The Day After

--The House at Pooh Corner,
A. A. Milne

Where's your shame
You've left us up to our necks in it 
--Changes,  
David Bowie

And is it over now, do you know how
Pickup the pieces and go home 
--Gold Dust Woman,
 Fleetwood Mac

Come, children, let us shut up the box
and the puppets,
for our play is played out. 
--Vanity Fair,
 William Makepeace Thackaray

We must love one another or die 
--September 1, 1939,
W. H. Auden
____________________

 

[Following our recent election series, a post-election follow-on is in order. 

In contrast to RAW's usual disinterested posture, this will be a personal piece.

Back to the disinterested and strac ranger material you know and love, next.]

So, the Blue States fell like a wall.

Not to spike the ball, but Lisa beat the New York Times in my prediction of THEIR eschatological predictions. Some people are just too predictable.

There are a multitude of juicy Chicken Littles to choose from today -- here's but one:

Top News

Across the World, Shock and Uncertainty at Trump's Victory

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

After a stunning upset in the American presidential election, nations braced for the possibility of an upending of the global order.

See, the global order -- that very orderliness to which you've grown accustomed over the last 13 years -- well, it may start wobbling due to President-elect Trump. Sort of like too much fracking causes earthquakes in Kansas, maybe.

But how disingenuous to proclaim shock! The candidates were running neck-and-neck, candidate Trump often pulling ahead, and the margin of error in polls means they don't account for much in a horse race.

Predictably disingenuously, ungraciously, Hillary Clinton conceded the election with, "We have seen that our nation is more deeply divided than we thought. We must accept this result." Hmmm, more divided than "we" thought? What she means is, she never imagined they would go off-script.

Why not say, "Good luck, the voters have spoken. This is democracy in action. God bless America," or something remotely close?

NO, there has to be the innuendo that there is something wrong with that bloc that has broken off. They are all painted as Cliven Bundy's -- mad ranchers eating MREs. The liquid molten hatred for the past year has been predominately from the Left.

The New York Times glaringly lacked any editorial today recognizing the President-elect. Talk about grotesque, infantile press behavior.

As we have long said, Mr. Trump's election is a fascinating phenomenon. I am happy for him, and hopeful for our nation. Hopefully others in power understand and will demonstrate the grace necessary to embrace our new President, and to allow for the next chapter to be a good one.

What worries me is those who continue to choke the bat. It is done, and it was an amazing win. No time for the haters to continue to throw in a monkey wrench because they feel they have lost their entitlement.

Look forward to the possibility of the new, with pleasure. Be proud of democracy in action. Those who voted care, and want for a better society and nation. Why is anyone continuing to throw doubt and aspersions on the President-elect?

This is wholly unacceptable, and it is THIS which is unprecedented.

Allow me to share a relevant experience today at a symposium on "Coercion in the Helping Professions". This was a thoughtful grouping of academics from across disciplines, aimed primarily at professional in medicine, psychology, nursing, criminology and social work understand the limits of reasonable coercion.

The keynote speaker, a criminologist, mentioned twice how crestfallen he was at the results of yesterday's election. He said he thought our freedoms would be curtailed under the new President. This earned him some knowing chuckles from the audience.

My concern was sent via email:

Dear Professor,

Thank you for your informative talk at the coercion symposium today.

With all due respect, and tangential to your talk, I have a question:

When you suggest our freedoms will be curtailed under the new presidency, you are indirectly shaming people who voted for Mr. Trump.

And if I understand your talk, that would be a form of coercion, no?

Most sincerely,

Lisa

This is an example of the coercion felt from my liberal fellows. When asked about the election today by a concerned colleague, came the reply, "I'm not worried at all."

But I did not feel free to say, "Actually, I feel quite good about it. This is really the chance for something a little different." The anger level out there is different this cycle, confrontational and ugly.

We live in the capital of a battleground state. But glaringly absent were the presidential campaign signs which usually proliferate in the week before elections. Only one Trump sign was evident and it was in front of a business perched atop 8-feet-high wooden pillars. Clinton had only six yard signs.

Over the years, many election stickers have adorned my car bumper -- third party and otherwise -- and never have I felt a twinge of fear. But this year, it felt dangerous to have displayed a "Trump" sticker, a visceral feeling that damage would be done.

The same feeling did not overtake me when considering a "Clinton" sticker, but again, none were visible on any vehicles.

Second, you must know that a year ago I could not have cared less about the 2016 presidential election. All the pretty ponies sounded the same (while each one trying to sparkle). One would get elected, and nothing would change, certainly not for the better. As Eeyore might say, "ho-hum".

But then the violent assaults in the liberal media began against Donald Trump. Once he won his party's nomination, the assaults upon his person was daily and relentless, by turns, ludicrous and revolting.

The piffle and mean drivel being churned out by columnists I once enjoyed was stunning. It was then that the Trump-denial became fascinating

A certain Charles Pierce was one of nastiest. What he writes seethes with unremitting hatred toward Trump. He seems a deeply mean and disturbed man.

Esquire must pay him well. He seems amused with himself, but how he clears the sludge from his soul each night is unclear. He is using his writing skills doing the devil's work.

He and his ilk led the way for every other writer to jump on the anti-Trump bandwagon. In their arrogance, perhaps they thought if they banged the drum loudly enough, in unity, they would beat down and drown out the many voices that didn't agree with them.

At first, it upset my equanimity; then, it began to hurt my soul. For my sanity, I stopped reading and listening to the liberal mouthpieces on matters politic. It was as though they had all gone mad, and venom was all they knew.

For a newshound and a political junkie like myself, this was a loss. I haven't tuned in to National Public Radio since.

Where I once felt at home at my usual news roundups, these voices were now unknown to me. It felt horrifying to be so gulled. The conservative press offered a bit more balance, but the writing was more simplistic.

Lisa is officially a deracinated person. I do not know how the press will right itself, or if it will right itself. Once the horse is out of the barn . . .

This ratcheted-up level of meanness and untruthiness may be the new normal in the mainstream media. If so, that is the main casualty this election, and it is a sad loss.

But Mr. Trump did not cause that madness. The erstwhile news outlets did this to themselves, as they lurch into irrelevance.