In Which the Author Succumbs to Majority Rule

 So... 

The man of the spray on tangerine tan has won. Unambiguously. By a large margin. I think he even broke his own record. Sure they'll say it was close, but not close enough to leave any doubt, not close enough that a recount would make a difference, not close enough to blame on voter suppression or hoax-bomb threats. The people have spoken, and the MAGA king is back. 

I have had a funny feeling he would be. I've had funny feelings about the last five Presidential elections in a row, and have been right each time. Difficult to say when I first felt it: possibly when I was in NYC over the summer, and noticed how much Trump shirts outnumbered Harris shirts in the tourist kiosks. 

Is that an infallible indicator? No, but those proprietors aren't dumb: they don't display what don't sell. The hysterical optimism of the Kamellan Twittersphere notwithstanding, someone was buying those shirts. 

I'm not interested in forensic analysis of the Harris campaign - I don't care what she did wrong. Whether she should have leaned more left or leaned more right, spoken up about this or shut up about that. Whether so-and-so's endorsement was worth anything, or whether they shoulda just stuck with Joe. None of it matters. It's too easy to look back in hindsight at what one should have done - coulda-woulda-shoulda. I often wish there were parallel universes to peak into and see where different may have lead, but as for the army of "told you so!" types who insist things would have gone differently if they were in charge, or their advice had been followed. . .I'm not in the mood.   

Nor do I really care to psycho-analyze Trump voters, and peruse whatever deep-down bum-hurt big Daddy Trump will supposedly soothe. "He speaks to what concerns Americans!" goes the call. Maybe he does. That's not reassuring. 

All I know is that millions of people took a look at this guy - convicted criminal, sex pest, Kremlin call boy, Epstein's Pal, fraudulent, inarticulate, unprincipled, opportunistic, cynical, serial liar - and said: 

"I want that!" 

Millions of people made common cause with Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, Bibi Netanyahu, Victor Orban, Rupert Murdoch, Elon Musk, Andrew Tate, countless neo nazis, religious extremists,  and sex-predators. The majority of the voting public were undisturbed by his threats to political opponents and attacks on democratic institutions. Jan 6 wasn't an issue. Climate change not mentioned. Gaza not an issue. And the sooner Ukraine is abandoned, the better. 

What can I say? It's what the people want. 

I wonder if we'll have to renegotiate NAFTA again? 

Meanwhile, Volodymr Zelensky, a real statesman, swallowed his pride and offered his congratulations. 

I am reminded of what Churchill might have tried to say to Wendel Wilkie if he had won his election. Who knows? Perhaps Trump can be convinced of the necessity of helping Ukraine - he is susceptible to flattery, if nothing else. I wouldn't count on it: not with all that cabal of cowardly Russophiles he's surrounded himself with. But we'll see. . . 

I think I'll take a break from all this. I will certainly stay off Twitter. My next post will be about something harmless. Maybe a tirade against Halloween Spirit stores. . .