Get over it!

Few insults are as infuriating as “Get over it!” It’s on a par with “Oh, grow up!” It labels you as someone who is so childish, deluded, or simple-minded that you don’t grasp the facts of life.

Take this situation, which really happened to me decades ago. I was in a restaurant with Linda. We had just finished our dinner, paid the bill, and were on our way out. I was trying to put my coat on as we made our way between tables. (Never try this.) As I swung one arm into a sleeve, the other sleeve whipped around and knocked over a drink on a nearby table. A man at that table glared at me, and I offered to buy him another drink. But what if I had instead said, “Look, it’s crowded in here, and it’s dark. Shit happens. Get over it!” The guy would have flipped out.

Or imagine the unfortunate town of Roadkill, Kansas. A tornado has just plowed through, leaving dozens with wrecked homes and wrecked lives. A reporter from KHIK radio drives out there, sees a woman wailing beside the junk pile that was once her home, and asks her why she’s so distraught. “I’ve lost everything!” she says. “I’ve got nowhere to live, and all my memories have been torn away.” The reporter is an uncomprehending lout. He says, “Lady, this is Kansas. You chose to live in Tornado Alley. You rolled the dice and lost. Get over it!”

We are now in the Golden Age of Get-Over-It. It began last November 8th, when Trump was elected. About 46% of those who cast a ballot voted for him, which in itself is a reason for the other 54% to reassess their pride of citizenship. Ever since that epochal day, Trumpists have embraced the Get-Over-It mantra: You lost, we won, get over it! When Trump nominated Cabinet secretaries with the mission of eviscerating their departments: It’s the president’s prerogative. Get over it! When he demeaned the CIA, the news media, and the judiciary: He’s real; he doesn’t give a rat’s ass about political correctness. Get over it! When he insulted our allies and sowed insecurity abroad: He uses chaos creatively. It’s his leadership style. Get over it! When he feigned at cutting ties with his business empire: He’s the president. There’s no legal basis for a conflict of interest. Get over it! When he nominated Gorsuch, a Constitutional Neanderthal, to the Supreme Court: So what if Gorsuch thinks it’s 1790? The president’s entitled to the appointments he wants. Get over it!

These dismissive swipes reveal a misunderstanding of our First Amendment-21st century democracy. In our democracy, the electorate isn’t in a continuous snooze, awaking only to punch in at the polls every two years. Losers don’t bow courteously to the winners and say, “You won, so commit whatever outrages you like. We’ll put our values somewhere that won’t get in your way.” On the contrary, today’s body politic is a living, pulsing thing, a percolating brew of reasoned argument, hyperbole, confusion, and anxiety. Every day, the news media, social media, and op-ed pages create a new political reality, a reality that can rise up and bite whenever an angry consensus comes together.

Trumpists don’t like a democracy that’s on a boil, especially with their guy in the White House and Republicans dominating Congress. To their objections, I can only say,… yeah, exactly.