Russian hacks and popular vote be damned, in the aftermath of a polarizing election, Donald Trump is President. With historically low approval ratings, vehement dissent, and protests erupting across the country, many are calling for the country to unite behind Trump for the sake of democracy. After all, every election has a losing side but once results are tallied, it’s our job to put the loss behind us and move forward. I get it. I’m not new to this. In my lifetime I have voted in four presidential elections, the very first soured by the Bush-Gore election scandal of 2000.

Photo: Time Magazine

Still, despite any disillusionment that resulted from that experience, I eventually came to terms with the result. Since that time, presidential victories have been equally split between my candidate and the other guy. That’s the way democracy works.

On January 20, 2009, I was two weeks into training for a management role at a manufacturing branch of a Fortune 500 company in the rural South. This also happened to be the inauguration day for President Barack Obama’s first term. It was a historic moment and I could barely contain my excitement. As I excused myself for lunch to watch the event, I learned that takeout had been ordered. A memo had gone out that the entire front office would be a working lunch that day. As the first black person to integrate the management ranks, only two weeks into my new role, I didn’t feel comfortable objecting, so I stayed and worked. I would later learn that the memo was no coincidence. My colleagues were protesting the inauguration of the first African-American President of the United States. They couldn’t bare to watch him take the oath of office and for the entire length of my tenure there, they refused to refer to him as the president. They hated Barack Obama, and whatever their reasons, democracy protects their right to do so.

We hate Donald Trump like you hated President Obama.

However, we hate Trump because he is racist, you hated Obama because you are racist.

— David Yankovich (@DavidYankovich) November 25, 2016

Fast forward eight years and this same demographic is now condemning anti-Trump protesters as cry babies and whiners. They are calling for the country to unite and move forward, but there is a difference in the opposition to Trump’s presidency. This is not some temper tantrum in opposition of a candidate whose politics we don’t agree with. Donald Trump is a real-life demagogue – an openly sexist, racist, islamophobic authoritarian whose fragility and lack of impulse control consistently places his ego above all. Further, he has shown zero interest in uniting the country. None. In fact, his inaugural speech only intensified the divisions he teased on the campaign trail. Donald Trump has given us every reason to be terrified. We have every reason to resist and protest, and democracy protects that right…at least for now.

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