When the incomparable Charles Dickens wrote his masterpiece, Bleak House, he did so to satirize the unbelievably flawed English judicial system, but after the horror of last night’s election he could have as easily written his opus about our failed election.  Fuck Trump, I could care less that “he” won; the Orange Talking STD is a symptom of last night’s travesty but in no way it’s cause.  Even so, his presidency will surely bring great harm upon the republic.

What makes me heartsick, however, are my so-called “fellow” Americans; the bitter and disenfranchised half of our so-called plurality who sided with hate and hopelessness, with pettiness and bile and spite.

Sad to say, the joke’s on them.  The “Make America Great” nostrum was always a farce, and will only prove to be more so as time marches on.  And no, I’m not talking about Trump reneging on his promises.  I have every belief that he’ll build his stupid useless wall.  Even so, he will not make “his” people one whit safer, or richer or happier or any of the other good and desirable words, let alone “great.”  Indeed, his so-called “Non-College Educated Whites” will continue their historic slide away from greatness as technology and globalization makes them increasingly irrelevant (except, perhaps, as canon fodder) in the coming years.

The thing they don’t get is that Trump’s central argument is hopelessly flawed.  When the unschooled braggart tweets “I will bring our jobs back to the U.S., and keep our companies from leaving. Nobody else can do it. Our economy will ‘sing’ again.” he has no ideas what he’s talking about.  There are (literally!) no good jobs to be brought back.  Indeed, the future is quite visibly rushing in the exact opposite direction.  In GM’s heyday, it employed 618,365 people in the US, alone.  Today, it employs 216,000 or so, worldwide, a great many of which will be ripe for the chopping block in the coming years.

The heart of a tragedy is missing the obvious as it stares you in the face.  Something you’d learn in college…