Dear Friends,
I went to bed last night not knowing a result but it was pretty clear which way the wind was blowing. I looked on at the commentators in admiration as the night dragged on and they stayed cool, clear headed and just reported the facts. I went to bed because I couldn’t stand it anymore.
I woke up this morning to the result I saw coming. The country has a President-Elect. It’s not Hillary Clinton. All my city and county results were almost exactly what I wanted.
My friends will think I’m being naive. I am refusing to say anything with hate in it. I have not turned the TV on but I know that there are protests happening all over the country. It’s certainly a way of getting anger out! And there is plenty to be angry about. One thing you can say about Donald Trump is that he didn’t make false promises. He did not run on unifying the country. He has no intention of trying to bring together blue and red. He also made it very clear that he believes in Revenge. I suspect that will be his number one priority: to get revenge on all those who weren’t with him. So if you happen to be a member of the blue group or a man named Paul Ryan, there is definitely difficulty ahead. The similarities to 1933 Germany are striking. I am looking forward to reading Op Eds from people much smarter than I am on how to move forward.
Protests in Oakland, California where I am at the moment.
A friend called me and told me to listen to Hillary’s concession speech. Which I did. What a woman! Although I’m sure she was in shock, her speech was gracious while admitting her pain. And she urged we give Trump open-mindedness. No one seems to be listening. I also listened to Kaine, Obama and then Trump.
But what is on all the airwaves is: how could the media have gotten it so wrong. I was in the UK, two days before the Brexit vote. It never occurred to me that Brexit might win. The cab driver who took me to Exeter airport told me that it would win, “just watch” she said, “The leaders have no comprehension what’s happening in this country” She voted against but she had her finger on the pulse much more so than the media or the leaders.
Seems it was the same for the US. The media had given Hillary a 75% chance of a win. I believed the media. I will be be very interested if a consensus is ever reached about the media. What I saw last night, when NBC put up the map with the red states and the blue states, was that the country had turned red with blue hot spots. People are pissed off at everyone, at the government that is always in a stalemate, at anyone who represents the establishment. It’s not dissimilar to me when I was 20, 21, 22 years old and we didn’t trust anyone over 30 years of age. We wanted to change the world and we caused quite a disruption. Our one great coup was forcing the end of the Vietnam war. What will happen with this war?
So many questions.
Please feel free to leave your comments and predictions. But please no hate statements. Thank you,
A bientôt,
Sara
Out My Window 
I’m right there with you!