Dear Democrats: Your political party, as a whole, is acting juvenile right now. I am sure that there are still some adults among your members, but they are being overshadowed by the rest of your party. Indeed, some of the juvenile behavior is coming from Democratic Party leaders.

From The Hill: “Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) announced from the House floor on Friday that he plans to boycott President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration next week. The co-chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus is the fifth House Democrat to publicly vow not to attend the inauguration on Jan. 20.”

From USA Today: “In an unusual act, several Democratic members of Congress will skip next week’s inauguration of Donald Trump as an act of protest. Among them is Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., who told moderator Chuck Todd of NBC’s Meet the Press in an interview set to air on Sunday that he does not see Trump as a “legitimate president.””

Back when Barack Obama won the 2008 presidential election, plenty of Republican congressmen were disappointed, but did any of them boycott Obama’s first inauguration?

Sure, some people on the political Right tried to delegitimize Obama’s presidency, but those people are on the fringes of the political Right. In contrast, the people trying to delegitimize Trump’s presidency are in the mainstream of the political Left.

Such juvenile behavior isn’t helping the Democratic Party to rebuild its brand. As law professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds writes, “Of course, lashing out doesn’t exactly bring people around. A lot of people who cast their votes for Trump reluctantly are likely to conclude that they did the right thing, as Trump’s opposition (who during the election cast Trump as the unstable, crazy one) keeps going berserk.”

Bernard Goldberg writes, “I was and still am not a fan of Donald Trump. I find him to be both a narcissist and a braggart, not qualities I admire in a man who will soon be president. But I find it more than a little ironic that the people who have brought me closer to the president-elect are liberals with TDS [Trump Derangement Syndrome], who I find more annoying than Donald Trump — and much more deranged.”

Democrats would do well to keep their powder dry until Trump is actually in the Oval Office and actually does something deserving a rebuke. That would be better than shooting their eyes out with the Red Ryder BB guns that they got for Christmas, which is what they are doing now.

One can hope that adult Democrats will take their party back. Only time will tell if they do.

David Robertson

The “Wanted” posters say the following about David: “Wanted: A refugee from planet Melmac masquerading as a human. Loves cats. If seen, contact the Alien Task Force.”

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