I'm … really surprised. Appalled … but more surprised.
The cognitive dissonance involved in the (apparent) victory of Donald Trump is staggering. Here is a man whose character, whose temperament, whose personality were seen, even by most of his staunchest (non-sociopathic) supporters as … well, deplorable.
But because he talked like an outsider (despite being a billionaire), made the right noises about abortion (this decade), and a message directed toward majorities that are seeing their demographic clocks ticking.
Looking at the returns, there's a terrible divide between urban vs rural voters. Between voters with higher education vs those without. Between white voters vs non-white voters. There's a slender popular majority going on here, but it's not broad, but among very specific populations.
(The Dow, NASDAQ, and S&P Futures are crashing and burning.)
Looking at the poll standings leading up to the election (and, clearly, this seems to be another election where polls were less than decent predictors — even the GOP seem to have been startled), some credit has to be given to the Russian hackers feeding WikiLeaks with administrivia of the DNC, and, of course, the FBI's on-again-off-again email investigation. That latter, in particular, seems to have been particularly damaging. Yay for politicized federal law enforcement!
Of course part of this seems to be a referendum on Hillary Clinton as well. Part of that can be laid on Clinton herself; more can be laid on a multi-decade effort to portray Clinton as a (literal) witch / demon / crimelord, layering investigation on investigation on investigation — which, even if they never came up with anything concrete, still created enough smoke to generate an assumption of fire.
(No, that doesn't mean that Bernie Sanders "should" have been the candidate. If Clinton's smeared image turned enough folk for the Trump base, a Jewish socialist would have been eaten alive. I might believe that Sanders-or-Bust folk kept Clinton from winning; I do not believe they could have pulled a Sanders victory.)
So, assuming, that what happens — what now?
Well, I'm lucky enough to be white, upper middle class, straight, and Christian, so some of the obvious rhetorical targets of a Trump regime, based on rhetoric and supporters.
But it's going to be a rocky road for everyone (nuclear conflict concerns aside). The only small glimmer of optimism is that there are clearly some schisms between Trump (and his supporters) and various GOP party stalwarts, which, at least, might moderate some of his more zany policy proposals.
I have no idea what comes next. Really, no idea.
But perilous times, it seems. Stay safe, all.
On the "bright" (and ironic) side, this will further discredit the idea of American exceptionalism. We're no more rational an electorate than the Brexited UK or the various European nations that have seen ultra-Right zanies win national leadership.
I have little doubt that we will correct from this. I also have little doubt that tremendous damage, within and without, will occur in the meantime.
Dead-on. Particularly on Sanders and on how those of us with privilege will survive. It's the rest I'm worried about.
Never has the tagline to my blog been more on the nose.
Where am I going? And why am I in a handbasket??
In my tenth hour of a panic attack, how are you? While hoped for it to go the other way, the signs started over the weekend when Nate Silver started posting his predictions and then Clinton supporters started to mock him.
Are the Canadian Immigration computers still down?
Money. Make it, take it, keep it. It is the only thing that can possibly make a difference in most people's lives going forward.
Just read trumps first hundred days road map. It's horrifying. I went out, sat in my car, and wept. What he's planning…
So much damage. Globally. Locally. Not decades. A century. Maybe more.