HOWARD KURTZ (HOST): I understand that liberal commentators are upset that Donald Trump has just won the White House. What I don't understand is why they are still saying ugly things in the wake of the election. Jamelle Bouie is Slate's chief political correspondent and an African-American who wrote last May, “Donald Trump isn't going to be president.” Bouie tweeted after the election results, “I didn't quite understand how much white people hated us.” What? Many white voters helped give Barack Obama two terms. CNN commentator Van Jones, a former Obama White House aide, said this:
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VAN JONES: We haven’t talked about race. This was a whitelash. That was a whitelash against a changing country. It was a whitelash against a black president, in part.
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KURTZ: A whitelash because your candidate lost? It's fine to be critical of Trump, but he did spend time reaching out to the black community. And then there's a guy I respect, media critic Jeff Jarvis, who heads a graduate journalism program at the City University of New York. He said journalism seems broken, tweeting, quote: “My profession failed to inform the public about the fascist they're electing.” Did you miss how much negative stuff the press dumped on Trump? Jarvis also called the outcome, again, quoting: “the victory of the uneducated and uninformed.” Sorry, it's really unattractive when you call voters dumb because you don't agree with their decision. Neal Gabler, prominent author really went off: “America died on November 8, 2016, not with a bang or whimper, but at its own hand via electoral suicide. We will brace for the violence, the anger, the racism, the misogyny, the xenophobia, the nativism, the white sense of grievance that will undoubtedly be unleashed now.” Pretty scary stuff.
And what about director Aaron Sorkin? His heroes are usually preachy liberals like Martin Sheen on The West Wing, a program I really liked. In a letter to his daughter and wife posted by Vanity Fair, Sorkin wrote: “This is truly horrible... it is the first time that a thoroughly incompetent pig with dangerous ideas, a serious psychiatric disorder, no knowledge of the world and no curiosity to learn has won. And it wasn't just Donald Trump who won last night -- it was his supporters too. The Klan won last night, white nationalists, sexists, racists and buffoons.”
The Klan won? That might've played in a TV drama, but as a letter, it just seemed angry and overwrought. Aren't liberals supposed to support tolerance and unity? Wouldn't they have been furious if Hillary had won and conservatives kept trashing her? You can still fight for your beliefs, but perhaps you should follow President Obama's lead and be a bit more gracious toward the guy who won.
