# Personal reactions to the Presidential election results

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/personal-reactions-to-the-presidential-election-results/771235>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [November 9, 2016, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/personal-reactions-to-the-presidential-election-results/771235 "2016-11-09T17:02:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 6

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**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/personal-reactions-to-the-presidential-election-results/771235/101 "2016-11-11T00:27:42Z")

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> [@ThelmaLou](#):
>
> Day Two and still coming up with my long term coping strategy.
> 
> First, no more reading national news. I don’t watch TV anyway. I’m not on Facebook so I don’t have that issue that some have mentioned. I’ve had my radio on classical music all day at home. …  
> No more national news for me. I can’t even bear to hear the words “Pr-s-d-nt El-ct D----- T----.” I’m done with knowing what’s going on in Washington. Denial, that’s where it’s at for me. That’s my coping strategy. Forever? Probably not, but for now.  
> …  
> The Trump supporters buttered their bread. Now they have to lie in us. Unfortunately, so do the rest of it. But we didn’t make it happen. It’s not on us.
> 
> After all, Hillary won the popular vote.

I was sick for a day and now am going into head in the sand mode. I can’t stand to see it but I know there’s nothing I can do. So it’s non-political TV for me (think Food Network and reruns on Hulu). I wish the polls had been closer and I would have been more prepared.

And yeah, when jobs start getting cut, what will his supporters say? How will they blame it on someone other than him?

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**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/personal-reactions-to-the-presidential-election-results/771235/102 "2016-11-11T00:29:18Z")

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I’ve calmed down substantially. Honestly, I had let go of catastrophizing about a Trump presidency a long time ago, and it’s not the idea that people were voting for him that unhinged me so much as the bigotry people were espousing and excusing in their support of him. It was my own personal shit to work through.

That said, I’ve never actually seen my husband so upset about an election. He’s lost sleep. He hasn’t had time to feel anything because he’s been working so much, but he says he’ll need to take time to mourn this weekend. He’s not the sort of person to get upset over politics. But I guess this one is special.

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**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/personal-reactions-to-the-presidential-election-results/771235/103 "2016-11-11T00:30:34Z")

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I also keep thinking of Back To The Future:

Who is President?

Ronald Reagan.

The actor?!

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**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/personal-reactions-to-the-presidential-election-results/771235/104 "2016-11-11T01:52:48Z")

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Text to my daughters:

> [@](#):
>
> Finally realized the last time something made me feel like I did Tuesday night / Wednesday morning:
> 
> “Yes, you do have cancer.”

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**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/personal-reactions-to-the-presidential-election-results/771235/105 "2016-11-11T02:00:24Z")

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Yeah, I’m thinking this is a good time to work on self-improvement, meditation, learning to knit, reading more, and just all around not thinking about political bullshit for a while.

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**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/personal-reactions-to-the-presidential-election-results/771235/106 "2016-11-11T02:35:57Z")

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> [@gigi](#):
>
> …  
> And yeah, when jobs start getting cut, what will his supporters say? How will they blame it on someone other than him?

They’ll blame Hillary. :rolleyes:

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**Author:** ![ric62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@ric62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ric62)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/personal-reactions-to-the-presidential-election-results/771235/107 "2016-11-11T07:06:58Z")

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During the long sleepless hours last night I wished I would fall asleep and die in my sleep. It did not happen. So now I have to pick myself up out of my misery and tell myself, and others, to become more engaged and proactive in trying to make the world a better place. The future depends on not what happened yesterday but on what happens today.

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**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/personal-reactions-to-the-presidential-election-results/771235/108 "2016-11-11T07:54:33Z")

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I feel like we’re in the part of an asteroid movie where the big team of all the world’s best astronomers and physicists just set off the bomb, but it didn’t do jack shit, and now the asteroid is really going to hit. Except there are no writers to give us some deus ex machina magic trick to keep it away.

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**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/personal-reactions-to-the-presidential-election-results/771235/109 "2016-11-11T12:19:12Z")

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I still get depressed at times about it. I mean, I normally have these low moments, but the point is that the Trump stuff now invades in and makes things a whole lot worse.

My response has been to filter Trump out of everything I do, where I only hear about him if I want to. Hate losing out on Late Night Talk Shows, though.

I know it’s my privilege, but I’m basically going to be like my friends and ignore politics for a long while, until I can stomach it again. I figure I’ll be back around election time in 2018 or so.

Well, that’s the plan, anyways. I keep getting pulled back in.

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**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/personal-reactions-to-the-presidential-election-results/771235/110 "2016-11-11T12:21:00Z")

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See, my response right afterwards was to hurt someone I care about because I thought she might’ve voted for Donald Trump, so I know I can’t do this anymore.

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**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/personal-reactions-to-the-presidential-election-results/771235/111 "2016-11-11T12:41:02Z")

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> [@ThelmaLou](#):
>
> They’ll blame Hillary. :rolleyes:

Nah, it’s the fault of the Muslim Mexicans.

