By Greg Halbleib

BLOOMINGTON – Former state GOP chairman Pat Brady understands fully the angst of those protesting the election of Donald Trump, but he says it’s time to face the fact that the billionaire is about to become the next president.

“I’m not going to stop criticizing anybody that I don’t think is doing the right thing public policy-wise that’s been elected to office,” Brady told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin. “That’s almost our obligation, but it’s also our obligation to not root against the country. I want to give the guy a chance to govern and I think we all need to do that.”

Brady said Trump needs to be realistic about his goals for his first 100 days in office by pushing aside his promises about immigration in favor of more unifying issues.

“To me the answer is, and this is actually something that Hillary Clinton was talking about doing, I think what the country might need is a big infrastructure project that can appeal to both sides of the aisle and is something the country badly needs,” said Brady. “Get a win on the board with something that makes sense, and then try to deal with the other issues as you can.”

Brady was a vocal critic of Trump during the campaign, but said people shouldn’t “whine and cry” about the results of the election but instead give Trump a chance to govern.

Greg Halbleib can be reached at [email protected].