A few years ago, I had the odd experience of visiting the original Hanoi Hilton, the prisoner-of-war camp where McCain, and hundreds of other American soldiers, were held during the Vietnam War.

It’s now a museum, and if ever there existed an example of ‘history is written by the victors’, it’s here.  Remember, North Vietnam was ready to surrender after the Tet Offensive, but so much American dissent for the war was broadcast internationally that they decided to hang on for five more years—and finally won.

Meanwhile, 20,000 more American soldiers died, many inside the Hanoi Hilton.

The Hanoi Hilton is now a museum with an entire wing dedicated to the history of the American anti-war movement.  Jane Fonda’s role has a room of its own. Despite the essential righteousness of the anti-war protests, you cannot escape the statistics that emerged from a thus-empowered North Vietnam:

20,000 more American soldiers died.

So, go ahead and protest the results of a lawful, democratic election:  It’s your right.

Go ahead and post endless anti-Trump memes and cartoons and clever plays on words: It’s your right.

Go ahead and let the rest of the world know that you think your country is batshit insane: It’s your right.

Just don’t lose sight of the fact that those who despise the United States on principal are loving every minute of it.  They feed on American divisiveness and thrive on American self-loathing, especially over a circumstance that, quite frankly, we chose in the very sort of democracy which we wish to sprinkle over those less enlightened masses.

However, if you need reasons to think again about any of it, I think I just offered you 20,000 of them.