What a long, strange election season it’s been. It’s not every day you see riots in Portland or a Republican take Pennsylvania. Roughly 26.3% of the country is ecstatic. Another 26.5% is totally heartbroken. The rest – who really knows what they’re thinking right now. Some are wishing they had voted or are googling Canadian citizenship. And a big, scary percentage feels it really doesn’t matter either way. So, what’s next for America?
The time between now and Inauguration Day will be a national “feuding roommate” sort of thing. It’s going to be awkward for everyone involved. Facts will emerge that outrage and confuse the public. Pundits will play out electoral “what if” scenarios. Denial, anger, bargaining – you’ve heard it before.
After Inauguration Day, inevitably, the fans will start leaving early to beat the traffic. The action-movie pace and Hollywood-budget campaigns will gradually become something more akin to C-SPAN on a Thursday morning. The anger will subside, the President will lead, and the other half will, in its own way, spend some time on the couch, eating chocolate, watching Gilmore Girls on Netflix. Acceptance may take a while longer.
But one day, they will re-emerge, ready to get back on the horse and prepare for the next battle. The score will return to zero, and, as a nation, we will start working toward the next thing, or against each other, with redoubled efforts. Pundits are already talking about the midterms. You don’t want to stop watching yet, do you? The midterms are just around the corner.
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