The inauguration is finally near. After a long year of dragged out politics that got nastier than usual, the next President is preparing to inherit the White House. The transition of power is different in some ways, because the incoming top executive lacks the established political background that most politicians have. But as popular narratives said throughout the election from start to finish, Donald Trump was never going to win.

But here we are.

Commentary from liberal sources and other Never Trump people would lead us to believe that the world is in fact ending. Everyone has their own victim mentality in progress and can explain how they will be oppressed under a Trump Presidency because of the mean things he’s said.

His proposals have struck fear with some, leading many to suggest the America we’ve always known and loved is disappearing. Free speech is going to be dead and our freedom to assemble will come under fire as various groups of people are oppressed. The LGBT community stands in fear, minorities are bracing for devastation and liberals are cowering in fear.

The end of days is upon us.

The problem is we’ve been here before America. This level of fearmongering is not unprecedented and we survived.

Almost a decade ago, a new politician came out of nowhere and defied the odds. This young man had new ideas and threatened the status quo, but he was also never supposed to win. The improbable rise defied all the predictions and interestingly enough, it happened against Hillary Clinton in the primary.

November came and went, and the United States Senator had won his ride to the White House. The hyperbole was just beginning.

Conservative news sites, as they had for months, sounded the alarm. A radical progressive was preparing to take over the White House and would shatter the Constitution. The America we’ve always known and loved was under direct threat. The President was hostile to the Bill of Rights and prepared to take aim at things such as the right to bear arms and religion. Barack Obama was a Muslim plant and infiltrator who would walk the global jihad right into Washington D.C.

The game was over.

Sound familiar?

It sounds familiar because we just relived the entire cycle all over again.

Liberal news sites right now, as they have for months, are sounding the alarm. An extreme conservative is preparing to take over the White House and will shatter the Constitution. The America we’ve always known and loved is under direct threat. The President-elect is hostile to the Bill of Rights and is prepared to take aim at rights such as free speech. Donald Trump is a Russian plant and infiltrator who will walk the Red Army right into Washington D.C.

All of the fearmongering is recycled and it’s counterproductive. All it did under the Obama years was further polarize America and deepen the partisan divide. It’s happening now and it’s going to get worse. Friendships are being destroyed over political preference and families are breaking down, because of a difference in opinion. The idea that Trump is the harbinger of the apocalypse leads people to take this difference in political opinion personally.

What are we doing to ourselves?

Admitting that the world will not come collapsing down is not necessarily stating that everything the President-elect does is right. We can disagree as adult human beings without leading to extreme hyperbole and vitriolic absurdity. Is Donald Trump going to make a good President? Maybe, maybe not. But regardless, the world is not coming to an end and America is not over.

We’ve learned this already and we survived.