I’ll probably do a links post either later this week or next week. Everything is kinda being dominated by everyone dissecting the election results. And the results are a freaking Rorschach test for people’s priors. But here are my reflections after most of a week of listening/reading various punditry.

Am I happy Trump won? No, but to be fair, I wouldn’t have been happy with a Harris victory either. Both of them were in extremely different quadrants than me. I’m not a populist, nor a protectionist, nor a statist. I voted for Chase Oliver, but that was mostly for ballot access. If we had more open ballots, I would have been sorely tempted to just leave it blank.

What am I happy about? First, I’m happy that Trump clearly won both the Electoral College and the popular vote. Not that I find the popular vote a helpful metric. It’s kind of like wealth disparity – it’s a useless measure that’s used to gin up a desired political outcome. At least by winning both, it lessens the “stolen election” rhetoric. Also, it magically makes the election legitimate in so many of my MAGA friends and acquaintances.

Second, I am happy to see the demographics shifting. Jonah Goldberg said it best – “In a multi-racial society, it’s good when both parties are multi-racial.” Hopefully, this will be a nail in the coffin for the idea the demography is destiny. That every other race – except whites – vote in lockstep with one party or another. That mindset leads down a dark road.

I am sure there will be actions the Trump administration takes that I will support. There will be others I will oppose. I worry about the new administration’s positions on Ukraine, Israel/Iran, and guns (I don’t trust Trump on guns).

Finally, let’s reflect on how truly bizarre this election has been. I’m hoping that it’s one of those highlighted in future history books, more because it’s an outlier than a harbinger of more turbulence.