What Dan Rather says here is important to us all. You might want to dismiss it because of the violence involved in these protests, but I beg you to consider the following.
While I do not condone the violence of recent protests, I think they are inevitable. Trump opened the Pandora's box of hate, racism, sexism, and xenophobia and welcomed it into his fold. In fact, he never said if he would have peacefully accepted a loss in this election and his cronies seem to hint that if he lost it would be time to take action (violent action).
If you accept that, you have to accept that the other half of that Pandora's box was going to open. That people who voted the other way (a larger number than voted for Trump) were going to feel disenfranchised. Why should Trump supporters be allowed to threaten to not accept the election and Clinton supporters can't.
I find it laughable that a man and campaign that ran on manipulating the divide between people is now throwing a temper tantrum because people will not just "come together".
If you voted for Trump what you are seeing on both sides is exactly what you sowed. It might not have been what you thought you wanted, but it was clear from the start that divides in race, sexuality, gender and religion were things that Trump was going to manipulate to his own ends. Now that he has won, don't be surprised that those who he threatened with his rhetoric are going to fight against him. This is what happens when you allow the kind of hate fueled rhetoric that Trump spews in to power.
Anger won the day in the UK, it has won the day in the US, and it is poised to win out in France and Italy. The grand irony is that for Trump to accomplish many of the things he has promised, people will have to lose their freedoms, and while it might not affect you immediately it will eventually because a government run on this kind of "targeting" will eventually have to target new groups to keep control and distract the people from it's own greed and corruption.
Edmond Burke is credited with saying "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." I'll be honest I feel like doing nothing, other than protecting my wife and son because some uneducated hate fueled idiot thinking the color of their skin means they don't "belong" here. (Thanks for bringing that concern into my life.) I feel like letting this nation wallow in its own evil.
Donald Trump should perhaps step away from his phone and pick up a copy of the United States Constitution. The First Amendment protects "freedom of speech... the press...and the right of the people peaceably to assemble." Trump just Tweeted what can be read as a threat to all three core principals of American democracy: "Just had a very open and successful presidential election. Now professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting. Very unfair!" - Donald Trump Such rhetoric is dangerous from a new president and exactly what the country does not need now. This is the latest indication that it is gut check time for our press. Will they be intimidated? This portent is not a good one.