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Despite personal threats and a petition drive to stop him, Talladega College President Billy Hawkins stood by his decision to accept President-elect Donald Trump’s invitation for the school’s band to participate in the inauguration parade: “We feel the inauguration of a new president is not a political event but a civil ceremony celebrating the transfer of power,” he said (remember when grown-ups still had a say on college campuses?).
Hawkins, who runs the small, historically black college in Alabama founded by the descendants of slaves, said the outcry over his decision has been “pretty nasty.” He told Fox News host Bill O’Reilly that people have said “I’ve shamed the college…and I’ve had people say I’m a disgrace to my African-American race.” But in the end, he put the students’ best interest first, not the appeasement of the race-baiting, anti-Trump lunatic fringe. “We are happy they will have, as American citizens, the opportunity to march down Pennsylvania Avenue. I’m excited for the students.”
Thanks to the coverage on O’Reilly’s show, the college has raised more than $600,000 to pay for the band’s trip to the nation’s capital (O’Reilly’s foundation donated $25,000). More than 10,000 people donated on a GoFundMe page. Excess money will be used for infrastructure repairs and scholarships at the school.
This is how the Left now unifies people. The self-proclaimed arbiters of unity, based solely on meaningless platitudes about race, sex, and sexual orientation, are truly bringing people together to counteract their destructive and despicable attacks against anyone who disagrees with them. Their fist-banging, spit-flying tantrums are galvanizing people—particularly Republicans—in a way no one else could. Every time a liberal rants when Trump defends himself against the political aristocracy such as icon/hero/legend Meryl Streep or icon/hero/legend John Lewis or icon/hero/legend CNN, a deplorable gets her wings.
Republicans Unite around Trump at Last
Some new polling bears this out. Despite blaring headlines about Trump’s record-low favorability ratings, a deeper dive into the crosstabs reveals some interesting results. A CNN poll released this week shows 89 percent of Republicans hold a favorable view of Trump. Eighty percent of Republicans approve of Trump’s handling of the transition and a whopping 93 percent think Trump will do a very good or fairly good job as president.
For self-described conservatives, the numbers are just slightly lower; 78 percent of conservatives have a favorable view of the incoming president and 82 percent say he will do a very good or fairly good job as president.
The Economist/YouGov poll from January 7-10 shows more encouraging results from Republicans. Eighty-one percent of Republicans are optimistic about Trump’s presidency and 67 percent expect to be better off in four years. Fifty-eight percent have a very high opinion of Trump, and get this: a plurality, 40 percent, of both Republicans and conservatives consider Trump’s ideology “conservative.”
This is a long, long way from just four months ago, when a conservative-led “Never Trump” was well underway, prominent Republicans were defecting and even retracting Trump endorsements, and the media was gleefully writing the obituary for the Grand Old Party. The confirmation hearings for Trump’s cabinet picks are so far going well, with little more than camera-hogging preening from former Republican foes (I’m looking at you, Marco Rubio).
While some sore-loser Democrats have announced plans to boycott Trump’s swearing-in, no Republican has done so. Career national security advisors, including some top Republicans who signed harsh letters opposing Trump before the election, are now waiting by the phone to see if the incoming president will ask them to serve in his administration. Obviously, some of the credit belongs to Trump himself, but there’s no question that the Left’s hysterical reaction to basically everything is contributing to Republicans now rallying around the incoming president.
It’s Not Just the Right, Either
It’s not just the Republican establishment that raging liberals are bringing together. They’re turning off large swaths of the same “ordinary voters” they promised to relate to after November 8. Anecdotally, I see a backlash against liberals from my friends and family. The most reluctant Trump supporters, even some who voted for Hillary Clinton, are appalled and infuriated by the Left’s overreaction to every Trump move and tweet. Many Democrats I know do not support the Left’s tactics, and I’ve heard from them we need to “give Trump a chance.”
If they were smart—and that’s a big if—liberals would realize the damage they are doing, not to Trump but to themselves and their cause, and tone it down a notch. The Left’s post-election progression from shocked to sad to angry to scorched-earth would be entertaining if it didn’t come with real-life consequences, like trying to stop African-American college kids from enjoying an once-in-a-lifetime experience.
This is what the new American Left has become. While they will try to blame Trump and the Republicans, it is no one else’s fault but their own.