The Atlantic

Stop Bending the Knee to Donald Trump

The 2016 election is over. Voters no longer face a binary choice. So why are the president’s supporters still pledging their fealty?
Source: Dominick Reuter / Reuters

In Westeros, the fictional realm where Game of Thrones is set, common men and women are expected to bend the knee to kings, queens, lords, and ladies, pledging their fealty “from this day till my last day.”

Americans are citizens, not servile subjects. After voting for a public servant, there is no obligation of abiding loyalty. Indeed, the right to critique all shortcomings is enshrined in the Constitution’s First Amendment. I’ve always felt that a good citizen exercises that right.

Circa 2008, I favored Barack Obama in his bid to become president. Thereafter, I

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