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**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/personal-reactions-to-the-presidential-election-results/771235/112 "2016-11-11T13:55:31Z")

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There were 2 great suggestions by Dopers for bringing some positivity to this mess.  
Ivory Tower Denizen mentioned donating to the ACLU and Planned Parenthood, which is excellent advice, and iiAndyiiii recalled the struggle that Dr. King faced with strength, which is also excellent advice.

(On a head-in-the-sand note: I haven’t watched the news since election night.)

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**Author:** ![KAndre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@KAndre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KAndre)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/personal-reactions-to-the-presidential-election-results/771235/113 "2016-11-11T21:43:37Z")

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Oddly enough, the facts Ramira posted in the [So, where did the Democrats go wrong?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=810055&page=3) thread showed me something that makes me feel better, that the turnout for the election really did suck (especially for the Democrats).

[Graph](http://dr35ey0x3otoq.cloudfront.net/uploads/default/original/3X/8/8/880553df9a2d08301375064b2708fecb7950f614.png)

And I’m thinking at least some of the normal Republicans _(waves at Bricker)_ didn’t vote or voted for Hillary, and a huge proportion of Trump’s voters held their noses and voted simply against Hillary so really there aren’t that many of the deplorables as I feared.

And that makes me feel American and better again. Because hopefully there _are_ a limited number of assholes, both deplorables (and if you really believes there isn’t a sizeable chunk of downright haters, you really are delusional) and idiots who think violent rioting in cities that were actually pro-Hillary will do anything to Trump.

I can cheerfully hate Trump with a whole heart, because he’s a fucking nasty-ass narcissistic racist, sexist, mysognistic cheating pig who has been that way his entire life who I simply disliked before (because he didn’t affect my life one way or another) but hate now because he does affect my life now. And since my name isn’t Donald or Ivanka Trump, he doesn’t give a flying flip for me either.

But I felt bad about the hatred creeping in my heart for everyone who voted for him because if felt like half of America were deplorables. Now I can also feel anger (but oddly enough, not hatred) for those jackasses who voted in 2008 and 2012 and sat on their fat complacent asses this year. Feh.

But I’m seriously - my head has stopped hurting for the first time in days.

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**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/personal-reactions-to-the-presidential-election-results/771235/114 "2016-11-11T21:50:53Z")

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> [@KAndre](#):
>
> Now I can also feel anger (but oddly enough, not hatred) for those jackasses who voted in 2008 and 2012 and sat on their fat complacent asses this year. Feh.

Why not? Every lazy jackass who didn’t vote for Hillary because lazy assed reasons is exactly as responsible for Trump getting in as every bigot that voted for Trump is.

Hell, they are argueably WORSE than the Trump people. Being too lazy to avoid getting Hilter voted in is pretty bad. IMO argueably worse than getting suckered in by him.

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**Author:** ![KAndre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@KAndre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KAndre)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/personal-reactions-to-the-presidential-election-results/771235/115 "2016-11-11T22:01:01Z")

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I did say oddly enough, it feels sort of like the difference between between someone dying because of a crime of omission and an axe murderer chopping up babies and kittens and puppies. The lazy jackasses still have dead bodies at their feet and probably stupid looks on their faces but at least they don’t have maniacal grins (as some assholes do). They probably are worse. Don’t get me wrong, I’m filled with anger and disgust but it’s just not the intense hatred I was feeling before - I don’t hate a lot of things but this election stirred up something bad.

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**Author:** ![Enuma\_Elish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5e9695/32.png) [@Enuma\_Elish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enuma_Elish)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2016, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/personal-reactions-to-the-presidential-election-results/771235/116 "2016-11-12T04:45:51Z")

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> [@KAndre](#):
>
> Oddly enough, the facts Ramira posted in the [So, where did the Democrats go wrong?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=810055&page=3) thread showed me something that makes me feel better, that the turnout for the election really did suck (especially for the Democrats).
> 
> [Graph](http://dr35ey0x3otoq.cloudfront.net/uploads/default/original/3X/8/8/880553df9a2d08301375064b2708fecb7950f614.png)
> 
> And I’m thinking at least some of the normal Republicans _(waves at Bricker)_ didn’t vote or voted for Hillary, and a huge proportion of Trump’s voters held their noses and voted simply against Hillary so really there aren’t that many of the deplorables as I feared.
> 
> And that makes me feel American and better again. Because hopefully there _are_ a limited number of assholes, both deplorables (and if you really believes there isn’t a sizeable chunk of downright haters, you really are delusional) and idiots who think violent rioting in cities that were actually pro-Hillary will do anything to Trump.
> 
> I can cheerfully hate Trump with a whole heart, because he’s a fucking nasty-ass narcissistic racist, sexist, mysognistic cheating pig who has been that way his entire life who I simply disliked before (because he didn’t affect my life one way or another) but hate now because he does affect my life now. And since my name isn’t Donald or Ivanka Trump, he doesn’t give a flying flip for me either.
> 
> But I felt bad about the hatred creeping in my heart for everyone who voted for him because if felt like half of America were deplorables. Now I can also feel anger (but oddly enough, not hatred) for those jackasses who voted in 2008 and 2012 and sat on their fat complacent asses this year. Feh.
> 
> But I’m seriously - my head has stopped hurting for the first time in days.

