Upset

Donald Trump won the presidency. It's a political upset to top all upsets—a rejection of a dishonest and corrupt Hillary Clinton, to be sure, but far more important, a rejection of the elites on both the Democrat and GOP side who have run this country into the ground. It's an F.U. to a blatantly biased media that shilled for Clinton but didn't have the power to take her across the finish line. It's a message to those who worship at the alter of political correctness and think that any variance from their view is disqualifying. It's a rejection of identity politics. It's a rejection of Barack Obama leadership and policies. It's a message from the people—"We have been ignored and now we want to be heard."

In the media, left-leaning talking heads are exploding, celebrities are threatening to leave the country, progressives are in a state of shock, the political class is experiencing panic. I too am in shock, but not for the reasons stated by the aforementioned groups. I'm shocked that despite his many flaws, Donald Trump was able to break through—doing so by spending far less money than Clinton, doing so without media support, doing so by being politically incorrect, doing so under a rain of constant ridicule and criticism. Amazing!

As a country we have rejected the "bad" that would have been a core element of a Clinton presidency, and accepted the "crazy" that will undoubtedly be part of a Trump presidency. Noooo ... he won't initiate a nuclear war. Noooo ... he won't usher in a era of fascism, or racism, or bigotry, or any other demonization issues that the Democrats tried so hard to emphasize. But he will undoubtedly make major mistakes in his early tenure, react poorly to criticism, waste time and whatever political capital he has by picking the wrong fights and doing the wrong things. Donald will be Donald, and not all of that is good. It's not at all clear whether his judgement will lead to good decisions or bad, whether his temperament can be controlled so that he can be effective, whether the people around him will be yes-men or effective advisors, whether he can get past his own narcissism.

But Trump's core ideas have resonated with the electorate. He will try to jump start a moribund economy, not with the typical blue model of higher taxes to fund more government spending, but by lowering taxes and establishing incentives for businesses to form and prosper. He will act to control our borders, not with high-minded concepts, but with physical protection and manpower at the border itself. He will try to repair at least some of the damage created by Barack Obama: replacing Obamacare with something that is actually workable and won't bankrupt the country; repair our relations with allies who Obama has dissed; speak frankly to the Muslim world about their Islamist  cancer, and modify bad trade deals to better favor our own national priorities.

Washington, DC is a place where the elites take care of themselves at the expense of the people they serve. When Trump says, "Drain the Swamp," he's not wrong. The problem is that the swamp is (metaphorically) the size of the Everglades, where snakes lie in wait to destroy anyone who might try to change their habitat. I suspect Trump will be bitten hard and his success will be limited. But unlike Hillary Clinton—at least he isn't one of the snakes.

Barack Obama's "legacy" is now clear. It's Donald Trump. At some level, I can't help but shake my head and smile.

UPDATE:
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Investor's Business Daily provides an editorial comment:

First and foremost, Trump's victory is a thunderous rebuke to the legions of pundits and armies of pollsters who said it couldn't happen, and the mainstream press that declared all-out war on his candidacy. In the days leading up the election, every poll except the IBD/TIPP tracking poll showed Hillary Clinton winning by a wide margin in a four-way race. Newspapers declared that Trump's chances were minimal, if not impossible, while running wall-to-wall hit pieces on Trump. Pundits acted as though the election was over.

Their blindness had more to do with ideological and cultural biases than anything else. They simply could not or would not see the suffering that eight years of President Obama's failed economic policies had wrought. We can hear these "experts" now. "How could Trump possibly have won? Nobody I knew voted for him!"

Trump's win is also a gigantic thumb in the eye of a political establishment that has grown too insular, too corrupt and far too removed from the needs of the people they are supposed to serve. The Washington establishment abhorred a Trump presidency not so much because of his temperament, but because of the real risk he posed to their cozy taxpayer-supported way of life. It is also a direct repudiation of President Obama, who campaigned fiercely for Hillary and made her victory a testament to his presidency.

And, if nothing else, Trump has finally, mercifully pulled the plug on the long unseemly, corrupt Clinton machine that has for too long tainted the political process. Good riddance to them and their hangers-on.

On Tuesday night, voters handed all these people their comeuppance. One that is long overdue.

But now is not the time for recriminations. Now is a time of looking ahead. What does a Donald Trump presidency mean for the country, and what responsibilities does this election bring to his opponents and supporters? What priorities does Trump need to focus on?

For Trump's opponents, they must come to grips with the fact that the public has rendered its verdict on his suitability to be president. The Constitution purposefully stipulates only three qualifications for office — age, residency and citizenship. The founders trusted voters and the Electoral College system to decide the rest. On Tuesday, they did that.

Yes. They. Did.