By Jason Hopkins

Remember when many of them took part in a recount effort led by Jill Stein in the hopes that several swing states would flip in Hillary’s favor? After the recount failed to change anything, liberals then attempted to block his official Electoral College vote. This attempt failed so badly it actually resulted in fewer votes for Clinton than it did Trump. With no options left and Donald Trump securely established in the Oval Office, Democrats have now convinced themselves that impeachment is a serious possibility.

Not so fast.

One prominent Democrat is cautious of letting Trump go. In an interview with the International Business Times, Al Franken said a Trump impeachment would result in a “zealot” President Pence. The junior senator from Minnesota explained his thinking when discussing Pence’s role in the presidential transition process:

“Pence ran the transition and some of the very worst nominees, I felt — [EPA chief Scott] Pruitt, [Education Secretary Betsy] DeVos, [HHS Secretary Tom] Price, [Budget director Mick] Mulvaney — were Pence selections, clearly, I think,” Franken told IBT. “He’s ideological, I consider him a zealot, and I think that in terms of a lot of domestic policy certainly would be worse than Trump.”

He made the comments to IBT while promoting his new book, “Al Franken, Giant of the Senate.”

Franken actually highlights a very important point Republicans need to remember as we move forward in the Trump era.

We are led by a man who did not ascend to the presidency by typical means. Sure, he was unorthodox in his campaign style and he said things that were not “presidential.” It’s not being critical of Trump to say he is a man outside the Washington norm. Because of this, it almost makes me understand why Democrats are so vitriolic in their attacks on Trump. He is an unusual president — so perhaps it makes sense that liberals are unusually critical of him.

But Franken’s comment puts everything back into perspective.

Let’s not shy away from the fact that “zealot” is a harsh word. We can expect that kind of language from a troll on the internet. We should not expect that from a United States senator speaking about our vice president. The word “zealot” conjures up images of religious fanaticism and extremism — nothing at all that describes the humble family man from Indiana.

I assume Franken is calling our vice president a zealot because he holds (very mainstream) positions. Pence supports traditional marriage, is open about his Christian faith and is pro-life.

What has Pence done in his career to deserve such a harsh label? I implore the senator from Minnesota to learn how to disagree with people without using such extreme language.

What’s the point here? It’s that we should know now that you can be the most well-mannered politician in the country, not have a single scandal tied to your name and you’d still be labeled every pejorative a liberal can throw at you.

Trump does not seem to be bothered if people on the left are angered by what he says. Why should he? They’re going to call you a racist/bigot/transphobe anyway. Why keep caring?

Maybe Trump was on to something all along.