New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, Mother Jones Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery and scores of keyboard warriors are comparing President-elect Donald Trump’s victory on Tuesday to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

“This is a moral 9/11,” Friedman told Bill Maher and other pundits. “Only 9/11 was done from us on the outside and we did this to ourselves.”

Jeffery was likewise hysterical in her Tweets:

normalization of hate
climate catastrophe
families separated

This is not a normal switch from one party to another.

— Clara Jeffery (@ClaraJeffery) November 10, 2016

Actor Robert De Niro agreed, saying “I feel like I did after 9/11.”

These national voices aren’t alone. Social media activists have made the same comparison.

The anti-Christian liberal group Southern Poverty Law Center and Muslim extremist apologist group Council on American-Islamic Relations say that race-based, sex-based and other insults, threats and attacks are happening more frequently now than after the terrorist attack 15 years ago. While unproven and sometimes disproven allegations of racist and sexist acts by Trump supporters have seemed to justify these comparisons — several people who lost friends and/or family on 9/11 slammed the comparison.

The comparisons also fail on their individual merits.

Four Points That Shouldn’t Need Making, But Do, Thanks to SJW Snowflakes

1. Thousands of people actually died on 9/11 as a direct result of terrorists targeting civilians and the Pentagon. Nobody died on 11/9 thanks to voting.

2. There are about 3,000 officially counted abortions per day in this country. Given that 3,000 people died on 9/11, a more proper comparison would be to say that if he follows through on his pro-life policy vows, Trump helped America dodge further 9/11s by defeating Hillary Clinton.

3. I agree with the left that some demographic groups have legitimate concerns about a Trump presidency. He has promised to make police more powerful, which is concerning on multiple levels for those who want less intrusive government (which is why the ACLU and The Heritage Foundation, and the Kochs and the White House, have worked together to enact serious criminal justice reform). This could especially lead to harm for black Americans — there is evidence of disparate police activity toward blacks, though much of this is accounted for when examining crime rates by race.

But, again, on 9/11 people died as a direct result of terrorists’ actions. Trump has not endorsed killing people who follow the law. More police power could lead indirectly to more deaths, but those are hardly apples to apples comparisons.

4. LGBT advocates who say Trump’s victory emboldens so-called “homophobia” have even less credibility. Trump has said the country should move forward on same-sex “marriage,” and is generally socially moderate or liberal on other, related issues — including his stance that people with gender identity disorder should be able to use the restroom of their choice.

His election does put women in a bad spot. Yes, white women voted for Trump by a slim majority, and Kellyanne Conway led his campaign to victory. But a man who has acted as Trump has regarding marriage and respect for women and their bodies could empower some men (much as having Bill Clinton back in the White House could have) to treat women badly.

But, again: People died on 9/11. Furthermore, Trump has offered no policy prescriptions that would restrict the rights of women, except for the fake “right” to abortion.

Note: It is possible that anti-Muslim and anti-Hispanic vigilante and criminal actions could increase under a Trump presidency, in the same way that certain types of men could be emboldened to treat women badly. However, a) given how frequently such claims are unproven or disproven, as noted above, b) that Trump has pretty strongly distinguished between citizens and non-citizens when discussing Hispanics and Muslims and c) how Trump has modified his original Muslim ban on immigrants to focus specifically on nations that tend to harbor Islamic terrorists, claims to this effect should be carefully investigated.

In Closing

I was a #NeverTrump conservative who voted for Evan McMullin in protest of the two major party candidates. I hope and pray that President-elect Trump will prove me wrong about his character and policy prescriptions. But it shouldn’t take being a Trump voter to realize that 9/11 comparisons lack basis in fact, and only serve to inflame lawbreakers and others who are protesting Trump’s legal and fair victory on Tuesday.