We wake up this morning to the idea of President-Elect Donald Trump. Ugh. I had no affinity for Hillary Clinton, but this was an outcome far worse than I could have imagined. The polls got it all wrong, though Clinton will still win the popular vote count. Yep, once again the person getting the most votes loses because of an 18th century system of electing by state senate and representative counts. Good job democracy!
Of course, there have to be some upsides to this. Many of us will be praying much, much more because we know that only God stands between us and the downfall of civilization at this point. The Clintons and their endless scandals will leave the national stage. The election was not a landslide by any means; there is no mandate for Trump in this election, though I wish the Democrats would have at least won the Senate so as to block his worst excesses.
But perhaps the biggest upside over the next four years (assuming Trump is not impeached/does not die/does not resign before his term is up) is that the angry white rage that has built over the past 25 years will finally be shown for what it is. Trump's lack of experience combined with the reality that whatever ideas he has are either undoable (the wall) or just bad (huge tariffs) will make the executive function of his presidency laughable. Quite simply, he's going to be a terrible president, and the Democrats (and hopefully others) will be able to spend the next four years pointing out how terrible they are. Though many Americans may seem so far gone into an alternate reality that nothing he do will turn them away, now this is put-up or shut-up time for these people. So, you're going to make America great? Do it! I'm guessing that these ideas will now mostly die a stillborn death; I fear what might have happened had they been in the hands of somebody more competent or smart.
But this morning over breakfast I apologized to my just-turned-11-year-old daughter about this. We are leaving her and her brother with a mess. Those plans we had awhile back to visit somewhere in central America? They are now not just plans to visit, but perhaps stay.
