Demonstrators protest outside of the Trump Tower in
Chicago, Illinois. Photo: Getty Images
Stop the insanity!
Days after Donald Trump stunned the world by winning the
presidency, liberal America remains in the
throes of a massive mental and emotional meltdown.
Anti-Trump protests have spread to more cities and
continue to turn violent. In Portland Thursday night, rioters stoned police and
vandalized businesses and cars.
Anyone expressing support for Trump has become the target
of unrestrained venom: There are calls to boycott New Balance — its sneakers
have been publicly burned — because an official said Trump would be better on
trade issues.
Meanwhile, the CEO of Grubhub, the online food-delivery
service, demanded that employees who agree with Trump resign, because “you have
no place here.” (He had to retreat: His lawyers read him the First Amendment
and noted that political discrimination also violates California law.)
This is just vicious stuff. But for pure pathos crossing
into the absurd, we turn (as usual) to the college campus. Consider:
- The University of Michigan offered its traumatized students coloring books and Play-Doh to calm them. (Are its students in college or kindergarten?)
- The University of Kansas reminded its stressed-out kids that therapy dogs, a regular campus feature, were available.
- Cornell University, an Ivy League school, held a campus-wide “cry-in,” with officials handing out tissues and hot chocolate.
- Tufts University offered its devastated students arts and crafts sessions. (OK, not kindergarten — more like summer camp.)
- At campuses from elite Yale to Connecticut to Iowa and beyond, professors canceled classes and/or exams — either because students asked or because instructors were too distraught to teach.
Anarchist-fueled violence and destruction can’t be
tolerated. Nor should corporate (or anti-corporate) temper tantrums that
blatantly violate free-speech rights.
Collegiate sobbing and wailing, on the other hand,
shouldn’t be tolerated — especially not by the parents who are shelling out
tens of thousands of dollars to pay for it.
And they all should consider that their reaction to
Trump’s win goes a long way towards explaining precisely why he did.
