The feeling is palpable here in our little liberal San Francisco bubble. No one expected this. Very few people here wanted this. 

What really, really upsets me about this election: 

Trump has legitimized racism, sexism, sociopathy, narcissism. He’s proven that today’s world is built for people like him, for people who don’t care about the feelings of anyone else. If you’re like him, you can do anything. You can even become President. 

And for people like me, the world just gets harder and harder to understand. It hurts us more and more every day. (I watch friends and family revel in the abuse of horses. I watch people joke about the slaughter of intelligent beings for food.) The hatred and carelessness in this world, if it continues unchecked, will eventually drive people like me from it entirely. I have a good handle on my mental health and know how to steer myself from dark places, but there are many others who won’t know how to do that. And in the moments that I stop crying, I worry for those people. 

I choose to retain hope that Trump will recognize that he’s not qualified to do this, and thus will surround himself with people to do the work for him. That’s my hope. I hope his campaign persona does not match the elected persona. All I have now is hope that this won’t be as bad as it feels right now. 

But the fact that he was elected in the first place fucking hurts. Hate has won. Fear has won. Empathy and love has lost. 

For now.