorable supposedly never dwell — who don’t realize the seriousness of their offense. The Secret Service takes the threats very seriously.

For hardcore lefties, politics isn’t war by other means — it’s just war. “If we don’t fight, who is going to fight for us? ” asks Lily, a Hispanic protester in Los Angeles. We can’t just do rallies, we have to fight back. There will be casualties on both sides. There will be [casualties] because people have to die to make a change in this world.” Very noble-sounding — except the “enemy” is largely a figment of imagination on the part of the hopelessly naive. The only people being beaten in the streets are Trump supporters. America has already had one Civil War, and it wasn’t something to be brought back by popular demand.

The sad fact is that a generation of Americans have been indoctrinated to believe that the United States is not the solution to what ails the world, but the cause. Mr. Trump’s rough campaign language about halting the free flow of illegals into the country in order to “make America great again” might have the ring of xenophobia to the ear of the counterculturists, but upholding the law to protect lives and property is the American way.

The turmoil in the streets might be just beginning if the haters continue their effort to reshape an exceptional nation to match an anti-exceptional world. An aspirin and a nice lie-down might settle the emotions of the Never Ever Trumpers as they wake up to the realization that they’re not be on the right side of history, after all.