11:30 pm to 3:30 am: The Unthinkable

I did not expect this to happen.

This is the logical outcome of the ball that started rolling when the Bush administration decided to invade Iraq. It's what happens when one side says "Why not?" and recognize that power creates its own norms. And it's what happens when the other side has no faith in its own values - their integrity, their popularity, or their feasibility.

Hillary Clinton ended her campaign in true form, sending John Podesta out to calm the crowd and send them home (essentially Go to sleep, We've got this), while she wrapped things up behind closed doors, calling Trump and letting him take the stage to proclaim victory before she had addressed her own supporters. Elite to elite, the way the whole race has been run, ceding the populist ground to the vulgar puppet for Paul Ryan and the ruthless Republicans who will actually be setting the agenda.

I don't know if Bernie Sanders would have won. I think he would've had a better shot. What I do know is that the results are in, and Hillary Clinton has lost. And Donald Trump is going to be the next President of the United States.

I am in no mood or mindset to neatly compose an essay right now. Even this intro has taken me forever to get right. Instead, I am going to reprint most of what I wrote on Twitter in real time as the outcome of the race slowly became clear and the nightmare dawned. There's hope here too. But it emerges against a far more stark, dangerous backdrop than I foresaw.

Fuck everybody gloating this weekend. Fuck me if I did too. The hubris & self-assurance of Democrats has been gallingly foolhardy.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

100% honest: I feel much worse about the Republican establishment having access to executive power than Trump having that access.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

And DO NOT kid yourself with his populist schtick. They *absolutely* will have that access.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

"Drain the swamp": nah, all of you just refilled it. Congratufuckinglations.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

Hi everyone who sold disingenuous bile about Bernie Sanders for six months because you don't know life outside of your bubble. I see you.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

Look she can still win. But it's not looking good. I'll say something nice about her: I blame her prob the least of anyone for this debacle.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

She's a politician. She wants to be president. She had a path to do it. So I don't blame her for wanting to take it.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

I blame people who damn well should have known better and all got on the train because it benefitted them. And now they'll suffer the least.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

I supported Bernie hard and have been heavily critical of the dems this whole season. If you think I'm happy about this, I'm not

— nuanced opinion guy (@charles_kinbote) November 9, 2016

"There are obviously millions of people who voted for Barack Obama in 2012, and Donald Trump in 2016." - @CNN

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

I'm gonna need to see receipts on that (how much is seesawing turnout?) but it does seem like that's probably true.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

Most voters don't vote on ideology. They vote on something more diffuse and intuitive.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

I thought that because he didn't stray enough from unpopular Fox News talking points, the stuff he got right wouldn't matter enough.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

I'm one of those 18 in NH right now. And all the crap I took from safe-state Hillary stans. Sheesh.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

Obama won because of populism. One of his greatest tragedies is he didn't realize this.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

See who's at the center of this picture? Yeah, keep that in mind. And remember Dick Cheney. https://t.co/ONIPjjsDhk

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

This is really fucking powerful on CNN right now. Watch it if you're not.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

Wow.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

The Republicans won. The fucking Republicans. The party that took us to Iraq & never apologized is taking power.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

& yeah it's not lost on me that the candidate who got them there ran against Iraq legacy. That's not the message they'll take from this.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

Obama & Clinton said "We got this." They didn't. Now it's up to the rest of us.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

Donald Trump won, among many other reasons, because he's a salesman and understood that running for president is a sales job.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

*may win

I need to cling to the slim chance as long as I can. Savor that shit.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

Sales is much less about the mechanics of what you're selling than the feeling associated with it.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

Beyond the usual GOP base, I doubt most voters chose him because of a specific policy agenda or ideology. They liked how he made them feel.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

And guess what? That's why Obama won. And Reagan. And (Bill) Clinton. That's how this works. Can't get over a hill w/ intellectual affinity.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

Seriously though, Obama will officially be a tragic figure if this goes. Doesn't mean his accomplishments aren't his. But what an asterisk.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

So, yeah, please everybody pick up "Listen, Liberal" by Thomas Frank tomorrow. You'll be glad you did.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

I would like to know how turnout worked out for Clinton. If it was high and she still lost, base enthusiasm wasn't the big problem.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

Instead, problem would be connection to independent, non-ideological/partisan voters. I'd been led to believe their number was overblown.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

Pretty much only good news tonight is that the populist left now owns the Democratic Party. But it's the generalship of a retreating army.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

I did not want it to happen this way for so many reasons. These are extremely dangerous conditions to function under.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

There is going to have to be a hell of a lot of fast learning and thinking on our feet. Out of the frying pan, into the fire.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

. @elizabethforma, a nation turns its lonely eyes to you...

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

If you live in southeastern NH & have strategies/experience w/ direct action but also institutional politics - without & within - please DM.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

Holy crap the NH Senate race right now. O_O

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

Very disappointed to see Sununu win. What an empty suit.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

For years, the GOP attacked the Dems as elitist and extremist. Dems addressed latter, not former. They got it backwards.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

Turns out socialists - or capitalist for that matter - are palatable to many average Americans as long as they are populist in approach.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

But if a politician looks out of touch & don't care about ordinary people, boom! Happened in '92 & '12 to R's. '00 & '16 to D's.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

(Well, to be fair, it didn't quite happen in '00 - Gore actually won - but was closer than it would've been due to that.)

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

Van Jones, looking choked up,  somehow manages to sum up the fear and pain that many are feeling tonight. pic.twitter.com/K7eiJdO8Aj

— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) November 9, 2016

Hillary Clinton called Donald Trump and conceded.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

And first one to the stage is Pence. Goddamn.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

This man is worse than Trump.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

Don't get mad. Get even.

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016

pic.twitter.com/xaBpWvqhD5

— Joel Bocko (@LostInTheMovies) November 9, 2016