Hm… where have we seen a blustering President antagonizing opposing politicians, agonizing our international allies, and in general abusing presidential power to get around the legislative process?

Oh, right.

To my friends on the left complaining about what Trump will do, you don’t care what Trump will do. You care only that it’s Trump doing it. You could have stopped Trump at any time in the last eight years.

You could have stopped Trump when President Obama weaponized the IRS against people he disagreed with.

You could have stopped Trump when President Obama and the Democrats decided to federalize health insurance without any input from conservatives or even Republicans.

You could have stopped Trump when Secretary of State Clinton funneled corporate and foreign bribes through the Clinton Foundation.

You could, in other words, have stopped Trump when a politician you supported implemented the powers that make Trump dangerous.

While I share your worries about the cult of personality surrounding Donald Trump, if we survived eight years of schools teaching children to sing the praises of Barack Obama literally like he was Jesus we can survive Donald Trump. Trump lacks one essential thing that President Obama has: the support of the media. A Trump who weaponizes the IRS will see the story headlined across every major newspaper, for example.

But if that doesn’t matter, it’s your fault. For years, conservatives have been complaining about the weaponization of the IRS and other federal bureaucracies. Even under Republican administrations, conservatives have complained about the growth of the federal government into our private lives.

You only complained when there was a Republican president. When there’s a Democrat in the White House—well then, a federal takeover of the entire health care industry is a great idea, despite its yuge potential for abuse.

A lot of his supporters seem to think Trump will use the power of the presidency to abuse their political opponents rather than them. They learned this from you.

You created the culture of I won. Deal with it. Of passing thousand-page bills on purely partisan lines with no attempt at compromise. Of reveling in not having read the bills your cronies wrote.

Trump’s supporters are tired of nominating candidates you pretend to admire right up until they secure the nomination. They want someone who fights, and they want it because of you and your duplicity.

Yes, Donald Trump lies, and then claims he didn’t. But you laughed at “if you like your health insurance/doctor, you can keep it”. And you’re actively covering up “I never sent any classified emails over my bathroom server.”

Yes, Donald Trump will probably put policy up for sale and reward his cronies. Just as President Obama is doing now by illegally paying off health insurance companies for their support. Despite a law saying he’s not allowed to. And just as his Secretary of State took donations from foreign dictators and cronies when the United States was formulating foreign policy that affected them.

And then lost the emails.

You are currently well on track to nominating the Secretary of State who did that. You hardly have room to complain about Donald Trump.

And if you don’t nominate Hillary Clinton, you’ll nominate an actual socialist. Some of you are calling Trump a National Socialist while actually supporting a candidate whose policies align more closely than Trump’s (to the extent Trump has policies) to the National Socialist Party.

You will protest that National Socialism isn’t your kind of socialism, but your record belies your words. You will never succeed in blocking the next dictator if you only oppose him—or her—when it’s convenient and when it’s socially acceptable. The powers built up by the dictators you like will be used by the dictators you don’t like.

Donald Trump will not be as bad as President Obama, because Donald Trump will not have the backing of most of the mainstream media. Late-night comedians will not pretend that there is nothing in Donald Trump’s policies to be made fun of. Government schools will not train young children to sing his praises.

Donald Trump will not get the same treatment as Obama and Clinton because he is running as a Republican. You should fear him switching parties if he gets elected, but you would probably cheer him if he did that, despite his actual governing style not changing.

To the extent that Donald Trump will be able to act like a dictator, it will be through executive orders, and it will be precisely because President Barack Obama trailblazed that road. And you not only never complained, you applauded him for going around Congress.

When the Obama administration literally used the power of the IRS to silence critics—and then lost the emails—you had no problem with it.

You called it the most scandal-free administration in history, knowing full well that this was only because you, personally, decided that the scandals weren’t newsworthy.

Well, good luck with that if Donald Trump actually becomes President. It’s your fault that people even think he has these powers. If you really want to do something about it, do something about it when it’s your party. Do something about it in a way that takes courage among your social set. There’s still ten months left to fight President Obama’s abuse of executive orders. Be outspoken in your support of repealing President Obama’s executive orders, and be outspoken in your support of Congress re-asserting its power.

Yes, even though Congress is currently majority Republican.

If you can’t do that, you deserve Donald Trump.