Trump won. You lost. Get over it.

The whole "Trump won, you lost, get over it" thing is baffling to me.

Kind of reduces our presidential election to a Trumpian tweet on a high school basketball victory.

"I won, you lost, Na...na...na, na...na!"

Kind of juvenile.

It's not like I had money on it or anything.

I've voted in every presidential election since 1972 and - with the exception of Richard Nixon and Barack Obama (twice) - they have ALL lost.

Whether I or any other Clinton voter got their heart's desire for president (and for Bernie fan Clinton voters, that wasn't even in the cards) is insignificant.

The fact that I and pretty much every professional poll and prediction model - including Trump's - got it wrong is an issue for the polling and prediction professions - not me.

MY issue is that we have a president-elect with enormous conflicts of interest who is completely ignorant (and proudly so) on foreign policy, inexperienced in government or military service, and temperamentally thin-skinned and unstable taking command of the most powerful, nuclear-armed military in the history of the world.

And he was elected with an almost 3 million deficit in the popular vote through a combination of nativist, xenophobic, racist, and violent rhetoric going WAY beyond "dog whistles" and appealing to the lowest human impulses imaginable, all adorned with factually assertions that were demonstrably untrue.

And, of course, the Russian intelligence services.

Now, as president-elect, he uses Twitter to dabble in real time with decades worth of bi-partisan foreign policies, allows his children to quite nakedly sell access to the president-elect's family, and gives every indication of screwing his very base by stocking the cabinet with Goldman Sachs, Exxon, conspiracy theorists, and people publicly committed to destroying the agencies they are being selected to run.

And those who voted for him - EDUCATED PEOPLE WITH EVERY REASON TO KNOW BETTER - don't care about ANY OF IT.

So, Trump voters, the bare fact that your horse won and my horse lost is the very LEAST of my concerns at the moment.

Being 62 years old, unmarried, and childless, I'm far more concerned about the future YOUR children and YOUR grandchildren will inherit than that my $2 bet on "Road Apple" in the 4th didn't payoff for me.

Maybe it's a good time to remind Christians, if no others, that while we go along wishing everyone a "Merry Christmas," it is actually Advent: a time of fasting, mourning, and mindful of the return of Christ in judgment.

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"While it is difficult to keep in mind in the midst of holiday celebrations, shopping, lights and decorations, and joyful carols, Advent is intended to be a season of fasting, much like Lent, and there are a variety of ways that this time of mourning works itself out in the season. Reflection on the violence and evil in the world cause us to cry out to God to make things right—to put death’s dark shadows to flight. Our exile in the present makes us look forward to our future Exodus. And our own sinfulness and need for grace leads us to pray for the Holy Spirit to renew his work in conforming us into the image of Christ."


What is Advent?

The Trump Event

He lost the popular vote but won the electoral college vote. The system worked exactly the way it was envisioned by the founders such that the industrialized, increasingly populated cities (at that point mostly in the north) couldn't run roughshod over the agricultural south. And, yes, slavery and the 3/5 compromise were also big parts of that equation. The "fly over" states wanted their rights protected even before there were airplanes to fly over. :-)

If the Electoral College, today, determines that he is unqualified for the office of president due to his lack of relevant knowledge, experience, and temperament the system WOULD ALSO work exactly the way it was envisioned by the founders.

That's not going to happen. (Though I've been so thoroughly wrong on this - along with most other folks - that who the hell knows?)

If it DID happen, the House of Representatives would surely decide in his favor, the never-trumpers evaporating like the morning dew on a hot day.

So Donald Trump will become the next president of the United States and - emolument clause or not - is not going to be impeached on Day One. Don't worry, the Republican lawyers will come up with something.

It's not impossible that he might turn out to be a good - maybe even a great - president.

I just see no grounds beyond an unsinkable optimism to believe he will be. Certainly nothing he has done since the election has given any reasonable grounds for hope to anyone other than Goldman Sachs and the fossil fuel industry.

And Vladimir Putin, of course. Well played, sir, well played!

It may be that Trump's campaign - and maybe Trump himself - were aware of and thankful for Putin's help. If so, that's treason.

But it may be that Putin decided he was just the "useful idiot" he was looking for and did all the rest on his own.

If that's the case, IT REALLY DOESN'T MATTER which candidate he was tipping the balance for because his TRUE target was the delegitimization of western, democratic institutions.

And THAT clash of civilizations and war of ideas is a challenge to which President Trump must rise.