It was not enough for Democrats to lose a presidential election to a confessed sexual predator who ran a know-nothing campaign based on government sanctioned discrimination and the destruction of alliances which have guided America. It was not enough to have a Supreme Court seat stolen from them. It was not enough for them to fall into their worst position since 1929. All of this and more was not enough for Democrats to learn a lesson their Republican counterparts seem to have etched in their souls: victory at all costs.
We know they did not learn that lesson because this week the North Carolina GOP easily swindled the state’s Democrats into selling out their base for nothing in return. Let’s recap the year in NC politics. In Feb., the city of Charlotte passed an ordinance protecting LGBTQ residents from business’ discrimination and allowing transgender people to use bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity. Gov. Pat McCrory (R-NC) and illegally elected Republican legislators responded by crafting legislation preventing cities from protecting LGBTQ rights or raising their minimum wages, and demanding transgender individuals use restrooms conforming with the gender they were assigned at birth, forcing people to choose between breaking the law and risking their safety.
The noxious bill, HB2, became the focal point of moral outrage, economic losses, and a federal lawsuit. Eventually NC’s Moral Mondays movement formed a statewide coalition which successfully ousted McCrory in favor of Roy Cooper (D-NC), the state’s attorney general. Opposition to HB2 was a major factor in that Democratic victory, one of few on the party’s miserable election night. One might expect Democrats to repeal HB2 after Cooper’s inauguration, undoing a great wrong and responding to the needs of his electorate.
Instead, Cooper made a deal with NC Republicans despite them passing legislation designed to reduce his powers as governor. Boggling observers’ minds, Cooper and NC’s Democrats agreed to repeal Charlotte’s ordinance in exchange for a full repeal of HB2. Cooper bartered with the people who rigged electoral districts to gain power, moved to circumscribe his powers, and attempted to maintain power by disenfranchising black voters. In a boneheaded show of good faith, Charlotte repealed their ordinance before the legislature repealed HB2.
On Wednesday, during a special session supposedly called to end HB2, the Republicans simply did nothing. The NC Senate voted against repeal. The NC House never even voted. By convincing their electorally victorious enemies to abandon protections for their voting base’s basic public dignity and instead come to the negotiating table, Republicans got their cake and ate every single slice.

Democrats should be ashamed of how fiercely they sold themselves out to politicians they knew could not be trusted. Charlotte caved so hard to GOP whims they repealed their ordinance twice. In a statement the city says it “acted in good faith to do everything it understood was needed to necessitate the state legislature repealing HB2.” Yet Democrats failed to understand the state legislature, and rather than standing with the people putting trust in them, ran into the arms of obstinate conservatives they ought to be shaming for their atrocious governance.
Charlotte and Governor-elect Cooper share this inane behavior with the national Democratic party. After Michelle Obama’s rousing convention speech, Hillary Clinton and Democrats nationwide loved to talk about how “when they go low, we go high.” The high road seems to be one of political defeat and groveling at the feet of opponents who, given the chance, will sink a blade into your back. After Clinton spent months courting Republicans presumed to be disgusted by Trump, 89 percent of them voted for him. Incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) prophesied that “for every blue-collar Democrat we will lose in western Pennsylvania, we will pick up two or three moderate Republicans in the suburbs of Philadelphia.” Clinton lost Pennsylvania, a state which had not gone red since 1988.
Democrats constantly called on “moderate” Republicans like Ohio Gov. John Kasich to stand up to Donald Trump. Kasich just signed into law an almost certainly unconstitutional 20 week abortion ban which endangers the lives of pregnant women statewide, and this after considering a ban at 6 weeks. On President Obama’s inaugural day, Republican leaders vowed not to work with him in the hopes of handicapping his presidency. Democrats have already made overtures to the Trump administration on working with him.
Despite a Democratic Congress and winning the most votes for president ever, Obama negotiated with and campaigned alongside Republicans while pushing for the Affordable Care Act. Zero House Republicans voted for Obamacare. Obama selected FBI Director James Comey as a gift to Republicans. He and others now blame Clinton’s election defeat on Comey’s unwarranted interference. President-elect Trump has chosen conservative extremists like Betsy Devos and Steven Bannon for Cabinet and White House positions.
Democratic supporters share their parties fatal belief in goodwill. When a NC GOP office was firebombed in October, liberals went high and donated $13000 to the party actively oppressing LGBTQ people. Democrats decided Republicans needed that money more than LGBTQ homeless youth. Left-leaning publications such as the New York Times and Washington Post, which both endorsed Clinton, have run articles blaming marginalized groups for her loss and promoting the soft side of avowed white supremacists. Once Glenn Beck, whose website just published an article titled “Radical Islam is Terrorizing Christmas,” expressed a glimmer of empathy for Black Lives Matter protesters whose children are being killed by police, he got to chat with liberal show host Samantha Bee. As I write this, liberals online are outraged at the principle idea of someone bothering Ivanka Trump, a woman who has aided her father’s quest to form a mass deportation force.
If Democrats fail to accept that there is no room for concession, that they must be an opposition party rather than a minority party, they will take the high road right into a second term of President Trump and the loss of rights millions of Americans rely upon to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. With friends like these, the people Trump has promised persecute might need to look beyond blue lines for help.
The opinions expressed above are those solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the positions of Hatter Network or its affiliates.