Trump won. Let’s do what he didn’t do – give in, congratulate, then fight

According to Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, Vice President Kamala Harris should refuse to accept or certify the election results, demand an alternative slate of electors, and incite a violent insurrection at the Capitol. That’s the logic Trump used after the 2020 presidential election, and what thousands of his supporters did after President Joe Biden defeated Trump by 7 million votes. That’s exactly how Trump and Vance talked about the 2024 election, refusing to say they would accept the results if they lost before they were declared the winner early Wednesday morning.

Those who love this country want Harris to do what every modern administration has done before Trump flouted the Constitution four years ago—concede, congratulate, affirm. Then Harris and her supporters must fight Trump and Vance—and fight hard and hard—but through democratic means. Those who voted for Harris and against Trump must fight the new administration’s policies, administrative and executive decisions and try to defeat the GOP at the polls in 2026 and 2028.

I’m one of those people.

As much as I want Trump to be president again, I want Harris to be part of a peaceful transition to him. I don’t want her to follow in Trump’s footsteps.

In 2020, Trump didn’t even take part in the traditional photo-op at the White House to greet Biden, as Democratic and Republican presidents have typically done for decades. It’s a small gesture that sends a signal to the world that our democracy remains healthy and strong.

I don’t say this to sound magnanimous. I don’t. I am convinced that our country made a colossal mistake by sending a man like Trump back to the White House. I don’t want him to implement his proposed economic policies that are likely to hurt the middle class and those on the bottom rung of the income ladder. I don’t want him to cut taxes further to benefit the rich.

I don’t want to hear or see him act like a fool again on the national and international stage. Or send the army against Americans exercising their constitutional right to protest. Or spread more baseless racist conspiracy theories about black legal immigrants, this time because of the presidential seal. Or resort to threats against journalists and media outlets who dare to oppose him. Or become a dictator on day one. Or put Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in charge of U.S. health care policy. Kennedy wants to remove fluoride from our drinking water and undermine the effectiveness of vaccines. These are two of the most important events in US history and a decision that could endanger the lives of countless Americans.

I don’t want Trump to successfully make it harder to hold police officers who brutalize people accountable and bring back the unconstitutional, racist stop and frisk that Trump swore to do.

I don’t want him to tear immigrant families apart in a mass deportation that would rival the inhumanity of the Trail of Tears and possibly weaken our economy and country forever.

I don’t want him to further undermine women’s rights to abortion. He says controversial things about reproductive access, but it’s clear his white evangelical base wants him to do more, even as more pregnant women have died or been harmed since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, made possible by the Supreme Court . Court judges appointed by Trump during his first term.

I don’t want to hide this.

I’m disappointed that tens of millions of voters decided to return him to power. I wanted the Trump era of chaotic hatred to end ingloriously. However, I will not do what Trump supporters did and attack the Capitol building to get my way.

I will oppose Trump and Vance as often as necessary to preserve a democracy that few Americans understand is more fragile than secure.

Issac Bailey is a McClatchy Opinion writer based in North and South Carolina.