Congratulating The Winner Mr. Trump, With A decency He Himself Lacks

AS A FORMER SUPPORTER of Bernie Sanders, then Hillary Clinton, it is now time for me to congratulate Donald Trump, and to offer him my full support. Consider it done. My view is that the same obligation exists for all who voted for Mrs. Clinton. It is to be hoped that the new president will be given every opportunity to succeed, but in order to succeed, he will need to clearly articulate sensible and workable proposals, which thus far he has failed to do. Examples of this are his stated intention of deporting eleven million people whose only crime is a desire to better their lives by participating in and contributing to the american dream, building a purely symbolic wall which could not possibly serve any purpose, and somehow determining which immigrants are of the Islamic faith, which requires the ability to read minds, since religiosity is purely a matter of the mind, rather than style of dress or national origin. Although Donald Trump is inarticulate, boorish, and mean spirited, as indicated by his daily behavior while campaigning, his hard work and perseverance in winning the presidency merit respect. His best course of action as president will be to surround himself with advisers who are better informed on matters of public policy than he, which should be very easy for him to do, and to assiduously listen to them and follow their advice, which should certainly not be difficult for him to do, if he is so willing. Supporting Hillary Clinton was an honorable and worthy expenditure of time and effort, and an act of good citizenship. Her supporters deserve respect, rather than the contempt with which they are generally treated by Trump and his supporters. Hillary Clinton clearly demonstrated a superior knowledge of public policy, and a far superior personal character than the president elect, but she would have been better off to stick to matters of policy in her campaign speeches, rather than focusing attention on her unworthy opponent. It was noble of Mr. Trump to invite all of us who opposed him to join together in the spirit of national unity, and to assure us that he intends to represent all Americans, including those of us, the majority of Americans, who opposed his candidacy. By contrast, it is regrettable that those who opposed Barack Obama, including Donald Trump, failed to do this from the very outset of the Obama presidency. Obama never had a chance to fully succeed, because his opponents in congress chose to take the low road of opposing every proposal he made, automatically, without a trace of due consideration, out of sheer hatred, totally ignoring the spirit of compromise and open mindedness so vital in a representative democracy. That sort of behavior is beyond deplorable, and let us hope and pray president Trump's opponents do not emulate it. For Trump to have spent a great deal of time and effort, as he indeed did, trying vainly to prove that Obama was not a legal citizen, was deplorable, a complete waste of time, and predicated upon nothing other than unreasonable hatred. Mr. Trump and his conservative supporters could easily have given Obama the benefit of the doubt, and could have given him a chance to succeed, could have encouraged national unity eight years ago, but they failed to do it, which calls into question their integrity. I hope and plan to do better. Mr. Trump repeatedly, throughout the campaign, behaved in a manner unbecoming a proper gentleman. First, he maliciously verbally smeared his republican opponents in the primary campaign, including Senator Ted Cruz, who is far less a liar than Trump himself, and a man of demonstrably higher character. Then, he went after Mrs. Clinton, viciously and incessantly, with slanderous lies. In a country which maintains as a core value the ideal that all are innocent until proven guilty, Mr. Trump's incessant allegations that Hillary Clinton is a crook, and the oft repeated chant "lock her up" were, and remain, unfounded, inexcusable, and reprehensible. Those of us who supported her can set a better example as Trump assumes the nation's highest office, as we did throughout the campaign. Again, congratulations to Mr.Trump, and may the good lord bless his presidency with the success we all want and deserve, for the sake of our beloved country, which needn't be made great again, because it already is great, and always has been.