Really, it was just a little thing that happened pre-election. Someone planted two Trump/Vance signs on my property — without my permission, probably when I was asleep or away. And it gave me the creeps.

You see, I never display any political signs, not in my yard, plastered on my car, or written on a lapel pin. Staying out of the game I write about seems the right choice. Courtesy of my husband, the signs quickly ended up in the recycle bin. But someone had to commit a crime, trespassing, to accomplish the mission.

That matters, especially when political passions eventually lead to not-so-small transgressions. In Texas, a man was arrested on felony charges of assaulting an elderly elections worker who told him the law required him to remove his pro-Trump baseball cap at the voting site. Ballot boxes have been set on fire in some states in attacks against democracy itself.

The not-so-subtle threats and acts of aggression paint a pretty dim vision of the future in a divided country, for both political and personal interactions.

No doubt the alleged perpetrators feel justified. It all makes sense if you had been listening to President-elect Donald Trump since, well, forever. He is the perpetual blameless victim, though he is the one convicted of felonies and charged with federal crimes that no doubt his Department of Justice will make disappear.

Laws for thee, not for me, apparently.

Many Americans braced for another January march to the Capitol if the 2024 election went against Trump. On Telegram, Proud Boys and other acolytes announced their plans, with the expectation of exoneration when Trump would be returned to his rightful place in the White House.

On the other hand, few Americans, including those who voted Trump, I believe, are worried that Vice President Kamala Harris or her supporters, as disappointed as they must be, will publish manifestos or promise retaliation, as some Trumpers did when they suspected a Harris win.

To Trump and his followers, the only possible proof of a fair election was a Trump win. And they got it. The National Guard troops Washington Gov. Jay Inslee had on “standby status” can relax now. All those lawsuits claiming fraud? Never mind.

Americans are quite confident there will be no post-election insurrection. And, unlike her opponent, I’m pretty certain that the vice president, after presiding over the certifying of the electors, will attend the new president’s inauguration, an American tradition Trump flouted.

Is that now the norm, with one side practicing democracy and the other threatening resistance and retribution if it doesn’t get its way?

Fear and anger were Trump’s seductive and successful closing message. Attack and crudely vilify his opponent; encourage rowdy rally-goers. The hope is that victory might make Trump realize that a good chunk of the country feared him much more than his warnings of violent immigrants invading suburban homes toting knives, bad intentions and a taste for Fido.

I wouldn’t bet on it, though. It wasn’t a good sign when Trump barred reporters he didn’t like from attending his election night event, showing what he thinks of the Constitution’s words about press freedom.

Trump, who still claims without evidence that he was robbed of the presidency in 2020, has promised to pardon the criminals who participated in an attempted insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, the ones he now calls patriots and hostages. He has mused about a sure-fire, crime-fighting plan, one “real rough, nasty” day of violence by immunity-protected law enforcement to clean up the streets of urban areas he disparages.

Tell me again, which is the party of law and order?

It’s said that political campaigns are about many things — policies, debates, TV ads — but it’s the “vibe” that counts. In the 2024 presidential election, the winner’s closing vibe skewed dark, with dire warnings and curses: Vote for me, the Democratic Party is “demonic.”

After a contentious election, an exhausted country is urged to move on. But if the anticipated next move is capitulation to name-calling bullies, that’s not exactly progress.

Mary C. Curtis has worked at The New York Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Charlotte Observer, as national correspondent for Politics Daily, and is a senior facilitator with The OpEd Project. She is host of the CQ Roll Call “Equal Time with Mary C. Curtis” podcast. Follow her on X @mcurtisnc3.