“I don’t care how heavily armed you are. I don’t care how prepared you are. I don’t care how many police, private security, bodyguards, soldiers, and/or mercenaries you hire. I don’t care what precautions you take. I don’t even care if the gods themselves are on your side; if enough people want you dead so badly that they don’t care if they die, they don’t care how many of them die, they don’t even care what you do to their families and loved ones after they die, just so long as you die too? You’re dead.”

– Infamous Brad Hicks, The Beirut Lesson

As written, this was meant to apply to actual physical violence, specifically in the context of terrorism.  But the same lesson applies, abstractly, with regards to electoral politics. 

Maybe someday we will finally learn: when you teach lots of people to loathe you, it has consequences.  Even if they’re despicable people.  Even if you’re totally right and they’re totally wrong.  Even if the thing you care about is legitimately super important.  You can beat your enemies, but just beating them doesn’t make them go away, and enemies who’ve been beaten down enough will find a way to strike back.  Especially once they reach the point where they care more about striking back than they do about making things okay for themselves.