President-elect Donald Trump could not be satisfied with just interjecting his personal perspective into America’s foreign policy, insulting China and tweeting it out to the world before he is inaugurated.  Instead, he is also keeping busy by running around the country insulting everyone who did not vote for him.  For some incomprehensible reason while taking his victory laps – or what he refers to as a ‘thank you tour’, he decided to thank African Americans for not coming out to vote.  There is something strange about this President-elect that causes him to find rubbing salt into open wounds irresistible.

He seems to relish this kind of thing and wrap himself in it like a soft, warm blanket as one might when they are showered with compliments and do not want to appear self-centered by responding with vociferous acknowledgement and self-serving smiles.  He does this even though he knows that he is playing with fire and if burned, it could completely ruin what little opportunity he has to honor his claim that he will be president to all of the people.  It could ruin his presidency; that is, if it can become any more ruined than it already is.  Most African Americans will remember that he thanked them for not coming out to vote; I know that I will.  His comment was totally unnecessary and unbecoming of someone who will soon hold the esteemed position of President of the United States of America.

Republican lawmakers up to the highest level continue to bless the President-elect’s behavior.  Republicans in the Senate and the House have refused to cooperate in any way with President Obama for the past eight years and instead have opted for gridlock in an effort to ruin his legacy rather than to conduct the nation’s business.  Republican controlled legislatures around the country have taken their cue from these leaders and, as a result of the behavior exhibited toward the president, felt free to implement unnecessary and harsh voter ID laws that either obstruct or block legitimate voters from voting.  The power grab that occurred in North Carolina after the 2016 election of a Democrat Governor is a good example of how far out of control Republicans have already become.  If Republicans continue to demur and allow President-elect Trump’s behavior to go unchallenged, things are sure to get worse.

I was watching the All In With Chris Hayes show the other day and Chris Hayes challenged Dahlia Lithwick (a contributing editor at Newsweek and senior editor at Slate) and, by way of his demeanor, ridiculed her when she said that Democrats needed to use the same kind of tactics that Republicans use against them to fight back.  In essence he said; doesn’t someone in the room need to be the adult and respect the rules and norms of governance?  I believe that the answer to his question is yes but I do not believe that that ‘someone’ always has to be a Democrat. Republicans and Democrats have to play by the same rules if the Democrats are going to ever be able to stand their ground let alone win.  Republicans behave the way that they do because they are accustomed to getting away with it!  As Ms. Lithwick stated; when Republicans win, they act like they have won and when Republicans lose, they act like they have won.  She went on to say that when Democrats win, they act like they have lost and when Democrats lose, they act like they have lost.

Powerful people, at some point, will always wield their power.  Politicians, big business and rich people do it to less powerful people every day.  Power seems to only understand and compromise with or acquiesce to power.  Mr. Hayes’ implication that if Democrats acted in the same manner as did Republicans that everything would just come to a grinding halt is an incorrect assumption.  Democrats have tried playing nice for at least the last eight years yet – whenever things have not gone the Republicans’ way, things have come to a grinding halt.  If both sides wield their power, common ground is more likely to be found.  Republicans have bullied Democrats for so long because Democrats have always acted like the ‘little people’; the people without power.  Powerful people are accustomed to bullying people without power.  Having said that , come January 2017, Democrats will be all but without power so my argument in support of Ms. Lithwick will likely be meaningless for a long time; at least, until Democrats can regain some vestige of real power.

During all of these years while Democrats have taken it upon themselves to be the adults in the room, Republicans have viewed this as a weakness and capitalized on it by making the Democratic Party their lackey.  They are doing that now by not standing up to President-elect Trump even though they are well aware that he is doing great damage to America and our image around the world.  Unfortunately at this point, Democrats can do very little about it.  President-elect Trump smacked down the Republican Party establishment and the Republican Party itself while during the whole time thumbing his nose at them.  Next – under highly questionable circumstances, he smacked down the Democratic Party nominee while during the whole time thumbing his nose at our democracy and all of our lawmakers including its executive branch.  Now, he intends to smack down all of the American people who did not vote for him while during the whole time thumbing his nose at us.

We the American people are not powerless.  Each of us has a vote and we should ban together and use the collective power of those votes.  We should use that power to show President-elect Trump and all of those politicians – Democrat, Republican or Independent – that we will hold them accountable if they choose to continue to demur and allow the President-elect to make a mockery of our system of governance.  And if they ignore us, we should unleash the collective power of our votes in the 2018 elections and beyond until they show us that they hear us.  We should show President-elect Trump that in America we have a government that is a ‘Government of the people, by the people, [and]for the people.’  It is not a government of the people, by Donald J. Trump and for the people.  We must not allow the President-elect to smack us down while during the whole time thumbing his nose at us.  We must not allow him to put the final piece of his puzzle into place and achieve his ultimate goal to make our country Trump’s America.

Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line