Donald Trump is not the first president to be hated by a large segment of the American people. Far from it.
Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln and many other presidents were hated by a large swath of the voting public when in office.
Franklin Roosevelt was well and truly hated by a great many, especially prior to World War II. He overcame with charm, grace and willpower. And he didn't get bogged down.
Ronald Reagan, whose youthful hero was Roosevelt, did the same. He was despised and demeaned by much of the chattering class and certainly all of the left. But he knew his own mind and had great instincts, one of the best of which was to not get enmeshed in petty and personal conflicts. And, like FDR, he used humor and grace to overcome.
One cannot help but wonder about Trump: If he had been given a chance, would he have gotten better instead of worse?
A chance. To his followers, the vast majority of whom are peaceful and law-abiding, Trump was never given a chance to govern. The deep state and the major pillars of the political culture, including most of the press, went to work on sinking the Trump presidency from the day of his election.
Of course, as with Richard Nixon, many Trump haters and Never Trumpers (mostly solid Republicans) will say: We were right all along. The character flaws and ignorance of our system and its norms, written and unwritten, were there for all to see.
But the question now is whether Joe Biden will be given a chance.
Will the Republicans say, as Mitch McConnell did of Barack Obama: Let's focus on the undoing. Let's sabotage everything he does and make sure we win the midterms and hold this guy to one term.
Will they engage in payback? If Trump was illegitimate and impeachable even before Day 1 in office, why not the same for Biden?
A chance for the other guy has always been a hard sell. Liberals were appalled when one of their icons, Sen. Eugene McCarthy, said in early 1969, "We have to give Nixon a chance, don't we?"
And they were livid when Kennedy egghead Pat Moynihan joined Nixon's administration. He was called many names, and only grudgingly and gradually let back into the good graces of the Democratic Party--because a lot of New Yorkers wanted to vote for him.
But, yes, I think Republicans and Trump supporters should give Joe Biden what their guy didn't get--a chance to govern, a chance to succeed.
They should do this because that's who we want to be as a people and polity, and that's what we need right now.