In 2008 (and please correct me if I'm letting nostalgia color things with a warmer palate than deserved), those of us on the left were proud not just because we won after 12 years of conservatism, not just because we proved that when your candidate is brilliant, erudite, and - y'know, cool - he could win an election even if his skin tone was brown, his hair tight and curly, his name dangerously Middle Eastern, and his opponent a beloved, universally admired hero of war (with, granted, conveniently horrific taste in running mates). 

No, we were most proud of Obama's victory because we believed it was a victory for America. For all Americans. Yes, we were too quick to dismiss some of his detractors as unable to see past his skin color and background (while this was true of some, the generalization backfired greatly). But even to them, we said: look, this is the one. This guy is here for you, too. You don't have to worry. He's one of us, and he's going to make you better off too. Everybody chill the fuck out. He's got this.

Nobody is saying this about the new guy. 

Today, it's "better run, Muslims. Get outta town, illegals." And to liberals, those "snowflakes," they have one word:

                                                       Or is that two?

The happy people are at their happiest when they're rubbing it in the faces of the losers. That's right, go cry, losers! You sad, pathetic - when will the right figure out how idiotic they sound when they use "snowflake" as a pejorative? Geez, conservative Twitter has more snowflakes than Fargo. They have 80-gallon drums of "liberal tears" too, and...ah, you know the details. You've seen them. The variations are limited, to say the least.

Shortly after the election, a conservative (but staunchly anti-Trump) friend of mine contacted his liberal friends personally. He told them he knew they were upset, but he didn't want us to worry - he truly believed everything would be all right. Before you get angry at him for not getting past his white male privilege, at least join me in appreciating his intent. He knew we were hurting, and he wanted to help, even if he didn't know how. Even those of us who are LGBTQ, African American, Latinx, disabled, or otherwise in the crosshairs of the new administration appreciated his attempt at being a friend.

Thing is, it didn't last. His patience wore thin. He started lashing out at those who bemoaned the Electoral College, who took to the streets in protest, who refused to ever accept the winner as "my president." He started painting us all in the same strokes as the most radical, hateful "liberal" he could find - if some jerk wrote that he wished the new guy would have a heart attack, we all wished it. That sort of thing. He started taking delight in posting deliberately provocative missives and responding "get over it" (and "get used to it") when we protested. In short, he, like nearly every conservative on social media, enjoyed our loss far more than his victory. 

And so it goes. Snowflakes. Liberal tears.

Granted, some people really do want this particular guy in charge. Sure, some peeled off when the campaign promises that pushed them to vote 'R' vanished like rice paper in a volcano, but many cannot wait for the new rules, whatever they may be. Another faction doesn't want the new guy to succeed, exactly - what they want is to tear the whole thing down (riots, Martial Law, the works), forcing us into a governmental do-over that omits key phrases like "all men are created equal" and the 19th Amendment. Their guy won, too.

Look in the bios of these folks, and you see the same thing. They "drink liberal tears." (Another one.) They can't wait to restore law and order. Watch out, liberals and gays oh wait that's redundant (haw haw!). There aren't many variations on this, so it gets boring quickly - the only game is to see who is willing to use full-on racial, homophobic, misogynist slurs, and who isn't. (They're all willing to use offensive memes.) You lose, losers. All lives matter, but not yours.

The spirit of 2008 is gone. These folks aren't the least bit interested in communicating that the country is better off for everyone, that the new guy has good ideas for all of us, that we'll be okay and everything will be all right. 

Maybe they're just being honest. Maybe they know that while they'll be all right, we certainly will not be. Which means they really did win. And man, did we ever lose.