I’ve had several discussions with left-leaning friends since the election wherein they expressed a hope and desire that Trump will be more “centrist” or less “polarizing.” They were shocked when Mr. Trump nominated cabinet members who they find to be very conservative. I find that odd from members of the polarizing party. You really can’t have it both ways.

President Obama was the most polarizing figure in American politics in my life time and it was a strategy, not an outcome. By pitting people against each other, especially along racial lines, Obama very successfully motivated his base for two presidential elections. Unfortunately, it also created a very ugly country. And, sadly, a polarized country created an opportunity for another polarizing candidate, like Donald Trump, to win by appealing to the other half of the polarized nation.

I think many of us are now saddened by all the nastiness in politics. I know I am. But, it’s really not fair for the left to ask the right to de-polarize what they polarized. Put differently, democrats made this bed and now they have to lay it in.