In 2004, you guys were pretty stunned by George W. Bush’s reelection. Within two years, you had Congress. In two more years, you had everything. And, again, many of you believed after 2004 that it was the end of all things. It was not.

Now, please consider this.

You lost, in part, because your side of the aisle engaged in a cover-up of the sitting president’s cognitive decline. His staff, Cabinet secretaries, members of Congress and senior members of the press with access to Biden told everyone he was fine. They lied, and Biden got exposed on a debate stage.

If you are not willing to hold your own side accountable for engaging in a cover-up of the president’s decline, don’t expect Republicans to take you seriously about holding Donald Trump accountable. Your own team lied to you all and to the American people about Joe Biden. Those people set you up for failure last Tuesday night.

Before you blame Americans for rejecting you, maybe identify and oust the people who made that rejection possible. They are both in politics and the press.

If you are not willing to clean up your side, don’t expect Republicans to clean up theirs. It was not our side complicit in a cover-up of historic proportions. It was the voices in the press who assured us Biden was better than ever and the Democratic politicians and appointees who hid him, excused him and deflected for him.

To rebuild trust, perhaps demand accountability. People can’t trust a party that says the economy is fine when they’re also saying the President is fine and everyone can see with their own eyes that he is not.

Please consider this next point, though some of you might not want to. Many of you have become secular and do not have a profound theology. There is some interesting data out there that shows secular people and Democrats who go to church are more fearful than evangelicals. Couple that point about Democrats who go to church still being fearful with the data that shows progressive churches are more likely to preach on political topics. You can see that progressives are way more steeped in politics than evangelicals, even if that is hard for you to accept. The data is there.

The data shows liberal Christians are more engaged in politics than conservative Christians. Your eschatology is that we must bring about a heaven on earth because heaven itself is not real. And politics harnesses power to bring that about.

We see things differently, but my point is that you are as steeped in your worldview as I am in mine. However, I am more likely to encounter progressives in my daily life than you are to encounter people like me.

Please understand it is not misinformation and disinformation that have convinced Trump supporters that they are suffering economically. It is their lived experience. Their costs really have gone up and their wages have not kept up. When you look at the map of red versus blue, understand that those red areas are areas that suffered more from inflation and cost increases than the blue areas.

I’m a terribly flawed person, but I do believe God is real, and I do believe I’ve got to love my neighbor. You guys don’t have that divine admonition, but I’d suggest you give it a try. Love your neighbor, even if you disagree with him on the election.

You just see the world differently because you’ve had different experiences, and you aren’t going to win your neighbor over any more than a Christian will convert someone by standing on their lawn with a bullhorn yelling, “Repent!”

Democrats, y’all have become the street preacher with the megaphone yelling at people that the end is near and they must repent or burn in hell. Nobody likes that guy.

To find out more about Erick Erickson and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.