Those who voted (or didn't vote) out of spite deserve the outcome.

[MineralMan]

In every state, a certain percentage of people who went to the polls acted out of spite in the voting booth. Some voted for nobody for President, because they didn't like either major candidate too much. Others voted for Stein or Johnson or one of the other minor candidates who could not possibly win.

In each of the close swing states that might have decided the election, the number of those voters exceeds the margin between Trump and Clinton. Spite let Trump win.

Well, welcome to the Trump administration, spiteful voters. When you begin to regret having him in the White House, think back on what you did on November 8. You had a choice between two candidates who had a chance to win. You chose to punt, for whatever reason you came up with. I hope you enjoy the power you had to decide, because you helped elect Donald Trump.

NOTE: I realize that nobody on DU would have done such a thing out of spite. So, I'm not targeting DUers with this bitter pill of a post.

[MineralMan]

3. 2020 is four years away.

During those four years, much will happen. Those four years will affect tens of millions of people in very negative ways. Hindsight will not protect them from a Trump administration. What was needed on November 8 was foresight.

2020? I may well be dead by then. I'm alive now. What happens now affects me and everyone else. It's not just theoretical. It's real.

[NCTraveler]

2. And you and I will continue to take part in a positive way.

Trying to improve their lives even though they are not stable enough to make good decisions on their own.

[MineralMan]

5. Yes, we'll do what we can to ameliorate the situation.

Sadly, there's only so much we can do. The results of this election are going to cause great harm to a great many people. Some of those will be people who acted out of spite on November 8. It's a shame that they'll be harmed, too, and we'll try to help. It could have been avoided, though.

[guillaumeb]

4. Not a bitter pill so much as reality.

And the reality is that there was no "lesser evil" involved. One candidate was well qualified, the other is a big talker. And the 41% of registered voters who did not vote and the small fraction who voted Green made a choice that turned out to be a de facto vote for Trump.

[MineralMan]

6. Reality is a bitter pill for many, many people.

The reality of a Trump administration will be more bitter for more people than if Clinton had won. That will become very obvious very soon, I'm sure, but it's too late now to change the results.

[yodermon]

7. You're right of course, but it's a waste of time to focus on them.

Every election cycle will have its 3rd parties and 3rd party voters. We can rant and rave an wail and gnash our teeth at them, and we are 100% right to do so, but they will always, always be there. In very small percentages of course, that is the nature of our system, but it will be impossible to eliminate them completely. You can make it your mission to shame them out of existence for the next 4 years but it will be futile. Noble, but futile.

Better effort would be spent on changing the system so that such small percentage of voters would not have such a dramatic effect, i.e. eliminate the electoral college or advocate for the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. A long-shot, maybe, but less quixotic than whatever effect you hope railing agaisnt 3rd-party voters will have.

Oh and no, no one deserves Trump, not even Trump voters. It feels good to vent at them, but the hell-on-earth he's about to unleash is deserved by no one. I can only hope that they will see the folly of their vote over time, and we can certainly help convince them of that.

[mike_c]

8. because this disaster is anyone and everyone's fault other than...

...the DNC, Senator Clinton, and the Democratic party establishment. Sheesh. Don't forget to blame Ralph Nader, too.

[MineralMan]

9. Of those, only Clinton was on the ballot. One candidate from each

of the two major parties was. There was a choice, and it couldn't have been a clearer one, it seems to me.