Opinion - Yes, democracy was on the ballot — and it won!

Democrats are beside themselves with anger, not grief. They are filled with rage that the American public chose to displease them by voting in a way Democrats have deemed to not be in their best interest.

When presented with the opportunity to choose light over darkness, the voters went with darkness. When presented with the opportunity to protect democracy by electing a Democrat, voters chose a Republican — and not just any Republican, but their current reincarnation of Adolf Hitler.

Voters could have protected democracy. Instead they voted to end it.

Or did they?

It had become conventional cable new wisdom that Donald Trump was a threat who "wanted to be a dictator on day one!" That line was repeated so frequently it became a chant for the left. Unfortunately for them, as with so many other things in this election accepted by Democrats as gospel, it was a lie.

The Democratic Party's media has always taken Trump literally. Actually, that's not true — they've always pretended to take Trump literally, even though it's manifestly obvious when he's joking and when he is not. And the "dictator on day one" line was an obvious joke about how every president signs a stack of executive orders immediately after inauguration. "After that," Trump continued, " I'm not a dictator ."

There isn't much political mileage to be gained from the truth, so Democrats set the truth aside and the lie was born. It's a lie that lives to this day, with former Joe Biden press secretary and current MSBNC personality Jen Psaki repeating it as recently as Sunday , adding, "Look, I happen to think Donald Trump is a major threat to our democracy. I believe it as much today as I did last week, fascism is a threat, a dire one. So is authoritarian leadership."

Does anyone truly think the woman I call "Ginger Goebbels" believes any of that? That any of the people who made "Trump is Hitler," "Trump will end democracy," and " Trump praised white supremacists " their on-air mantra actually believe any of it when the cameras are off?

Of course not.

Most voters, when they hear the media and Democrats people say something about Trump, have learned from experience to assume they are hearing a lie or a distortion. How else to explain that Joe Scarborough was friends with Trump for years , and only now suddenly claims that he is history's greatest monster?

How could any honest person have missed Trump's fascistic nature for so long? The answer is that Scarborough doesn't believe it — none of them do.

Voters listened to all the lies, and the election results show that they just didn't fall for it. Here's the proof: NBC News's exit polls found that those who believed democracy was "threatened" were, if anything, a bit more likely to support Trump.

Among the 25 percent of voters who said "democracy in the U.S. is secure," Trump won, 50 percent to 48 percent . And among the 73 percent who said democracy was "threatened," he also won, 51 percent to 48 percent.

So democracy did not affect how people voted, because people were just as likely (or just a bit more likely) to view the Democrats as the greater threat.

Voters recognized that the media's Democratic Party lapdogs were power-hungry liars, so they decided not to trust that party with power. And even to be charitable, on the off-chance that these mouthpieces are so deluded as to believe their own propaganda, it would only mean they are too unstable to be trusted with power anyway.

But you can tell that they were lying all along, because they haven't left the country. They didn't warn people to save themselves and get out. They have now adopted a "We'll get 'em next time" attitude. This is not what you do if you believe America just held its last election and Trump is about to send the Army after you.

In fact, instead of fleeing for their lives, they are still calling Trump a tyrant even now. Tyrants don't take kindly to being called tyrants. Are they trying to get themselves prosecuted or shot? Or have they realized all along that Trump isn't going to do those things?

Wannabe tyrants, on the other hand, lose their minds when they fear their power is slipping away. That's what voters have been watching the many Democrats do over the last four years.

They have pushed to get rid of the filibuster so they can force their legislation through Congress. They have been pushing to pack the Supreme Court to ensure their actions will be declared Constitutional.

They have been using the civil and criminal justice systems to persecute their enemies, and especially to destroy Trump, all in order to avoid last week's election outcome. It backfired.

There was a genuine threat to democracy on the ballot last week, and the American public resoundingly rejected it.

Derek Hunter is host of the Derek Hunter Podcast and a former staffer for the late Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.).