[Michael F]

I am glad it's over, and apparently without the contention of 2000.

The country is deeply divided. I hope Mr Trump can live up to the conciliatory rhetoric of his victory speech. We need him to.

[Mary McLean]

I'm changing my name to Lisa Simpson and starting my campaign for 2020, in accord with the prophecy of Matt Groening.

(Edited to add: Also, in case you're interested, I did indeed do a video interview with the NY Times last night, and as predicted it never appeared anywhere I could find. I think I figured out that the journalist just wanted an excuse to come to the party, which she had been to as a student and enjoyed in 2008).

[Jim Moonan]

For what consolation it can provide...

https://mobile.twitter.com/EByard/st...17753749729280

[John Whitworth]

I see the 18-25 year olds are rioting and burning on campuses because they didn't get their way. Is that the flame to nurture?

[Charlie Southerland]

They lost their collegiate meal ticket, John. Their Mommies and Daddies are already broke and neither Obama or Clinton can save them. I am in John Lennon mode— imagine all the people who have to get a job to pay for what they want. Ooh ooh ooh ooh.

[Simon Hunt]

I don't know about Groening's prophecy, but, er, Lisa, you have my vote.

Jim, here in bluest California I appreciated seeing that chart. Thanks for posting it.

John, I'm not surprised that some frustrated young people would let off steam (which is not to endorse such behavior), but surely it's not many... I don't actually see much evidence of any such thing in the news. Anyway, the many young people I know (mostly young women, since I've been teaching at a girls' school for years) will be back to work on their collective future today, coming to terms with how the candidate whose candidacy suggested their dreams could come true was defeated by the candidate who said that his privilege entitled him to sexually assault them.

Charlie, there were a lot of reasons to vote Clinton, although your enmity toward her and her husband may keep you from seeing it, but "free college" wasn't one of them. That was Bernie Sanders. Alas, your man won--although not in the popular vote and not around here. Enjoy it, I guess, and you can hum "Imagine" if you must--but don't you think there's an ugly irony in suggesting that Lennon would have approved a Trump presidency? Remember how he died? Remember that Trump has encouraged "second amendment people" to do what needs to be done to get their way? Is THAT the flame we want to fan?

[Catherine Chandler]

I am deeply troubled by this outcome. So much progress will go down the drain. Hillary was far from perfect, but Trump? Really? All I can see is trouble coming.

[James Watkins]

So, Charlie, are you also in favor of lowering/keeping the minimum wage and taking away people's healthcare? My stepdaughter has a low-wage, full-time job that doesn't provide healthcare. She currently has healthcare under her father's plan until she's 26; that's ONLY because of Obamacare. Now what? Under Trump, how will she afford healthcare? What if she wants to better her situation and get a college degree? How could she possibly afford it? Soon, who but the rich will be able to afford to go to college? I don't know you, but I do know many poets, and this sort of talk doesn't sound very "poet-like" to me.

[Jayne Osborn]

. . . this sort of talk doesn't sound very "poet-like" to me.

James,
All the Brits I've spoken to about the US election (poets and otherwise) are horrified at Trump's victory, and I get the feeling that most of us here at Eratosphere are also ''singing from the same hymn sheet'', to use a cliché.

Even from this distance we're worried . . . but your concerns over there must outweigh ours by a mile. What issue(s) will Trump start his Presidency with, I wonder?

Jayne

[RCL]

I wish more Americans had read Sinclair Lewis's It Can't Happen Here. Welcome to neo-fascism at its darkest.