Postmortem musings of a Bammer.

Prologue: Thank God that is over. Worst election ever. I voted for neither candidate, but insted held my nose and voted for Johnson (despite Weld) so that maybe the third option will reach 5% and receive improved ballot access. I had zero faith that Trump would even keep it close, and not until someone sent me a link the NY Times live tracker around 7pm showing Trump with a ~75% chance of winning did I even bother to follow the coverage. So I turned on BBC and watched in amazement as the sea of red began spreading across the map. I didn't make it to the very end, but the writing was on the wall on the live views of Trump and Clinton HQs as the results from Michigan and Pennsylvania were being tallied. Now, how did we get here?

The Purge: The most simple explanation is that people are just sick and tired of the ruling class and stuck it to the establishment. It could also be that we are seeing peak-PC and the resulting blowback. Anecdotal stories are anecdotal, but my cousin, who is teh ghey, has been fretting for quite some time now. Not long after he celebrated the victory of ghey marriage and the vaidation of his rights as a person, he began sharing his concerns. They (LGBTQIA+ crowd) were trying to spike the football, and were overreaching. Equal rights were not good enough, they wanted to force affirmation through legislation and the public shaming of anyone who was not a vocal supporter. He saw the resentment building. He bitched about the SJWs and their tactics, and told me those "little #badword#s" didn't know the struggle of being a gay man in Alabama in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. What should have been the best times of his life as a gay man were being, in his words, being brought into a negative light by over zealous types out for blood. He wanted equal rights, not a bright spotlight. Aubie is probably a better source of info on if this was a wider sentiment in the LGBT community.

 Keeping in line with pea- PC and SJWs. I think people are sick and tired of the SJW thought police. Where any disagreement is met with a fusillade of derision and shouts of phobias and isms. A world where disagreement cannot be held with civil discourse is a bad place to be. This is especially true for "uneducated" white men, who apparently are a collective Satan to some circles. I think that demographic certainly went all in for Trump, and brought in some of their quiet supporters to boot.

Polls: WTF happened there? I'll go back to my posts a few days ago...questioning who actually participates in polls. I know I don't. I won't answer the phone for a number I don't recognize, and if by some misfortune one of my children answers and hands me the phone, I promptly hang up when it becomes clear it's a sales/political call. I don't personally know anyone who participates in political or other surveys, so my unscientific opinion is that only true believers (on both sides) care enough to participate, making polls unreliable at times.

Unique to this election, given the SJW/PCness discussed above...I think it is clear now that there were indeed large numbers of silent Trump supporters that lurked in the shadows to avoid being ostracized. Clinton also didn't have quite the support of women, Hispanics, and blacks as the polls showed leading up to the election.

Russia: It seemed to me that the Russians had a bone to pick with Clinton. Probably relating to Syria. Nobody I know in the intel circles think Trump was colluding with Russia, or that Russia really supported Trump other than maybe Trump being a political novice would be easier to manage. Now that the election is over, we shall see what they have on the GOP.

What the Russians did, however, was to reveal that the system was indeed rigged...against Bernie anyway. I think the revelations probably eroded support from the Bernie fans. They had been played like a fiddle by the machine. Courted in public, derided in private emails, and ultimately used as pawns in the establishment game to get their girl in office at any expense. When it became clear that the emails weren't doctored (as evidenced by the lack of serious denials and resignations), it meant trouble for Clinton's camp.

What now?: We need a national group hug. We need to hold our elected officials accountable, and fire them for bad behavior (pipe dream, I know). I know that for my part, if Trump starts heading down the road of tyranny, I'll be voting straight ballot D again to put a check on it. We need to learn to agree to disagree again, and not shout down and ridicule each other for having different belief systems. Time will tell how this will turn out...but at least we can begin the healing process.

I hope Trump makes reality out of his pretty gracious victory speech and we become indivisible, with justice and liberty for all, and not just some. I hold a slight hope that he won't go full Trump now that he won, but it's tenuous, and I'm pulling for the adults in Washington to do their jobs if he does go off the reservation.