> [@billfish678](#):
>
> Why not? Every lazy jackass who didn’t vote for Hillary because lazy assed reasons is exactly as responsible for Trump getting in as every bigot that voted for Trump is.
> 
> Hell, they are argueably WORSE than the Trump people. Being too lazy to avoid getting Hilter voted in is pretty bad. IMO argueably worse than getting suckered in by him.

So - you casually ignorant white liberals hate Black and Hispanic people because they didn’t vote for Hillary? Sweet! If your attitude persists, the Democrat  
Party is done…

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ric62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@ric62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ric62)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2016, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/personal-reactions-to-the-presidential-election-results/771235/117 "2016-11-12T05:23:18Z")

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I was talking to a co-worker today about my mood and how I try to stay informed and engaged. She said that she doesn’t pay attention to current events or politics and then she said that if she had voted it would have been for Trump.:rolleyes:

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**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2016, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/personal-reactions-to-the-presidential-election-results/771235/118 "2016-11-12T06:54:04Z")

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> [@BigT](#):
>
> My response has been to filter Trump out of everything I do, where I only hear about him if I want to. Hate losing out on Late Night Talk Shows, though.

Same here. Just when I was really into @midnight, I had to stop watching this week because I don’t want to see any reference to it.

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**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2016, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/personal-reactions-to-the-presidential-election-results/771235/119 "2016-11-12T11:11:33Z")

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> [@KAndre](#):
>
> Oddly enough, the facts Ramira posted in the [So, where did the Democrats go wrong?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=810055&page=3) thread showed me something that makes me feel better, that the turnout for the election really did suck (especially for the Democrats)… Now I can also feel anger (but oddly enough, not hatred) for those jackasses who voted in 2008 and 2012 and sat on their fat complacent asses this year. Feh.
> 
> But I’m seriously - my head has stopped hurting for the first time in days.

it is a better lesson to understand that it is up to the candidate and the campaign to provide the positive motivation, the positive inspiration, and this comes through human skill, not the slogans.

it is oddly the same mistake the anti Brexiteers made, the technocratic complacency.

In reading[this article](http://www.usnews.com/news/the-run-2016/articles/2016-11-11/dnc-staff-arrogance-cost-hillary-clinton-the-election-vs-donald-trump)here from I think a respected american news magazine, there is this

> [@](#):
>
> “But it was all about analytics with them,” the DNC source says. “They were too reliant on analytics and not enough on instinct and human intel from the ground.”
> 
> And there were the multiple factions of power swirling around Clinton

Despite the failures of the polling models (it is not the failure of the statistics, it is the failure of understanding of the uncertainty, the error margins of the statistics) in the very recent direct experience, it is clear in the reading they did not understand either the limits of their technical approach or that the bloodless style of Mrs Clinton was a failing point itself that they needed greater compensation against.

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**Author:** ![KAndre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@KAndre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KAndre)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2016, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/personal-reactions-to-the-presidential-election-results/771235/120 "2016-11-13T17:41:03Z")

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Who are you calling a “casually ignorant white liberal”? Da fuq? The only part you got right about that is liberal - and I think you think “liberal” is a epitaph.

And this is where the lies start - black and Hispanic people didn’t vote for Hillary? Neither I nor billfish678 said blacks and Hispanics didn’t vote for Hillary. We bitched about the people who didn’t vote. Period. Generally, you’re considered _crushed_ in elections now if your opponent gets 60% of the vote. According to the CNN exit polls (take them for what they’re worth), she got 77% of the nonwhite vote. And as everybody is pounding into the ground, she is one of the most disliked candidate to run - although it’s clear minorities hate Trump even more. Non-Hispanic whites still make up 63% of this country, and Trump got 58% of them. That’s why he won. She needed more white people to vote for her, and Trump needed enough white people to overcome the minorities that were against him. He did it.

I’m disturbed that I think Ramira (again) is right and the depressed voter turnout reflects the horrific reality that the American populace is so shallow that being intelligent and nuanced and wonky isn’t enough if you aren’t entertaining and charismatic. That a huge segment of the population likes Donald’s speeches better because he sounds like a 4th grader and is easy to understand without them having to put any effort into it. And I have to admit, my second thought after that was “and they don’t think he’s talking down to them because they think he’s as stupid as they are”. I sympathize with Clinton’s team for their “bloodless” style - because that really does work for me personally - I want facts, I want to feel that someone smarter than me will be working on seriously and complicated problems - and honest to God, I don’t think Donald is smarter than me. I think he is slicker than I am, and Lord knows he learned from an early age that might (especially money) still makes right, and if he cheats first, he wins. And if money is how you’re keeping score and as a businessman, that’s the only score that counts, those traits will let you win. But for the problems facing politicians (and he’s a politician now, the jackass), money isn’t the only score that counts, and it’s not even the most important score.

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