The real threat to American democracy
Protests on the Left promise to damage the Republic as we know it.
Politicians and journalists, since Trump’s rise in the Republican primary, have long-warned the American public that his election would threaten American democracy. Many of these critics came from the Left, although voices on the Right, led by Mitt Romney and Lindsey Graham, similarly expressed their collective concern on the national damage of a Trump presidency. Several months later, however, Trump has won the Presidency and a new threat to American democracy has arisen.
Almost immediately after Trump’s stunning victory on Election night, anti-Trump protests sprung up, protesting the President-elect’s fully legitimate victory. The protests are in cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, where Hillary Clinton maintained overwhelming overwhelming support, and with the exception of Pennsylvania, in states the former Secretary of State carried.
Many protests have been peaceful, while others have turned violent, with protestors lighting cars on fire, looting local businesses and rhetorically attacking the President-elect and his family. One protester interviewed on CNN told a reporter that “Clinton supporters will fight back. People will die.”
Protesters have begun using the hashtag “#notmypresident” in order to demonstrate that the President-elect fails to and will not ever represent them. Even more troubling, however, are reports that protesters have been paid by the notorious billionaire Democrat donor George Soros and famous liberal film director Michael Moore.
You may be thinking that thousands of Americans exercising their First Amendment rights would be a positive for democracy, rather than a threat. The issue, however, is that these protests, while resolutely protected by the First Amendment, promise to set a dangerous precedent for future elections and transfer of Presidential power.
This precedent is that it is somehow acceptable to riot in the streets if your chosen candidate legitimately loses. Many anti-Trump protesters say the they are protesting his past comments aimed at illegal immigrants, rather than his electoral victory. There is no doubt, however, that many protesters are merely angry that their candidate of choice lost a free and fair election. These protestors have ignored Hillary Clinton’s own words of unification and reconciliation with the, instead falling victim to the rhetoric of agitating politicians and media pundits.
If rich Democrats, such as Soros and Moore, are indeed hiring professional protesters to take to the streets against Donald Trump, the protests demonstrate even more of a threat to the republic. These rich donors, in using public discontent and polarization to delegitimize the President elect, are directly threatening the functionality of our government. This behavior has the potential to set a trend in American politics — one in which donors take advantage of public discontent to push their own agenda.
Legitimacy is a the cornerstone of free states worldwide. It is, therefore, incumbent upon every citizen, no matter who you voted for, to accept the results of the election and rally behind the victor for the good of the nation. Contemporary anti-Trump protests unquestionably are delegitimizing the President-elect, thereby threatening his mandate to govern. This attempt at delegitimization has the potential to resurface in future elections, potentially damaging the stability of American governance and Presidential transfer of power.
