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Editor: Trump supporters wonder why progressives are holding anti-Trump rallies and demonstrations. You lost the election, get over it, they say; or give Trump a chance before you start criticizing him. Progressives have gotten past the election; its the Trump supporters who cant seem to get over it, continually crowing about their landslide in the Electoral College.

Were rallying about what has happened since the election, and continues to happen every day. The Trump administration and its fellow travelers in Congress have mounted a full-scale assault on just about every American value.

From environmental concerns, to medical care, to equal protection, to Americas leadership in the Free World, Trump seems to be determined to undo them all.

Probably most important are First Amendment freedoms: speech, press and religion. Trump and his apologists disdain the truth, attack anyone who disagrees with them, punish members of the press who dont toe the party line, discriminate on the basis of religion on and on.

We cant take a wait and see attitude in the face of this attack. To wait is to allow our constitutional freedoms to be eroded. We must push back to protect our Constitution and our values.

See you in the streets.

Greg McClelland

Ponte Vedra

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Progressives push back for freedom - St. Augustine Record

Threats of violence against President Donald Trump and conservatives in general are on the rise and not a word is being heard from "progressive" leaders to try to calm the waters.

Death threats against conservatives from the president on down are becoming a cottage industry:

Gary Bauer of American Values says make no mistake the Secret Service is paying close attention. But he points out there's not one word from leaders of the anti-Trump left.

"I am not aware of one liberal politician in the federal government including the former president who has said anything condemning this kind of rhetoric and, in some cases, actual violence," he shares with OneNewsNow.

And the anger shows no sign of letting up. Bauer is fearful of what the elections of 2018 and 2020 are going to look like.

"This kind of activity, if it continues, could lead to things down the road that I don't think anybody wants a sort of unraveling of the bonds that bind us together as a nation," he warns.

According to Bauer, one of the first responsibilities of a movement is to root out and expel those who would hijack the cause for violent or dangerous ends. He argues that the silence from Democratic lawmakers is sure to be seen by the thugs as tacit endorsement of the violence.

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Bauer: 'Progressives' evidently OK with death threats - OneNewsNow

Progressive organizations are ramping up their campaign against President Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, and calling on Senate Democrats to do more to oppose his confirmation.

On Monday, leading organizations on the left including MoveOn, UltraViolet and NARAL Pro-Choice America sent emails to their millions of members asking them to demand that Democrats filibuster any vote to confirm Gorsuch. The push came as the Senate Judiciary Committee today began its confirmation hearing for Gorsuch.

While the majority of Democrats are expected to oppose Gorsuch's confirmation, there has been palpable frustration among progressive activists that more Democratic senators have not yet publicly declared which way they intend to vote. Progressives wanted commitments even before questioning of Gorsuch is completed.

"We're not hearing from enough of the Democratic senators that they will fight this nomination with everything they have. We need them to understand that simply stating their opposition to Neil Gorsuch is not enough," NARAL President Ilyse Hogue wrote in an email to the group's list that went out this morning. "We need Senate Democrats to filibuster this nomination and demand a nominee who represents the mainstream values of our country."

Last week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York held a press conference with individuals he argued were hurt by Gorsuch's rulings. Still, he would not definitively say he planned to vote against the judge. Schumer said that he has a "strong presumption against" Gorsuch but that he would wait until after he heard the judge's testimony before making up his mind.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, a senior Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, echoed Schumer. Blumenthal said that he was prepared to filibuster Gorsuch if he was not satisfied with the judge's answers before the committee but that he has a "profound duty" to question Gorsuch before announcing his final decision. Blumenthal added that he prepared "tough but respectful" questions for the hearing this week.

In 2013, when Democrats were in the majority in the Senate, they changed the chamber's rules so that federal judges could be confirmed with a simple majority vote, but they maintained the long-standing requirement that Supreme Court picks need at least 60 votes to end a filibuster and move their confirmation forward.

In order to get those 60 votes, Gorsuch will need at least eight Democrats to vote with Republicans, assuming all Republicans back him. But because the vote with the 60-vote threshold is technically a procedural vote, some Democrats may be tempted to vote in favor of him as a compromise and not risk being labeled obstructionist.

Trump has said that if Democrats slow the process, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky should consider the so-called nuclear option and change the rules to allow a vote to proceed without the 60-vote minimum. Schumer said last week that he did not think Republicans want to go that route.

Some Democrats have already been vocal about their opposition to Gorsuch, including Sens. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey of Massachusetts. They joined advocacy organizations for an event in front of the Supreme Court last week.

"When Justice Scalia died, giant corporations and their right-wing buddies spent millions of dollars to keep that Supreme Court seat open so Donald Trump could name a replacement. Why? Because giant corporations and their right-wing buddies don't want a neutral court that simply upholds the law for everyone," Warren said at the event. "They want a court that favor corporations over real people. And we are here today to fight back."

There is still a lot of resentment among Democrats that Republicans kept President Obama's nominee Judge Merrick Garland from even getting a hearing. After the event in front of the court last week, volunteers and staffers delivered petitions with over a million signatures, they said, urging senators from both parties to oppose Gorsuch's confirmation.

Progressive groups are quick to point out Gorsuch's conservative record on social issues, including his high-profile ruling in the Hobby Lobby case, in which he sided with a religious employers in their case against a Obama-era mandate to provide contraceptive coverage in health insurance plans. Other Democrats would rather focus on what they say is Gorsuch's record of backing Big Business over workers' rights.

