This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
With only a few days before inauguration, it's no secret that half the country is still reeling from the fact that Donald Trump will soon be president. But to dismiss objections to our president-elect as "sour grapes," as many Republicans suggest, is fantastically naïve and insulting. In fact, it's a false equivalence that has pervaded and perverted this election season from the beginning to the present: a suggestion that Donald Trump is somehow on equal footing with his presidential predecessors. Therefore, any opposition to Trump is just a matter of the Democrats being sore losers.
But that reasoning is not only flawed and overly simplistic, it's morally corrupt. Why? Because previously reasonable and upstanding Republicans are doggedly overlooking who Trump is, in favor of an agenda they hope to achieve by supporting him. The greedy ends clearly justifying the audacious means. These same people wonder, "Trump hasn't even taken office yet, why don't they give him a chance?" But that only begs the question, what part of Trump before, during and since the election, gives anyone (on either side of the aisle) faith in his ability to truly lead this country? Isn't it absurd and childish to expect some magical transformation after the inauguration? You don't have to be a Democrat to understand the gravity of the fact that someone unfit for president is about to say, "I do solemnly swear." It's not sour grapes fueled by impending conservative policies that is at the core of the objection to Trump. It's moral indignation.
Dan Larrinaga
Salt Lake City