The New York Post runs a “Career Coach” column every monday, wherein a couple readers’ letters are answered. This week, the column included a letter from someone who works for a recruiting firm, who noted that his boss instructed him not to refer any candidates who “worked for the Trump Administration in any capacity.” This is one of several anecdotes I’ve encountered regarding a “payback time” attitude among some in the populace regarding the Trump years. Concurrently, New York State Attorney General Letitia James is signaling an intent to go after Trump once he’s out of the White House, even if he “finagles” a Presidential pardon. This comes on the heels of past efforts to “out” and harass those who donated to Trump’s campaigns, and along with many other examples, speaks of a vindictiveness among a segment of the population that won’t be sated by Biden’s victory and ascension to the Presidency.
It’s also evident that many will demand President Biden undo as many of Trump’s actions, and of the policies of his Presidency, as possible, their objective merit notwithstanding. Governance-by-negation is high on the Left’s wish list for the upcoming years. That this may undo some good policies doesn’t seem to matter (and if you are among those who would argue that there aren’t any, I’d suggest you take a deep breath, realize that Trump will be gone in a couple weeks, and relegate your TDS to the dustbin).
All this is the result of a lesson unlearned. Trump won for a reason, and it wasn’t statesmanship, genius, or policy brilliance. Trump won because a substantial portion of the electorate got fed up with being pilloried, disparaged, subordinated, and dismissed. To engage in those selfsame behaviors – again – is petulant and arrogant, and invites another backlash from the voters.
Obama reaped the fruits of his own imperiousness in 2010, when the grandness of his 2008 victory began its long unraveling. His party lost the House that year, lost the Senate in 2014, and lost a thousand state and local seats across his eight years. Instead of heeding those messages, he not only persisted in his policy goals, he derided his political opponents and their supporters, and exacerbated Presidential executive overreach after promising to rein it in.
Biden’s Democrats risk the same backlash should they support a vindictive agenda and behavior. Already, the House is theirs by a minuscule margin, and even if they win both Georgia Senate seats tomorrow, their ability to run a leftist agenda will face substantial political headwinds. Trump’s voters (lest we forget, Trump got more votes than any President in history other Biden), whether they’re strong supporters or tepid transactionalists, are going to be motivated to rejection of the Democrats in two years, may very well cost the Dems Congress in 2022, and invite who knows who through the door come the next Presidential election.
Gerald Ford bore his party’s wrath for pardoning Nixon, but it was the right move to make. I’m not suggesting Biden do so, but it would be good for the country to “move on” (the Democrats used to love this phrase) rather than give in to their pent up rage. Going after Trump supporters, economically, personally, and publicly, may feel good and scratch an itch, but it’s a terrible idea for countless reasons, and there’ll be consequences.
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