Now for the good news – about the bad news.

For the first time in months I woke up glad. I poked my gladness warily. Maybe dread had driven me mad!

For more than a decade, America has endured an evenly divided government. The bickering has been vile. Numbers crunchers agreed the 2024 election would prolong our stalemate. Neither side would win by much. The wearisome wrangling would continue – forever, it seemed.

The polls were wrong. The election wasn’t close. The bad guys won big – the Presidency, both houses of Congress, lots of other jobs. The bad guys were now in a position to implement their bad ideas – about the economy, immigration, trade, women’s rights, education, foreign policy, you name it. Who would stop them? If my team was right, the results would be catastrophic, not equivocal. All hell would break loose.

That’s the good news.

The American people are stupid. We know this because we made a stupid choice. Why we erred is now a matter for historians. Our mistake may prove fatal – I wouldn’t be surprised – but done is done, there’s no going back, we and the world must endure the fallout from our folly.

If things go as badly as I predict, the American people will know who to blame – the guys in charge. Trump has a genius for whining – but now he’s got to deal with winning. The American people won’t be pleased with the results of the Trump/Musk/Putin program for governing. They won’t like losing their healthcare, reproductive rights, freedom of speech or watching the free world go down in flames. Climate and health calamities may worry them. They’ll chafe at getting poorer while the rich keep getting richer. Totalitarian post-truth politics won’t sit well. They’ll get angry enough to revolt. If the ballot box and free press are denied them, they’ll use bullets.

If the Trump/Musk/Putin program goes well for Americans, hurray. My goal has always been our nation’s betterment, not one party’s victory or my bottom line.

A grim prognosis? You bet. Am I bullish about our national condition? Not in the least. But as the phrase goes, we are where we are: the mistake has been made, the milk spilt. And my team is not responsible anymore. We’ve been fired. Truth, justice, science, education, reason, civility, decency have all been fired. America’s invited the other guys to secure our wellbeing, so we’re off the hook. Why waste my remaining life brooding and growling? More productive to turn my attention elsewhere – while America hurtles to hell.

Am I making lemonade out of lemons, turning my frown upside down? Could be – hope is my habit: I can’t live without it. But I’m pretty sure this dynamic is inevitable after November 5. If my side had to lose, it’s better we lost big. Now no more finger-pointing. No more blaming the other guys. Congratulations, Donald, we’ve elected you captain. Now you’ve got to steer the boat.

What’s my individual responsibility in this dire hour? Not to shirk, surely, or turn a blind eye. But neither should I waste my strength caterwauling or slamming my head against the wall. “Begin from where you are or you are lost.” And where I am is useless, impotent in our national debate. That’s a shame – but I’ve got other ways to sweeten life for my neighbors, other songs to sing.

I think a lot these days about Shostakovich. A great composer, he lived in a country hostile to his art and threatening to his life. He made some ugly compromises with his masters so he could keep on composing. Bless him.