*brick wall*
My mind was simultaneously too full and too empty. Full of information and observations, full of others' thoughts and opinions, and brimming with my own as well. But all of that mess congealed into a Big. Fat. Nothing. I gave up. Mentally exhausted, I went to bed. And slept surprisingly well.
So, back to there being nothing to celebrate.
My unscientific poll showed the wide majority of nasty comments coming from Trump supporters, but the worst (and most misogynistic!) were from Hillary supporters. Yep. One especially virulent Shrillbot called me both a t__t AND a c__t because I had the nerve to say as much as I wanted to vote against Trump, I did not want to vote for Hillary ( I live in NY state, so, thankfully, it didn't come to that).* If any sort of swamp IS being drained, it appears the runoff has been diverted directly to facebook. Posts full of anger, vitriol, blame, taunts, insults, profanity — on both sides of the debate. But wait, are there only those two (obnoxiously vocal) sides?
A quick look at poll results shows we are a nation divided: 45.94% voted for Trump and 48.03% for Clinton (I love the fact that three Clinton electors, knowing the state's voters' choice would still hold up, voted for Colin Powell instead. If he'd run, he'd most likely have gotten my vote). And yes, in many ways, we are divided, but that only counts those who actually voted. Digging a little deeper, it shows we are a nation apathetic. According to the Elections Project, only 57.9% of eligible Americans even bothered to vote. 42% of us didn't even give a rat's ass. (Really, who could blame them?)
Breaking this down, it means that about 27% of the voting public actually wants Trump to be president. And, had the small margin tipped in Hillary's favor instead, that number would be about the same.
Mind you, those two groups are about as far apart — and as vocal about it — as any two groups could be. Both the losers and the "winners" still bitching and moaning and sniping at each other all over cyberspace. (As though either of those candidates actually gives that proverbial rat's ass about them.)
And the rest of us are left in the middle, trying to make sense of what it's all come down to, and wondering how it even could have come to this.
*(For the record, yes, I did vote. I voted in every election since I was eligible, with the exception of the last presidential election. I couldn't stomach those choices, either. But I realized I still should be out there voting in all the other elections, especially local. As far as the presidential seat, I actually "traded" votes with a voter in Ohio, voting for his 3rd party candidate in NY [which I already knew would go to Hillary] while he voted against Trump in a swing state. Not that it helped, but hey, I tried. And it made me feel a lot less icky than casting a vote I did not want to cast.)
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