Thanks to those who reached out to sarcastically ask if I need a wellness check.
I do, after watching Donald Trump once again defy gravity. The former U.S. president is now president-elect. Congratulations. And condolences to anyone who cares about democracy, constitutional law, honesty, decency and how a steak should be prepared聽鈥斅 is a mouth abomination.
The day after an election is when a columnist is supposed to peer into a crystal ball. I鈥檓 too scared to look. I don鈥檛 want to see Ukraine abandoned. I don鈥檛 want to see millions of migrants in concentration camps awaiting deportation by mule. I don鈥檛 want to see America tailspin into a great depression under the weight of self-destructive tariffs.
I don鈥檛 want to see Secretary of Defence Hulk Hogan, Attorney General Rudy Giuliani, Secretary of State MyPillow Guy or White House renos that include Trump busts in the foyer and ghoulish MAGA totem poles in the Rose Garden.
Do not paint a red hat on the Lincoln portrait.
I was really hoping to get off this unmerry-go-round. But four more years it is.
On Election Day Eve聽鈥 it was like New Year鈥檚 Eve with more drinking聽鈥 there was a striking contrast that heralds a changing of the cultural guard.
Oprah Winfrey joined Kamala Harris at the Philadelphia Art Museum to warn that a Trump victory could spell the last time Americans vote. It was a cri de coeur that, based on Tuesday鈥檚 results, was flatly rejected by the electorate.
Around the same time on Monday, Joe Rogan endorsed Trump. Rogan also conducted long-form interviews with Trump and then J.D. Vance days earlier. They were viewed by millions. He invited Harris to come to his Texas studio. Her team foolishly declined, perhaps not realizing Rogan is now more powerful than Oprah.
Trump didn鈥檛 just humiliate Kamala Harris聽鈥 he drop-kicked the establishment.
He won in 2016 thanks in part to his manic use of Twitter. After taking office, he tweeted out staff firings and threats to foreign countries and celebrity smears.
Trump realized he did not need a middleman. He was now his own broadcaster.
During this election, he became the first presidential candidate in a half-century to pass on the 鈥60 Minutes鈥 election episode. Instead, he gave time to social media influencers with niche audiences. He shot the breeze with various podcasters聽鈥 Andrew Schulz, Lex Fridman, Theo Von, Logan Paul 鈥 who reach young men in a way Lester Holt never can.
The election results speak for themselves.
Despite everything he said聽鈥 despite the 鈥済arbage鈥 controversy 鈥 Trump won 45 per cent of Latino voters, according to exit polls. He was favoured by young men who resent years of 鈥渢oxic masculinity鈥 opprobrium from the left. He put on his red hat and took a jackhammer to the Blue Wall. He even racked up votes from a great many women who believe abortion should be legal.
That鈥檚 like voting for a spider when you鈥檙e arachnophobic.
The political scientists will need to do the post mortem on what happened Tuesday. The Democratic Party must also engage in wretched soul-searching now that it seems to have the brand appeal of .
This wasn鈥檛 just a defeat聽鈥 it was a total repudiation.
When it comes to politics, Donald Trump is an evil genius. I鈥檒l give him that. He ignored his advisers and followed his dark instincts all the way back to the White House. Piers Morgan is right: this is the most remarkable comeback in the history of politics.
Trump bypassed the mainstream to become the mainstream. He lied through his teeth and said things that would get a middle schooler expelled. Along the way, he proved Dana White is more influential than George Clooney, Fox News reaches more eyes than the New York Times, Kid Rock could offset the Swifties, podcast comics have thunderbolts the late-night comedies lack, Elon Musk could be leveraged as a supervillain and you can always make a great escape if you truly believe a sucker is born every minute.
If 23andMe analyzed Trump鈥檚 DNA, they鈥檇 find Houdini and P.T. Barnum.
Hopefully, he spends the next four years golfing instead of blowing up the world. But he has a mandate and the Senate. The Supreme Court has sprinkled lawless pixie dust on his dyed hair. He is a man unshackled.
He will now be surrounded by ideologues who will roll out Project 2025 as he scrawls plans on his Big Mac box to send Liz Cheney to Gitmo. He will turn over public health to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and shrug when measles is great again or the average American suddenly has five teeth. He will play footsie with autocrats while snubbing allies. He will be a disaster.
Donald Trump is human TNT. But he didn鈥檛 just blow up this election.
He put the establishment on life support.
