Well, that was…disappointing. Depressing, even. I hesitate to confess that because I know that MAGA takes great pleasure in lefty depression, but what the hell, right? It’s their day. They get their celebration. I suspect it will be short-lived. Whatever it is they’ve chosen to believe, reality will invade, and soon. So, congratulations, MAGA. The whole world is going to reap as you’ve sown and I genuinely believe it won’t be the utopia you’ve imagined.

I’ve got to say, I don’t really believe it. I mean, I’ll accept it. To be clear, I have no evidence of any kind of chicanery and I’m not leveling any charges. I just don’t believe it. It’s only a personal opinion. But I suspect Trump got a boost from his good friend and handler, Putin, who will now enjoy unfettered access to the American intelligence apparatus. I don’t think the machines are inherently corrupt – so stow your lawsuits. I just think they’re vulnerable to MAGA mischief. Something like, say, connecting the machines to the web early, allowing the Russians to dial in and “adjust” the outcome. It’s just an opinion, but it’s a firmly held opinion. And I should say, it’s possible I simply can’t accept that so many people could be so blind.

To me, the GOP “victory” just doesn’t pass the smell test, and I’ll tell you why: he “won” the popular vote. See, it has long-since been a political reality that large turnout favors the left. It always has – before this. And this wasn’t just “large” turnout. It was the second highest turnout in history. Yet, suddenly, huge turnout means nothing and Trump wins both the electoral college AND the popular vote? And he did that by pulling in large numbers of people from groups he promises to oppress, deport, or otherwise vilify?
“You suck, it’s all your fault, and I’m going to punish you!”
“Oh, you’re my guy. I’m voting for you.”
Yeah, that’s how people work…

See, Trump has NEVER won the popular vote before, and the left has mentioned that fact a time or two – or three or four or… When anyone mentions anything that might be viewed as a vulnerability, he needs to do something to prove it’s not true – especially if it is. Remember how hard he worked to convince people that nobody ever left his rallies, even as we all watched video of people leaving his rallies?

So this time, he doesn’t just arrange to “win” the electoral college. THIS time, he needs to “win” the popular vote, too. But winning the popular vote has a second, more sinister, motivation. It sets up the claim that they HAVE TO do the terrible things they want to do. They have a “mandate.” (True, someone had to explain to them that a “mandate” wasn’t two guys grabbing dinner and a movie, but still…)

At this point, the only thing I can think of that might serve as even a glimmer of a bright spot, is actually the success MAGA has enjoyed. What I mean is, now there are no Dems to stop them, assuming the GOP lead in the House holds. The GOP OWNS anything and everything that happens going forward. (Yeah, it ain’t much of a bright spot.) They’ll have no one to blame. The only place to point their fingers will be the mirror.

Maybe, just maybe, as things crash – and things will crash – the scales will fall from MAGA eyes and they’ll see what they’ve done – to themselves, if nothing else. Might the MAGA win be the beginning of the MAGA undoing? Maybe. Meanwhile, the only thing that remains for the left is the “neener, neener” factor. That is, we get to say “We told you so.” That’s small comfort, though. It’s like having the ocean lapping at your ankles on the deck of the Titanic and seeing someone you don’t like fall into the water first. Yeah, you can point your finger and laugh, but you’re headed for the drink, too. Small comfort.

Besides, I don’t think we should. The 2024 outcome is the culmination of decades of work by the One Percent against the rest of us. It has been slow, but it has been steady. It has been relentless. MAGA hasn’t been the driver, they’ve been the tool. As the scales DO fall from their eyes, I think we should welcome them back to the fold of humanity. We, the people, are going to need to work together to overcome what the One Percent has done to us.

As of now, they have us right where they want us – back to before FDR saved the country in the 1930’s with the New Deal. It was a good time to be rich back then. But it sucked for everyone else. It was the New Deal that made America great in the first place. We don’t make America great again by scrapping the New Deal…