I've spent most of the day really thinking about what has transpired these past 24 hours. When I woke up I'll admit it felt surreal to be alive in a world were Donald Trump is the president-elect of the US. Thinking back on the past few months, I can't say for sure exactly what I was expecting. I suppose I was silently dreading enduring 4 years of Clinton, but I can honestly say I genuinely never thought this reality we now exist in would come to pass.

So..

Let's forget for a minute that Donald Trump will be our next president, with a Republican controlled house and senate to boot (and a SCOTUS seat to fill at his leisure). Let's forget that Mike Pence is one terrifying heartbeat away from being president (honestly this is the wort part of it all). Let's forget that the DNC and Clinton basically curb-stomped Bernie Sanders out of the race, probably causing all of this (for the record, I would have voted for Bernie, even with this socialist leanings). Let's forget this whole bullshit election cycle and get down to finding the silver linings. I will need help with this.

My brother can tell you that I'm a cynic, and have been for as long as I can remember. I don't put forth much effort into finding the good in bad situations, but for the sake of my sanity I feel like I have to now.

I do honestly believe that Donald Trump is more intelligent that the character he plays on TV. I also believe some of the ridiculous, down-right insane things he did and/or said on the campaign trail were calculated. I could even be persuaded to believe that his selection of Pence as a running mate was a 20-steps-ahead-grand-master-chess-move to dissuade assassination. His victory speech was, by his standards, a Sunday morning service at a quiet Catholic church. It was almost presidential if you ignore parts of it. I think some good, both domestically and internationally can come of his presidency. But most of all I believe that at the end of the day, not much will change. Regardless, I hope that we can all agree that we won't get anything positive done in the next 4 years unless it's together. I'm not asking anyone to call themselves a Trump supporter, because I wouldn't ask anyone to do something I myself would not. What I'm asking is that we have an open mind and try to avoid the depression that comes from imagining what might have been.

If this election cycle has done nothing else, I hope it has demonstrated how far apart we are, and I hope it will drive us to come closer together sooner than later. We can't do this again in 2020.

On the bright side, we've got 4 really great years of SNL and Southpark to look forward to!

FeelsOkMan