Beuchert’s Saloon is a cozy and delicious restaurant on Capitol Hill, just a few blocks from the House of Representatives and even closer to our offices. This week the restaurant was in the news after a manager told a local paper she would refuse service to members of the incoming Trump administration. It’s the sort of thing that was standard for the four years of the first Trump administration, where dining disruptions and casual street violence against Trump supporters were celebrated by congressmen and celebrities alike.

The story picked up steam when Fox News and other outlets shared it, but then something funny happened: Beuchert’s fired her, put out a comment on social media saying the establishment welcomes customers from across the political spectrum, limited the comment section to stave off the predictable online freakout, and went back to business.

It’s just not the same this time.

This seems like a totally sane and completely normal response, but it just wasn’t the case four years ago, when D.C.’s local leaders worked hard to make the city as unwelcoming to Republicans as possible and many of my old neighbors joined in. You couldn’t go to the local brewery or bar, or pay much attention to the neighborhood or school email lists, without enduring signs and slogans about everyone being welcome and hate having no home here. Of course, the signs actually meant that Republicans are both hated there and not welcome there, but self-reflection was never a hallmark of “the Resistance.”

It’s just not the same this time. During the last go-around, activists shrieked in the streets, the National Mall was packed with “p**sy hats,” and megaphoned speakers called for violence against the administration. This winter is tame. When a Black Lives Matter activist called for black vigilantes to target whites in the aftermath of the Daniel Penny acquittal, the responses ranged from cringes to shrugs. What a wacko.

In the halls of power, Democrat leaders are coming around too. The same people who once banned federal law enforcement in their cities and toppled and vandalized their own statues to get back at Trump are now open to talking to him. Only three people showed up for outgoing Squad members Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) and Cori Bush’s (D-Mo.) farewell speeches. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker reversed course this week and said he’s open to working with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to deport violent foreigners, and even liberal icon and sanctuary state pioneer Jerry Brown admits sanctuary policies are a bit off the rails. California über alles, indeed.

And it’s not just in the halls of power and in the streets. In homes across the country, viewers are tuning out from CNN and MSNBC. The two cable stations each lost half their audiences in the weeks after the election, when compared to the preceding 10 months. Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump’s approval rating hit a net positive for the first time, according to RealClearPolling. Amazing stuff.

For all the slogans about love, there was a whole lot of hate these past eight years, and hate and outrage really are exhausting emotions. It’s past time to give it a rest.

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