November 25, 2016
Our Betters: Trump Must Now Exercise 'Magnanimity' toward Democrats
It is November, and the air reverberates with cries for unity and bipartisanship. The Republicans must have won an election. Sentiments such as "I won" and "You ran the bus into the ditch, so now sit in the back seat and be quiet" are more associated with Democratic triumphs.
Advising the new president on his treatment of Democrats, the Wall Street Journal's editors counsel "charity for all." They draw upon Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, delivered just before the end of the Civil War. Is that really applicable to Mr. Trump's dealings with his political adversaries? Lincoln spoke after the South had suffered the slaughter of its manhood, the destruction or besiegement of its cities, and utter defeat, with formal surrender a month away. Lincoln's admonition looked to a time after victory.
Winning an election is not in and of itself victory – not if the objective is to change the...(Read Full Article)