DAVE ROSS

Ross: If only Trump had managed to follow his own advice

Jan 7, 2021, 5:04 AM | Updated: 10:22 am

trump...

U.S. President Donald Trump is shown speaking on a monitor in the White House briefing room about the violence during the ratification of the 2020 election on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. Pro-Trump protesters have entered the U.S. Capitol building after mass demonstrations in the nation's capital. (Photo by Joshua Roberts/Getty Images)

(Photo by Joshua Roberts/Getty Images)

I heard all sorts of soaring rhetoric yesterday about the fall of Rome and the War of 1812, but the key to democracy is actually very simple.

The key to democracy is that the loser goes home. Because if the loser doesn’t go home, and then the loser talks about fraud and stolen elections, and that states can’t be trusted to run elections, people believe it.

“We fight, and if you don’t fight, you’re not going have a country anymore,” Trump told his supporters.

Within an hour, a lot of them were doing just that – fighting – and winning. Even dying.

I guess we call that an orgy of democracy? They were carrying American flags; I even saw the stars and bars. So is this what democracy looks like now? But the president managed keep his cool.

I remember how upset he was when the mayor in Seattle let protesters take over a police precinct. He called them “domestic terrorists.” But to the people who took over the U.S. Capitol, it was all “kumbaya.”

“We have to have peace,” Trump said. “So go home, we love you, you’re very special. … I know how you feel. But go home and go home in peace.”

I like that. In fact, I think the oath of office should be updated with those words: “As President, I will preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States – and should I not get a majority of electoral votes, I will go home in peace.”

So help me God.

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