Do we want Donald Trump to fail?

Today is Inauguration Day, and Donald Trump might be the most unpopular new boss in presidential history. Most Americans have an unfavorable opinion of him. Many of us think he’s unfit for office.

But do we want him to fail?

Quick story: A few weeks back, I decided it might be a good experiment to find and write three nice things about our next president. One of the biggest criticisms we’ve been getting as an editorial board is that we don’t give Donald Trump credit for anything. I wondered if a) that was true, and b) if that diluted the criticism we do have of him.

So, three nice things. Like this, for example: I like that Trump has re-started, in his own blustery way, a conversation about manufacturers moving jobs out of the country. Also, I think his devotion to his own ideas – and not necessarily his party’s – could at its best help break through the paralysis we’ve endured in Washington.

You get the idea. Honestly, it wasn’t all that hard to come up with three. Publishing them, well, that’s another thing.

Because to say something good about President Donald Trump meant lending support to the idea of Donald Trump as President. Did I really want to do that?

For many, the answer is easy: No. For the next four years, they’ll oppose everything Trump proposes. They condemn him at every opportunity. When Trump nods, they’ll reflexively shake their heads.

On a political level, it’s not a bad strategy. Today, Republicans control Congress and the White House – plus most state governments – in large part because of how relentlessly they demonized Barack Obama. They opposed everything he proposed. They condemned him at every opportunity. They manufactured an enemy – of conservatism, of America – that their base could rally against.

For opponents of Donald Trump, there’s a lot less assembly required. Most every tweet he sends reminds us that he’s vain and impulsive and vengeful – that he’s not a decent man. He may very well turn out to be a dangerous one.

But what if President Trump follows through on an infrastructure plan that fixes our country’s roads and bridges while putting thousands of Americans to work? (That was my third nice thing, by the way.) What if he heads off Republicans’ worst impulses on repealing and replacing Obamacare? Do we still shake our heads then?

We’ve criticized that posture on these pages. We’ve said it was wrong to reflexively oppose something because of who proposed it. For eight years, it made compromise nearly impossible, it paralyzed Congress, and it led to the death of policy that could benefit people, no matter their party. We’re seeing the fruits of that now as more Americans realize how Republicans fed them mistruths about the Affordable Care Act. Now, a viable and beneficial program – one that a majority of Americans like or need – might be taken away.

So today is Inauguration Day – a day we show the world (and maybe ourselves) that we can peacefully give power to those we oppose. It’s OK to dread that transfer, and to fear what it might bring. It’s OK not to accept the kind of presidency Trump seems ready to offer.

But we should ask ourselves what else we’re not willing to accept. It’s easy to oppose the bad policies that will come these next four years. What will we do, this time, with the ones that are good?

This story was originally published January 19, 2017 at 3:02 PM with the headline "Do we want Donald Trump to fail?."