Well, honestly, I am devastated by this outcome and find it hard to believe. I do fear what is to come but I feel this is when the country most needs those of us that want a free and fair democracy. 

I admit, and it was made clear to me with this result, I do not know nor understand what people in this country want or expect any longer. 

My thoughts were up to yesterday that we as a people would not want a person like Trump to be a leader, an example of what we stand for. 

I joked about it but I mean, when I saw him pretending to give a blowjob at one of his rallies, an act he repeated because he knew it troubled people, I thought people would reject someone like that. And honestly, people were not showing up to his final rallies and I kind of thought they had enough and so walked away. I thought what parent would want their kid to see a person that was running for president pretending to give a blowjob? How is that guy a good example? 

He also ran a lazy and outrageously bad campaign, where he spoke only to his base. Which to me, and now it is clear I don't have a clue, seemed a recipe for disaster. I feel lost and at sea. 

It is troubling to me that not only did Trump win, he won the popular vote this time...and did so barely trying. With the way his last presidency ended, a group of his supporters storming the capitol with the intent to hang his vice president, I figured no way this guy gained support over the last 4 years, but he did. It seems, at least according to what I have read, younger men turned out for him. That means there is a younger generation that has sort of grown up with Trump over the last decade that see the things he does as a good thing. 

So, Trump sold himself on just a few simple things:

1. Immigrants are scum and must be eradicated. This appears to be the number one thing that his supporters agree with and their biggest priority. Getting rid of them they seem to feel is the number one path to saving the country. 

2. Liberals are evil. This appears to be something people that support him really embrace. 

3. The Democrats were the cause of inflation. This isn't true, but it does not matter it is what they believed. 

That's pretty much it, that seems to have been the path to victory, a simple repeated message that despite facts, sold most voters on not voting for Kamala Harris. 

In the parsing I am reading, there are other factors, but those three seemed to do the job. The other issues being pretty much tied to the ones above. 

I don't know what is going to happen with Trump back in power but indications are it won't be good. The fact that the top two selling points he used to get elected involve demonizing groups of people does not bode well for us. 

Between the Project 2025 people and their plans and Elon Musk and his plans, well, according to Musk there will be a lot of suffering and hardship for the American people and many programs, including social security and healthcare will be scrapped. I expect this is going to get extremely cruel. 

Foreign policy, well, that now becomes about who will do the most for Trump and Musk. 

The billionaires won. Working people lost big. Young people lost in a gigantic way. People like Putin, Netanyahu, Bin Salman, Kim Jong Un, they won huge. 

Hard to believe this is where we are. 

I wish I could say there is a potential bright side, but I can't see one at the moment. 

I was raised by parents and relatives that love this country. My dad served in the Navy. His dad fought for our country during WWII. My cousin signed up to be a Marine the day after 9/11. We have always believed in the ideals of democracy and how you show your love for your country through what you do and how you treat others, particularly those less well off than you. 

I worry that what we are about to see unleashed here is cruelty on a massive scale. Trump is not a kind man and he promised his followers retribution. He now has a mandate to deliver that and unchecked power. History says, this will not go well. 

He has a list of 350 or so people he says he wants to punish first. I saw him this morning on TV and he called for unity in the country. Being that he's never attempted to unify anybody, that rang pretty false. 

Someone said to me this morning that due to Trump's poor health he is not likely to serve his full term, which is probably true, but J.D. Vance being president does not provide any comfort.