All the witnesses that Schumer took to the Hill last week were plaintiffs in cases in which Gorsuch sided with employers over employees.

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Progressive groups demand a filibuster against Trump's Supreme Court pick - ABC News

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was defeated in last years Democratic primary, but his impact on the party could be felt in the 2018 midterm elections. Several groups of former Sanders campaign staffers are ready to put up primary challengers to run against establishment Democrats next year, according to a report released Monday from NBC News.

Frustrated by a perceived lack of change in the Democratic Party following its crushing loss in the 2016 presidential election and in the House and the Senate, some on the left of the party have already been issuing threats against party incumbents.

Two groups of one-time Sanders aides, Justice Democrats and Brand New Congress, this week joined forces ahead of the midterms.

The point is, we've watched this party over the last decade lose over 1,000 seats, lose a national election to the least popular nominee in history, Donald Trump, and now we've seen poll after poll showing the Democratic Party less popular since election day, Brand New Congress' Corbin Trent told NBC News. What we think is, the American people are ready for a new direction.

Trents group states on its website that it will put more than 400 candidates forward in 2018 in an effort to pass an aggressive and practical plan to significantly increase wages, remove the influence of big money from our government, and protect the rights of all Americans.

Another group of Sanders staffers, #WeWillReplaceYou, announced last month that it planned to fund primary challengers to Democrats.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks between Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Patty Murray (D-WA) during a news conference to unveil the FAMILY Act on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., March 14, 2017 Yuri Gripas/Reuters

Despite hisloss, Sanders has remained a prominent voice on the national stage. A Fox News poll released last week showed him to be the most popular political figure in the United States, with a favorability rating of 61 percent.

Following the election, the independent senator was welcomed into the ranks of the Democratic leadership by Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer. Still, Sandershimselfhas expressed frustration with what he perceives as theparty's stagnation and its failure to learn from its 2016 losses.

Last month, Sanders ally Keith Ellison lost the race for the leadership of the Democratic Party to former Labor Secretary Tom Perez. And when asked by The New York Times earlier this month what the Democratic Party stood for, Sanders struggled to provide an answer.

Youre asking a good question, and I cant give you a definitive answer, he said. Certainly there are some people in the Democratic Party who want to maintain the status quo. They would rather go down with the Titanic so long as they have first-class seats.

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What's Next for Bernie Sanders Voters? Former Aides Want Progressives to Challenge Democrats in 2018 Midterms - Newsweek

How could the voters be so stupid? Boom! - heads exploded. That was on display recently (news story, Feb. 20): "Carper, Coons get an earful."

Of course, some of this had to do with how unexpected was the outcome of last November's presidential election. Many Republicans believed the polls, too. Count this scribbler as one of those.

One thing we have here is that progressives are experiencing classic symptoms of grief, or to be more specific, the five stages of grief. Pastors, psychologists and counselors witness this daily, often associated with death of a loved one, or divorce. These can be described briefly and perhaps simplistically, this way:

Denial: Refusal to believe what happened. "Mom can't be dead, can she?" Anger: Accusing others: How dare you let this happen? Bargaining: Trying to effect a better outcome. Depression: Listlessness and inaction. Acceptance.

Some on the political left are still mired in that first one. Beginning the day after the election, when progressives woke up to the horrifying news that Mrs. Clinton wasn't president-elect, they have been denying the outcome. Surely it must have been the Russians' fault. Or it happened because of FBI Director James Comey. Or because of the stupid people in "fly-over" America.

Two. Blaming the Russians or the FBI is part of the second one. Surely it can't be because the stupid voters in Wisconsin and Michigan actually preferred Mr. Trump, could it? Apparently, the New York Times thought this when they sent a reporter out to eastern Iowa, only to find that the men drinking coffee in the caf were quite pleased with President Trump. Oops.

Three. So today, we find ourselves somewhere between two and three. In this case, three involved getting senators like Tom Carper and Chris Coons to vote against President Trump's cabinet nominees (only one was defeated/withdrew). And definitely against the appointment of Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court. This despite the fact that virtually all these appointees are people of great accomplishment and intelligence.

Or is this an argument that the CEO of Exxon/Mobil, or a billionaire investor, or a Wall Street banker, or a state attorney general, or a congressman who's a doctor, are somehow incompetent to manage a federal agency? What this is, too often, is the unstated assertion that only career politicians are qualified to run the government.

Four and five. We aren't there yet. At least, not while we note that the American Civil Liberties Union is organizing resistance to anything the Trump administration does.

A lot of Congress members are experiencing big opposition demonstrations at their constituent events these days, including Republicans from the middle of the country. When you think about it, this isn't surprising even in reliably Republican districts and states. Progressives are found, at least in some numbers, everywhere. Given the level of anger and denial, this is inevitable.

Finally, some might think that the dust cloud surrounding the repeal and replacement of Obamacare shows that the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are incapable of governing. Apparently these folks have never observed a legislative body. What we witness today is the way it is supposed to work.

Major legislation doesn't often appear fully formed. Nor are any president's proposals often enacted without alteration. The legislative process involves hearings, debate, amendment and a lot of votes. We've just begun.

Reid Beveridge has covered politics in Texas, Iowa, Wisconsin, Delaware and Washington, D.C. He is now retired at Broadkill Beach.

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Progressives showing classic symptoms of grief - CapeGazette.com