We congratulate President-elect Donald Trump on his election. Now, the great task before us — the president, Congress and the public — is to unite and work together.
“We are rooting for his success in uniting and leading the country,” President Obama said the morning after the election. “The day after [an election], we have to remember we’re all on one team … We’re not Democrats first, we’re not Republican first, we are Americans first, and we all want what’s best for this country.”
For the president and Congress, now under the control of one political party, there is no room or time to gloat. Trump won the electoral vote — meaning he won the right combination of states — but he was not the choice of a majority of Americans. He received 47 percent of the popular vote, which means 53 percent of Americans voted for someone else. More than 200,000 more Americans (as of this writing) voted for Hillary Clinton than for Trump, and that gap could widen as late votes are counted in the West.
What that means is the new president and Congress will need the broadest public consensus possible on issues — whether it’s immigration reform, tax policy, defense spending, social programs or climate change — or they could see a big change in the midterm elections.
To our members of Congress, rendered impotent on so many issues by partisanship, we suggest this: Identify issues on which you agree and work together to accomplish those. In working together on those issues that unite them, they can learn to work together and find compromise on those issues that divide them.
To our new president, we, as an editorial writer for The Chicago Tribune wrote so well, hope that “you rise above the rhetoric that got you here and take this precious country — and all the people who make it special — and guide it well.” And remember, Mr. President-elect, that while Americans stand with you, we will “push back steadily, and relentlessly, and without fear,” against any policies that reflect the low rhetoric of your campaign. We hope that all Americans, their new president and their Congress will, to quote President Lincoln, heed “the better angels of our nature.”
To those Americans who are disappointed in the results, and to those who might feel tempted to gloat, we ask that you remember this: Those who voted differently than you love America just as much as you do and want our country to succeed as much as you do. We may see a different path, but as long as we remember all that we have in common, we can get to our destination together.
