Jeff Messer is the host of a daily radio talk show on Asheville’s WPEK (880-AM, The Revolution) that airs from 3 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. This column features posts from his daily blog.

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The following was posted on Nov. 14:

Nearly six days have passed since Election Night. I still encounter people with raw and rattled nerves at the election of Donald Trump as the 45th president.

I also see hordes of folks protesting the anxiety of those who are feeling anxious. 

Typically, the folks who are saying “I don’t get why ‘they’re’ so upset” are male, white, American, “Christian-”ish, heterosexual and reasonably middle-class (if there is such a thing anymore.) And, no, you don’t “get it.”

I posted during the late hours of the Election Night coverage that I was feeling sad for all the things I’m not. I’m not a woman, I’m not gay, I’m not a minority. I can blend in and fit in. I’ll be fine. I’ll never need to worry about deportation or abortion, or most other “white” issues for myself. I fear for those who are not like me, who are reasonably afraid for their lives.

Already, reports of Trump attitude enabled revenge have begun to pour in. Over 200 hate crime incidents were reported in the first days following the election.

Gay people have been verbally assaulted in public by angry white Trump acolytes.Several gay people have been physically beaten. 

Women have been yelled down for expressing their concerns for their health and welfare. 

Latino students have been given fake deportation notices by white students in one high school, while others have been assaulted and belittled in public. And so on.

Yes, the angry white rage is running white hot. It has been released in full by the election of Trump and the sense that his success endorses the return of white power attitudes.

You  can try as you might to say that I’m overstating it, but you would be wrong. And likely you’re the white male in the description I listed above, thus removing much of the validity of your huffing about it.

In recent days in the media, many have been saying that Trump might not be so bad, as he backpedals on many of his hyperbolic campaign “promises.” They are also missing the point.

It isn’t Trump being president that people fear so much as the people who feel enabled by it to unleash hate and violence on others. That’s my concern. And that’s the root of the evil that people fear.

Sure, we can bore down into it and find plenty of reasons to fear Trump as president too: Supreme Court picks, loading his Cabinet with GOP standard-bearers (so much for draining the D.C. swamp) and peppering his staff with jsut enough alt-right hate-mongers to try and appease the base of baseless mouth-breathers.

The list goes on. How about Mike Pence and his views on LGBT issues? He has a lot of power now. How about Rudy Guliani and his views on policing minority neighborhoods? Yep. He’s got more power now than he has had in over a decade. The list goes on.

Trump has now hedged on Obamacare, gay marriage, jailing Hillary Clinton, and a myriad of other issues. Some people are breathing a sigh of relief. Well, don’t hold your breath. He is still surrounded by a newly emboldened and enabled GOP, who think they are going to actually be in charge. 

They, too, think Trump is a buffoon, but he’s one they think they can control. I hope he proves them wrong.

There’s a lot of interesting dynamics at play here, and no one can predict the outcome — much like the election.

As the left regroups, there’s much soul-searching to be done. Should that have gone with Bernie Sanders after all? Were the Democrats trying too hard to hold onto a system that people are so over?

Lots of questions and concerns for the left to address. And, they have to evolve. Evolution was forced upon the GOP. Well, more of a de-evolution in some ways, but you get my point. We’re in a post two-party system in transition in America. Even if the two parties don’t get that fact yet.

What’s next could determine the long term future of America. Two thousand eighteen and 2020 will be interesting elections, as both the Dems and the GOP move to reassert their control. And make no mistake, the GOP is far from being in confident control.

But how does the left find its way?

I have a few thoughts that may not sit well with many, but are important to consider:

The left like to say they are inclusive, but they also like to be pretty locked down on certain issues. It is that internal logic conflict that the right like to bludgeon them with from time to time.

The left seem to tilt away from American Christianity, more because of the GOP evangelical movement than anything. And anyone with half a brain (well...) sees through the right wing religious B.S. 

The Christian “right” in this country are about as far from Christian as can be without being named the Pontias Pilate Party. But the left just let them carry that false prophet banner, and treat it as if it is legitimate.

It is not.

There needs to be a massive rise of the Religious Left in America. Plain and simple. A true Christian movement. Jesus Christ was a hardcore liberal before being liberal was cool, or a bad word in politics. The left need to co-opt that and run with hard it like a musical theatre parade meets a gay rights parade with a production of “Hair,” nestled between productions of “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Godspell.”

That’s step one.

Look to the Rev. William Barber to be the third first in North Carolina ... and to take flight with his soaring words of hope, faith and humanity. He’s got the keys to the party bus. Now get on board.

Second up, and more controversial, is the suggestion that we start a powerful Second Amendment movement on the left. That’s right. Gun rights on the left. Liberal and progressive gun owners, openly and proudly carrying and carrying on about their rights to have and hold guns.

There’s nothing wrong with guns in the hands of responsible gun-owners. I have no doubt that the left with guns would be smart and safe and responsible. We can’t say the same for all of the right. So, let’s take that away from them by taking over the cause, stepping up, signing up for the NRA, getting open carry permits, and making it a cause of the left wing in America that we need to be armed and ready to defend our rights to chose, to marry whomever we want, and to have better healthcare and education.

Want to scare the right wing? Take God and Guns away from them, and in the same breaths take the “take back our country” rhetoric. They do no have exclusive rights to those things, and it is far past time the left stop just letting them get away with it.

Trump has caused a hell of a lot of low-IQ bullies to feel like his presidency signals a return of white male power. 

And, while I firmly believe that this is the very last gasp of a dying way of thinking and believing, I am very concerned at the collateral damage that it will inflict for the next four years as it goes through its death rattles.

I’m not concerned as much for myself. I’m a white guy. But I care about more than myself. And that apparently makes me different than many.