I must begin today with a trio of apologies. No. 1, I’m sorry there was no blog on Wednesday like there always is. I fully expected to be up late writing about the history-making night, but as it turned out, I was nauseous for most of the evening and just couldn’t bring myself to write anything on Wednesday morning.
No. 2, I apologize that most of this isn’t a Good News Friday post; I just have to get a lot of stuff out that’s been in my head the last 48 hours. I think it’s semi-coherent but if it’s not, well, I’m trying. And I threw in some videos to make you smile at the end.
And apology No. 3 is to all of you who read this blog, and all my friends and family who over the past year told me how scared you were of this vulgar, talking yam, this madman with an enormous ego who hates foreigners, African-Americans, and anyone he deems unimportant. I dismissed and reassured all of you, swearing up and down that never, ever, ever could such a person be elected President.
I was wrong. Most wrong I’ve ever been in my damn life.
Some thoughts after 48 hours of trying to absorb Tuesday night’s result:
–I don’t know about you, but for me the last few days have been awful. I have had a wonderful 41 years on this Earth, so I can say that Wednesday truly felt like one of the worst days of my life. If not for my beautiful 2-year-old son crying out “Daddy!” at 6:30 a.m., and then needing to be changed and fed and all that, I’m not sure I would’ve gotten out of bed Wednesday.
The last two days have been so odd; loved ones have been calling, emailing and texting me to check on me as if a close friend or relative had died: “Are you OK? How are you feeling?” I was doing the same with them, and to others who I knew were in as much pain as I was.
Of course, I’ll be fine. I’m a white male in a society that values them more than any other, and I’m fortunate enough not to be poor and dependent on government help. My heart worries now, and will for a while, for people of color, for immigrants, for lesbians and gays, and for so many others whose lives will be trampled by a Donald Trump administration.
— I thought I was doing better, but then Thursday morning while riding in a car the driver had a news station on and I heard the words “President-Elect Trump” and I felt a shiver down my spine. I don’t know if that will ever go away.
— Along with being depressed and shocked, I have a lot of anger about this election, and I’m sorry, but a lot of it is directed toward Hillary Clinton. She was given a dream opponent, a man with no qualifications or experience, who said 12 stupid, hateful things per day. She is a former Secretary of State, a woman who has been a part of campaigns for three decades, who is maybe the most qualified person ever to run for President.
She had SO many things going for her. And she freaking blew it. She lost to HIM. Somehow, someway, she let Michigan and Wisconsin and Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania!) slip away, and her constant drip, drip, drip of controversy, even if most of it was bullshit, just nibbled away at the public’s trust. And because she seems untrustworthy to so many, because she’s not a good campaigner, we get him.
How could she do this to us? Yeah I know it’s not rational for me to think that. But that’s how I feel. I’m pissed she blew this.
— Hilarious that some of my Republican friends, and pundits, are saying we Democrats should “get over it” and accept Trump as President. Because, you know, for the last eight years, Republicans always accepted Barack Obama as legit. Give me a break.
— Oh by the way, Hillary won the popular vote. She’s going to end up winning it by several hundred thousand votes. Can you imagine, can you imagine, if Trump got more votes but Hillary won the Electoral College? He and his followers would be screaming bloody murder for years.
— Bernie Sanders? I don’t know if he beats Trump. It would’ve been damn entertaining to watch, though.
— This election was so close, and while I will always remain astounded at how that can be, some of the numbers that have come out the last few days have contributed to my anger.
Like, for example, the fact that Hillary lost Wisconsin by 27,000 votes, while 300,000 state residents were unable to vote due to the Scott Walker-led GOP law requiring strict voter ID.
Or that in Michigan, Clinton lost by 13,225 votes. Yet 110,133 Michiganders cast a ballot without voting for President.
Or the number that really haunts me: Trump got two million fewer votes than Mitt Romney. Hillary got seven million fewer votes than Obama in 2012. Now I firmly believe a lot of that is due to voter suppression and intimidation, especially in North Carolina (the state GOP sent out a press release BRAGGING about it!) but certainly not all of it.
— I read so much about the election the last few days, but three pieces especially I really want to share. First, the great New Yorker editor David Remnick with a beautiful piece about what an enormous blight Trump’s election is on America; He calls it a sickening event in the history of the United States. I urge you to read that.
Another great piece that will scare the hell out of you, and might be a tad hysterical, is this by Andrew Sullivan in New York magazine. Warning: Don’t read it near any open windows, you may want to jump out. God help us if all he predicts comes true.
And finally, the great Southern writer Tommy Tomlinson, with a small but powerful piece about what this result showed him, in his small corner of the world.
“You might feel lost right now. There is always a map. There is always a way.”
He’s right. But right now I’m fumbling completely in the dark.
**OK, I needed a pick-me-up after writing all that, and hell, it is Good News Friday and all. So here are two videos I found when I thought for a minute about some of the happiest things you could ever see.
First, these make me happy every time: A compilation of videos of kids hearing their parents voices for the first time, after getting cochlear implants (warning, the video’s volume comes on loud).
**And next, some cute animals frolicking in the snow. Don’t they just look so darn happy? Have a great weekend.
Wide World of Stuff 
I share your feelings about this election. I was never convinced she was the right candidate for this election. I hate that I am right but I know I mentioned this to you at one point but she reminded me (and still does) of a certain politician from Massachusetts (who will not be named) who was eminently qualified but had the same weaknesses in structuring a message that resonated with voters and who also was a very poor campaigner and found herself in a race that in no way she should have lost. I am not hopeful for the future as things stand right now. I look at the people who are being mentioned for potential cabinet positions and I shudder in fear. A climate change denier to head the EPA seems reasonable; an ex mayor and former US attorney who I seriously think may be slipping into dementia for Attorney General. Some of the other potential candidates I have seen mentioned Jan Brewer , Sarah Palin and the Sheriff from Milwaukee County do not inspire confidence. John Bolton or Newt Gingrich as Secretary of State- talk about bottom of the barrel candidates. I am also worried about filling all the positions that actually do the work of governance in the various agencies and departments. I just want Chris Christie as the Secretary of Transportation
I am truly disgusted by how this election of this unqualified cretinous human being has seemingly normalized and made racism, misogyny, xenophobia and discrimination acceptable.
When Obamacare is repealed leaving millions of people without insurance and it is not replaced can you please explain why the citizens of Kentucky who have a successful system under the current law will gladly reelect Mitch McConnell?
Sorry for the long rant and but one other thing if I hear Susan Sarandon tell me one more time that there is no difference between Hillary and Donald Trump I would not feel bad is she was mistakenly deported in Trump’s roundup of illegal aliens.