MINOT, N.D. — It appears Joe Biden has won the election.
I'm sure you, like me, are already seeing his supporters, who have spent the last four years castigating Trump and his supporters for their often crude and belligerent behavior, rushing to rub this win in people's faces.
"I am feasting on all the Trumper tears in these comments," one of my liberal friends wrote on Facebook. "It’s the cult that never runs out of kool-aid, keep on drinking it folks."
Four years ago, it was our liberal friends who were refusing to accept the election results, choosing instead to believe in wild conspiracy theories about Russian interference.
In some of our larger cities, violent protests against Trump's victory erupted.
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Before Trump even took office, the left was calling his presidency invalid.
Just weeks into his term in office, they were already plotting his impeachment.
Now they want to judge Trump supporters, who are struggling to accept the outcome of the 2020 vote as if the last four years hadn't happened.
Sore winners are as unhelpful to the cause of governing this country with some degree of unity as sore losers are.
Biden has no mandate. He barely won when pitted against a man widely denounced as a stupid racist. Democrats widely expected a landslide against Trump, and not only did they not get it, but they also failed to retake the U.S. Senate and lost ground to Republicans in the U.S. House.
I understand Democrats want to celebrate Trump's departure from the White House -- I'm not exactly upset about it either, though I'm not looking forward to the policy agenda the Biden/Harris administration will pursue -- but that jubilance should be tempered by reality.
This is still a divided country.
Trump and Republicans still have tens of millions of supporters.
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They didn't just disappear because Biden eked out a slim victory.
Remember, my liberal friends, how it felt four years ago when it was Trump and his supporters dunking on you? Carrying on as if Republicans had an electoral mandate when Trump actually lost the popular vote?
It may feel cathartic to do the same now, but why would you want to repeat that cycle?
Enjoy your moment, but remember that there's always another election coming. Republicans are well-positioned to make up even more ground in the House and Senate in the midterms in two years.
If we want successful governance of this country, we have to learn to work together, which begins with some dignity in victory.
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Rob Port, founder of SayAnythingBlog.com, is a Forum Communications commentator. Reach him on Twitter at @robport or via email at rport@forumcomm.com .
