Their quest for power has become the lust for blood. They see demons in every shadow, monsters in every closet. Children, they deem witches; the aged, sympathizers; common men they accuse of wicked motives and heinous crimes. They have come to believe their own hyperbole. They impugn guilt to the innocent, and damnation to the guilty. They are the New Inquisition. They tilt at windmills, and we have become their mortal enemy. They fight an imaginary war, but with very real weapons; and so we are all in jeopardy.

There is always a degree of animosity in any election, as there is in any contest (go to a sporting event in Boston if you don’t believe me!). This election cycle though, that animosity was beyond the pale, and was the culmination of 4 years of simmering rage, failed strategies, and an in-your-face style of a man who did not behave like a politician. Added to this was the daily reporting of just how truly “horrible” this man was, and without any redeeming characteristics or positive accomplishments whatsoever; and how despite this, so many people seemed to support him; the Nobel Prize nominations, the massive rallies, the social media, the Trump election signs. The contest became more than an election, it became Judgement Day for Trump. Like over the top sports fans, not just desiring to win the game, but cheering for an injury to the opponents’ star player, it was not enough to simply win an election, Trump needed to be humiliated, punished, and cancelled. Republican Presidents have always been ridiculed and despised by the left, always with hyperbolic rants about fascism, stupidity, and Hitler analogies… they really need some new material. In my lifetime, though, I’ve not seen this level of hatred against any President, where criticism was without pause, ridicule was without decency, and assassination was regularly suggested and even cheered. It was hatred unfiltered, and that without civility or the moderation of polite society. So overwhelming was the hatred, that it extended beyond Trump, to his wife, his children (even Baron), political supporters, companies whose owners spoke well of him, and yes, even the simple men and women who were pleased with his policies, economy, and initiatives. They have become the mean girls in school, “If you like her, you can’t sit at our table!”. One might have thought with the apparent success of the election, that this hatred might have been assuaged, but alas, hatred is like cancer; and no cancer ever says “It is enough.” It metastasizes and attacks the entire body. Lists are being compiled, sympathizers must be held accountable, Trump voters must be re-educated and absorbed, resistance is futile.

Insults to Trump supporters continue from all quarters of the left. Much has been said about how unseemly it is to be a sore loser, but might I contend, even more unseemly is the sore winner. Those who cannot win with grace, those who cannot sheath their weapons once the war is done, only prove that their victory was unmerited. It is a conundrum to me, and I speak concerning the normal folks I know, the losers seem content and hopeful, and the winners still seem angry. In the words of one of my most faithful readers,

“As Christians we should be acquainted with the poorly understood truth that what looks like defeat can be the prelude to victory. The disciples were stronger after the crucifixion than before it. May we learn greater patience and perseverance from recent events, and may they serve to strengthen us.”

This is maddening to the haters. As we shrug our shoulders at the election, return to our families, our faith, and our jobs, they derive no satisfaction from our apparent refusal to lose our minds, to lose our heart, to lose our peace, to lose our faith. If hatred knows no satisfaction even in victory, faith and hope know only contentment, even in defeat.

To my friends on the left, and yes, to a few on the right, guard your friendships, guard your relationships, and guard your souls. Political leaders are fair game, they participate in a violent sport, and can usually recognize it as sport, as Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have in their reconciliation, or as Trump and Cruz did in theirs. But believe not every voice that steers you toward hatred, rather search things out for yourselves. No longer do we have arbiters of the truth. The mainstream media and social platforms have chosen a side, but so have the alternate media. If you must be angry, then be angry… but be focused, and for God’s sake be informed. Forgive liberally, and be quick to walk away from your anger, do not become addicted to it. People can be wrong without being evil. Those who see demons in shadows have never seen actual demons. Those who think there are monsters everywhere, have not known monsters. They who cast children as villains and citizens as devils have not experienced the presence of evil. Darkness and hatred filter down from above, but goodness and decency, civility and kindness, will not be found in some royal figure from Camelot. These things come from the bottom up, these things are found in the hearts of the humble and the small. Thus, we ultimately are less concerned with who sits in the oval office, than the conditions of the hearts of our family, our friends, and our neighbors. In this we do have a concern. The violence and level of hatred we see in our youth is indeed disturbing, because they represent the future. The fact that it is being demonstrated both on the streets of our inner-cities, and on the grounds of our college campuses as well, points the finger not only at the disintegration of the family structure, but at the hollowness of the structure even where it remains intact. But if some have failed to convey to their children the Spirit of America, others have clearly succeeded, and nothing is more pleasing to an aging soul than to see the young stepping up to the eternal challenge, and that there is hope for America in the courage and valor of a remnant of our youth.

I leave you with the words of the most hated modern day President, that is, before Trump, Ronald Reagan. Upon his primary defeat to Gerald Ford in 1976 he wrote this to a supporter:

“Going on with what God has given us, confident there is a destiny, somehow seems to bring a reward we wouldn’t exchange for any other.”