Donald Trump’s shocking victory Tuesday night sent leftists throughout the world into uncontrollable levels of grief.
America saw this development first hand as Hillary Clinton’s “victory” party quickly descended into a sobfest, providing terrific images of smug liberals bawling their eyes out that America was too sexist to vote for Crooked Hillary.
Liberal Twitter users were more than willing to let the world know they were “literally shaking” at the prospect of Trump becoming America’s next president.
Campuses hosted “cry ins” throughout the week for their students to express their utter despair and classes were cancelled to help kids cope with such devastation. Protests broke out in cities across the nation to block traffic and exclaim that Trump was not the president of the demonstrator. (Who is their president was left unsaid.)
To let allies know they were safe and not scary Trump supporters, safety pins were adopted as a badge by the distraught.
Leftist journalists threw out self-awareness to pen pieces cataloging their profound sadness and how average Americans should care about that.
Slate took the cake for this kind of journalism Wednesday morning with pieces from pretty much every staffer on how Trump makes their specific identity feel unsafe in America right now. Christina Cauterucci wrote of how Trump made her feel unsafe as a “queer woman.” Jamelle Bouie declared white supremacy had won and now felt unsafe as a black man. Mark Joseph Stern wrote he is afraid “for his life” because he is a gay Jew in Trumpland and made the subtle move of bringing up the Holocaust to add to his commentary on Trump’s win.
All of these outbursts would have — and should have — been greeted with full-blown laughter and mockery if the roles were reversed with Trump supporters. America hates sore losers, so playing that role doesn’t win you any favor for your side among the general public, historically speaking. Just imagine cry ins in the age of Jack Kennedy.
But there’s a reason for the wailing among the young leftists. As amply pointed out in a groundbreaking study by the sociologists Bradley Campbell and Jason Manning, there’s a new moral culture rising in our society that encourages this kind of behavior. Campbell and Manning call this new morality “victimhood culture.”
Status and virtue in this moral culture are doled out based on a person’s ability to prove that they are a victim. Victimhood is desired rather than avoided, and to have it means you stand at the top of the moral hierarchy. Instead of basing status on the dignity inherent to all Americans or on honor earned by deeds of strength, victimhood is the highest virtue. The worst attribute one can have is privilege, because it means you unfairly lord over those that are oppressed.
Disputes are settled by independent, third party authorities rather than between the actors in conflict. Whoever can lay out the case that they are more victimized based on their identity wins out in these disputes, as we can discern from how college administrators handle controversial speakers by cancelling them to protect the “oppressed.”
What we are witnessing in all these tearful protests and hyperbolic columns is an attempt by the aggrieved to persuade the powers that be that Trump cannot be president because that act would damage their sense of security. It makes no sense to discard calm and embrace the nihilism of thinking a Holocaust or a “Second Redemption” (in reference to when white southerners toppled Reconstruction governments) is right around the corner to those who do not buy into victimhood culture.
But to those who do, it makes for a persuasive argument to fortify their resistance to Trump.
The problem with their strategy is that all the relevant authorities have come to terms with a President Trump. The outgoing president had a friendly meeting with his successor this week and is fully committed to handing over the reins of power to The Donald. Hillary Clinton conceded to Trump. The rest of the government and most of America’s institutions have also come to terms with Tuesday’s results.
There is an effort underway to get the Electoral College to change its votes, but that attempt is likely to fail miserably.
So there is no real authority these “victimized” protesters and journalists can hope to convince to change the results. All the whiny protests and sobbing articles amount to is one giant pity party — with nothing to gain from it.
Regardless of your opinion of Trump, it is nice for those who love to play the victim card so much to lose so badly. Let’s hope victimhood culture gets deflated during Trump’s tenure.