Ninety-two

When I heard Trump won the election, I was nauseated. No doubt I would have had the same reaction if Clinton had won.  

I would probably have been nauseated when I heard the Supreme Court had given the presidency to Bush the Lesser; but she'd died a few days earlier, and I was too busy planning my suicide to think about the election. I was nauseated four years later, however, when Bush was (re)elected. 

I was more disgusted than nauseated when Reagan was elected, because I was sure he would be.

I was more astonished than disgusted when Nixon was elected, because I was sure he wouldn't be. He had already run once, against Kennedy, and been defeated, and I was sure he would be again.

Voters liked the charismatic Kennedy, and disliked the gauche Nixon; but as much as they disliked Nixon, they disliked LBJ more. They disliked LBJ so much that they spurned the inoffensive Humphrey, his designated heir, and voted for the offensive Nixon, whom they'd previously spurned for Kennedy.

For years pundits have been saying Americans don’t vote for the candidate they like most, but for the candidate they dislike least. People who voted for Trump in this election did so because they dislike Clinton more, and people who voted for Clinton did so because they dislike Trump more. The election was close because Clinton and Trump are the two most disliked presidential candidates in US history.

The people who now fill the streets, yelling “Not My President”, dislike Trump, but that doesn’t mean they like Clinton. Those pundits who claim it does know better.