After months of receiving daily emails from President-elect Donald Trump's highly successful campaign, the emails stopped after Election Day. And rightfully so.

Most every one of those emails asked for a financial contribution to Trump's campaign, similar to the automated emails I received from President Obama's campaigns in 2008 and 2012. There was no more need to ask for donations, bash Hillary Clinton or hype any upcoming campaign stops.

Trump will soon be in the White House, where his most important job will be to mend and heal our wounded, fractured country. Doing such a thing will require more than daily emails bashing Trump's critics or slamming various minority groups.

A few days after that historic Tuesday, I received one last email from Trump's campaign. It not only surprised me, but it also reminded me to remove myself from his campaign's automated email server.

For a split second, though, I was seriously impressed with what I thought was in the email's subject line in bold letters, “STOP NOW.” Did you get this email, too?

Finally, I thought to myself, our fearless incoming president is reinforcing his stern statement on last Sunday's “60 Minutes” TV show to those now fearless supporters who've been harassing, threatening or intimidating minority groups.

If you recall, Trump told those supporters, “Stop it,” while staring straight into the camera.

Unfortunately, I was wrong about that email. It actually stated, “SHOP NOW.”

My shoulders shrugged in disappointment as I opened the email to read this next line: “We only have limited quantities of our most popular items left: 5,125 Maga Hats, 475 #Bigleague T-Shirts, 670 Official #Bigleague Buttons.”

Oh well, possibly our new president will transform himself from a shrewd businessman to a respected leader and a unifying statesman. I'm willing to wait and see, along with the rest of the country, though many of his supporters believe Trump is already the conservative messiah this nation needs for salvation.

“Trump is already an American hero and you liberal (expletives) are clueless,” wrote one reader, Paul Lupiano, who typed a lengthy email to me last week. “Go (expletive) yourself Jerry.”

Lupiano vehemently disagreed with my description in an earlier column how Trump said “Stop it,” to his supporters who've been harassing minorities since Election Day.

“At worst this is an intentional attempt by Davich to paint The President Elect as a man carelessly dismissing the very sensitive concerns of Americans and further push the left's narrative that, among other derogatory things, Trump is a vile, racist barbarian,” Lupiano wrote to me.

“It's no longer a secret or conspiracy theory talked about among a select few of loons and whackos that The Main Stream Media is and has been a propaganda machine working for Progressive Liberals and Democrats,” he added. “Honest journalism is dead. Americans demand fair, unbiased reporting.”

I replied to Lupiano, reminding him that I write an opinion column, and some of my columns include an obvious bias to some degree. Some are biased against politics in general, others are biased against ignorance or injustice or prejudice.

“I'm impressed by your stupidity and will always happily make time to let a liberal know how (expletive) they are,” he replied in an email.

This curse word-laden attitude doesn't surprise me. I've seen worse on social media threads regarding the recent presidential election and Election Day aftermath. Not specifically against me, but against those who disagree with someone else's point of view or political stance.

I often wondered if these heated digital debates and endless name-calling would be so volatile if it was done in person, through a face-to-face meeting, not in the streets inflamed by a mob mentality of violent protests or counter demonstrations. But with a one-on-one meeting, initiated with a handshake and concluded with at least a better understanding of each other's opinions.

This is, in the very least, what our embattled country needs, I believe, as we transition from an Obama to a Trump administration. I'm not expecting a transformational, hand-holding Kumbaya moment. No, just a common ground of better understanding without curse words, name-calling and potential violence.

A civilized conversation, I guess you could call it.

With this in mind, I invited Lupiano to meet with me to discuss our obvious differences about Trump, his personal past and our country's future. I thought it might make an interesting column, if nothing else.

“I honestly have zero interest in meeting you,” he replied.

“It would be pointless since 1: I won our little dialogue and have already verbally eviscerated you and exposed you as a hack and a liar. 2: The ideologies we espouse have reached a point where any attempt at ‘meaningful dialogue' would be as likely as Obama saying, ‘Islamic Extremist.' And 3: I take your ‘invitation' as a thinly veiled request to fight which would end badly for you and have dire legal consequences for me!,” he wrote.

This, I told myself, is what democracy looks like. This is what freedom looks like. This is what America looks like. It's complex. It's contentious. It's violent and hostile.

Sarcastically, I wrote to Lupiano, “Have a great life, Paul.”

He replied, “Millions of Americans are trying to have a great life. But liberals like you are getting in the way, Jerry. Its going to get a lot worse for your ‘team' before it gets better.”

So this is where we're headed in the United Straits of America?

Yes, let's not kid ourselves. This is precisely what we're up against. And this is what our new president-elect and his Hoosier vice president will have to deal with, beyond simply saying “Stop it,” to those who have “zero interest” to unite.

The political pendulum has final swung back toward their side after eight long years, they believe. For these people, it's apparent they want to make America grate again.

It will take more than Trump hats, T-shirts, and buttons to dress up this naked truth.

jdavich@post-trib.com

Twitter@jdavich