Let the fun begin …

The last time the Democrats had control of the Senate they passed ObamaCare without a single Republican vote. They also used a parliamentary trick to enact the “nuclear option” so they could push through appointments to Federal courts with a simple majority vote. 

When the Republicans then regained control of the Senate, Democrats were quick to demand that Republicans needed to reach across the aisle to Democrats. This from the same people who never even considered what Republicans wanted when Democrats held the Senate.  And lest we forget, these were the same Democrats who gleefully declared every proposal from the Republican House DOA when Democrats controlled the Senate.    

Then when faced with a Republican-controlled House and Senate, Obama didn’t even bother trying to “reach across the aisle.”  Instead, he used a series of Executive Orders to enact new regulations bypassing Congress entirely on a variety of issues.

Some legal scholars warned that Obama and the Democrats were setting dangerous – and often Constitutionally questionable – precedents they might one day regret.

That day has arrived. 

I guess they never expected Republicans to win control of the House, Senate and White House at the same time ever again. It simply wasn’t possible. 

The Republican Party establishment was equally delusional. Despite their best efforts, the ultimate Republican nominee – against their wishes – won the White House. 

Party poohbahs and traditional donors had put their money and resources on the type of candidates they traditionally field.  When these were crushed one-by-one in the primaries they joined together to mount a fierce battle to defeat the one candidate they all hated – Donald Trump. Mitt Romney even did commercials telling Republicans not to vote for Trump.   

John Kasich, who I voted for in the primaries, refused to go to the Republican Convention, even though it was in Ohio where he was the governor. The Bush family also refused to go, as did Mitt Romney, John McCain and a host of other Republican “leaders.”  Most of the Republican contenders who during the debates pledged to support whoever the Republican nominee was broke their pledges, with some going on record as opposing Trump up until the election. 

Trump won anyway.

Trump destroyed two political dynasties – the Bushes and the Clintons – as well as the Republican and Democrat Parties, and gravely wounded the mainstream media that night. 

Trump won. They lost. Elections have consequences.   

That’s why I find it fascinating that the losers think they are somehow entitled to have a say in what Trump does now.

Democrats are telling Republicans and Trump they have an obligation to support the nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court.  At the same time they are telling Trump they intend to block the nominations of just about anyone he suggests.

Democrats are also demanding he pledge to the American people he won’t fulfill many of his campaign promises. They want him to publicly pledge not to overturn Obama’s Executive Orders.  They want him to renounce building a wall on our southern border, pulling Federal funding from sanctuary cities, and opposing the climate change treaty, among other things. 

Disgruntled supporters of Hillary or Bernie are rioting in the streets, vandalizing property, looting and attacking police as well as bystanders, which many celebrities and Democrats are urging on. 

But Pelosi and other Democrats are calling on Trump to tell his supporters to stop harassing Muslims, blacks, Hispanics, the LGBTQ community, and others – of which there’s scant evidence his supporters are involved.  If anything, it appears that most of the reported incidents of harassment by “Trump supporters” have been manufactured by those opposed to Trump; in contrast, virtually all the violence and mayhem after the election is from Trump-haters. 

The hypocrisy doesn’t stop there.      

Lindsey Graham and other Republicans who demonized Trump right up until election day – even some who publicly stated that they would either not vote, or would vote for Hillary – are telling Trump who he should appoint to his cabinet and who they want to see in key positions in his administration. Some of these people are putting forth Ted Cruz – a never-Trump guy almost up to the very end – for the Supreme Court vacancy.

In a way, all this is sad.  In another way it’s downright silly.

It seems everyone wants to force Trump into their expectation of a traditional politician. They want him to forgive and forget and become one of them. They seem intent on browbeating him into submission – which, by now, they should realize isn’t that likely.

All they have to do is review the recent election.  

Democrats need to take a hard look at what they and Obama have done, the precedents they’ve set, over the past seven and a half years.  Establishment Republicans need to take an equally hard look at why a flawed outsider, with no political experience at all and little actual campaign spending, was able to defeat their hand-picked candidates.   

I don’t know exactly what Trump is going to do. I doubt he does either. 

But it’s going to be fun to watch.

He won. They lost. Elections have consequences.