OPINION:
No one likes to lose, but the sweet taste of victory makes the risk worth it. In the race to become the 45th president of the United States, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump put everything on the line, and Hillary lost. She seems to be taking it as a grown-up must, but the sting of defeat has been too much for many of the Democrats, and legions of them promise to disrupt Friday’s Inauguration Day festivities. If their mischief escalates they should learn the hard way that sportsmanship isn’t just for the diamond or the gridiron.
Magic is found mostly in storybooks, but the electricity of the moment is real when a new president takes the ancient oath on the West Front of the Capitol. Mrs. Clinton will watch from a nearby seat of honor as Mr. Trump, facing Chief Justice John Roberts, places his right hand on the Holy Bible and, at the stroke of noon, repeats the oath to faithfully execute the office of the president of the United States. The sea of faces watching will stretch from the Capitol steps to the distant Lincoln Memorial. Billions more across the globe will watch the rite on their television screens.
But for “progressives,” as the liberals prefer to be called this season, tradition is made to be broken, and dozens of congressional Democrats vow to leave their reserved seats unoccupied as a silent sneer at America’s choice. Led by civil rights icon, Rep. John Lewis, who calls Mr. Trump “an illegitimate president” (just as he called George W. Bush), Democrats have hardened disappointment into mindless resistance, mindless because their own fortunes are linked to those of the president and the rest of us, whether they like it or not.
A hundred groups are readying themselves to demonstrate their ire during the two-day inaugural. There’s speculation that thousands of dead-end Democrats intend to defy the police and other officers of law and order to block roads, erect barriers at security checkpoints, destroy public property and even invade inaugural balls with stink bombs to demonstrate their angry futility.
Rosie O’Donnell, the sometime comedienne and full-time Trump nemesis, says President Obama should cancel the inauguration and impose martial law. Only when Mr. Trump has been cleared of some imaginary “charges,” which she can’t name, should his swearing-in be allowed to proceed.
Potheads say they will hand out 4,200 free marijuana joints on the morning of the inauguration. Addicts of the weed, now legal in the District of Columbia, are urged to light up for four minutes and 20 seconds into the Trump presidency. The number 420 is code in the cannabis culture, though potheads, no surprise, can’t quite remember why.
In the age of Islamic terrorism every large public event must be protected by an abundance — even an excess — of security. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson says there’s no specific threat against the inauguration, but 28,000 security agents will be deployed across the city. Five thousand Bikers for Trump have offered their support as well. So have thousands of veterans.
Reality always disabuses wishful thinking. If the dead-end Democrats and other Trump haters allow their two-day tantrum to become a riot, America might well conclude that they deserved to lose, and ask “what’s your point?”
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