The following is a previously published column.

I was in Denver, Colorado, in 2000 when it was announced that George W. Bush was elected president over former Vice President Al Gore.

I figured that Gore would raise a big stink and inspire bitterness in his followers but at least at that time, he was gracious. He said he lost fair and square and that one of the hallmarks of the republic was an orderly transfer of power.

Former president Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were not nearly as gracious in 2016 when non-politician Donald Trump won.

The day after the election, Obama’s Democrat buddies and Clinton followers actually called for Trump’s impeachment – even before he took office.

Congressional Democrats were depressed and angry that Hillary Clinton – one of the worst candidates ever to run for that office – was rejected by the voters.

They decided to get even.

That effort to get even involved the “Deep State.” The Deep State includes high-level bureaucrats and politicians who act as a shadow government.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, a very liberal Democrat, warned Trump early on not to make the FBI or any intelligence agencies mad because of possible repercussions.

So, some top people at the FBI cooked up a scheme to charge Trump with “stealing” the election by colluding with the Russians. This charge was laughable but it prompted the new attorney general to recuse himself (because he campaigned for Trump) and the Justice Department – at the insistence of congressional Democrats – appointed a “special counsel.”

The special counsel was supposed to have one mission – find out if Trump worked with the Russians to steal the election.

After more than two years of the liberal media bashing Trump and his family, the special counsel report concluded that there was no conspiracy, no collusion and no criminal activity.

The Democrats in the House were absolutely wrong but there was no hint of an apology, even from those who called Trump a traitor.

That scheme didn’t work. So they cooked up another.

They trotted out some dubious economic forecaster that predicted a recession was on the way. That’s an amazing prediction considering that the economy is the best it has been in 30 years, unemployment (especially for minorities) is at a record low and the stock market is doing great.

The recession hoax had no traction. Yet, no apologies from MSNBC, NBC, CBS, CNN, ABC, the New York Times, the Washington Post or the Los Angeles Times.

The pattern for the Democrats is to accuse Trump of what they themselves are guilty of.

The “flavor of the month” is Ukraine. The Democrat-controlled House ginned up a “whistleblower” to try to convince America that Trump bribed the Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden for political purposes.

The truth is that while Joe Biden was vice president, he threatened to withhold American military aid to the Ukraine unless they fired the prosecutor who was investigating Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, who was being paid $50,000 a month by a Ukrainian company for a job that he had no qualifications for. That is the real scandal.

Former president Bill Clinton signed a treaty with the Ukraine that pledged that each country would investigate criminal activity and Trump’s phone call was consistent with that.

Any president should be able to speak freely with other heads of state without Congress and the liberal news media picking away at every comment.

But this is not about what is right or wrong and it’s not even about removing Trump with a vote from the Senate following impeachment.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi didn’t have a vote of the House to launch an impeachment but simply announced “an impeachment inquiry.” If she had followed the law and asked for a vote, Republicans in the House would be able to call witnesses to counter these jaded hearings. And a vote would have been political suicide for Democrats like Rep. Kendra Horn, D-Oklahoma, who is up for re-election in 2020.

No, Pelosi wants a never-ending “investigation” of every detail of President Trump’s life. She wants to introduce a new “controversy” every week in a sordid effort to damage his re-election bid.

One of the reasons why the Democrats are so desperate is the weakness of their field of candidates.

Former Vice President Biden is not fit for the campaign, much less the office. Bernie Sanders is a self-proclaimed Socialist and he has heart problems. Elizabeth Warren lied about her minority status and she too is a dyed-in-the-wool Socialist. Beto O’Rourke wants to confiscate everyone’s guns. Mayor Pete Buttigieg is a flagrant homosexual who is married to another man and Sen. Kamala Harris thinks that eliminating plastic straws will “save the environment.”

The country is deeply divided because Democrats refuse to accept the results of the 2016 election. They are scared to death that Trump will win in 2020.

President Trump is not a perfect person. I didn’t vote for him in the primary but I did during the general election.

Dr. Everett Piper, the retired president of Oklahoma Wesleyan University, said he “was never so glad to be wrong about someone” than he was about Trump.

The Democrats lost in 2016.

They need to get over it.

More funny T-Shirts…

• What do you get when you cross a joke with a rhetorical question?
• Today’s good mood is brought to you by coffee!
• The only thing we have to fear is fear itself (and spiders).
• Don’t act like you’re not impressed.
• I’m not afraid of the dark (I’m afraid of the Ninjas that hide I the dark).
• I am disappointment in you’re grammar.
• If life gives you lemons – keep them, because, hey, free lemons.
• If you can’t be a good example, be a warning.
• Necessity is the mother of invention…MacGyver is the father.
• Everything is easier said than done (except for talking – that’s about the same.)
• Kiss me…I’m pretending to be Irish.
• Spelling is difficoult chalanging hard.
• I survived the Mayan Apocalypse (December 21, 2012)
• The last thing I want to do is hurt you (but it’s still on the list).
• Everything in moderation (except bacon).
• In Heaven, everyone has a Batmobile.
• Give me liberty or give me death (preferably liberty).
• I for one welcome our new insect overlords.
• If you love something, set it free (unless it’s a T-Rex).
• I am so smrat.
• Ending with a preposition is where it’s at.
• You can’t please everybody. You are not pizza.
• Let’s party. (And by party, I mean nap).
• Triple negatives don’t not bother me none.
• Death before decaf.
• Black holes are out of sight.
• Go take a hike (it’s really nice outside).
• Sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes the bear eats you.
• If I’m not back in 5 minutes, just wait longer.
• I work hard so my pet can have a better life.