A Brief Rundown of the Results

What a night.

As everyone has heard by now, Donald Trump is now the President-elect of the United States. It’s worth dwelling on that fact for a moment. Here is a man who broke literally every rule of politics, who purposely and repeatedly insulted women and minorities, and who never sought political office before descending to his campaign launch, in his own office building, on a golden escalator. He then proceeded to reinvent himself as a populist crusader, while simultaneously bragging about his billionaire status.

And now he has won the presidency, defeating Hillary Clinton and defying all predictions, and will become the first president to have never previously served in either elected office or in uniform.

The final tally for the popular vote and Electoral College won’t be known for several days yet, as votes are still being counted across the country, and many news outlets still have not called New Hampshire, Michigan, or Arizona (Trump leads in the latter two). But what is certain is that, barring Trump’s sudden death or resignation, The Donald will be our 45^th President.

It looks likely that, in the end, Clinton will win the popular vote while Trump wins the Electoral College, ensuring a renewed avalanche of liberal calls for a constitutional amendment instituting a national popular vote for President. But Trump’s victory is still sweeping in scope—he held all of the Romney states, and won the battlegrounds of Iowa and Ohio by substantial margins. Florida was closer, but was called in Trump’s favor comparatively early on. Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, two states in which Clinton was confident of victory, were the final states Trump needed to ensure an electoral majority. Both, along with Michigan, had not voted for a Republican presidential nominee in over two decades.

Meanwhile, in Utah, Trump also prevailed over both Clinton and Evan McMullin, although the latter still received over 20% of the vote, a surprising result for a third-party candidate. And Trump managed to win an additional electoral vote from Maine’s 2^nd congressional district, although the state as a whole was eventually called, late in the night, for Clinton (Maine divides its electoral votes on the basis of who wins each congressional district).

Unsurprisingly, Republicans will also retain control of the House, and, more surprisingly, keep the Senate as well. Democrats picked up Mark Kirk’s Illinois Senate seat (largely expected), and retained Harry Reid’s seat in Nevada. Apart for those two races (and New Hampshire, which has still not been called), Republicans have won all of the competitive Senate elections.

And in gubernatorial elections, Republicans successfully defended Indiana, while picking up Missouri, Vermont (!), and New Hampshire. The North Carolina governor’s race has also not yet been called.

So, all in all, a good day for Trump and Republicans in general. And, on the presidential level at least, a humbling day for me and my predictions of doom.

Now that he has been elected, I am cautiously optimistic. Maybe the last sixteen months haven’t been all an act. Maybe he’ll boldly push for repealing Obamacare and appointing conservative judges just as he’s promised. Regardless, we’ll find out soon enough.

I’ll take a deeper look at the results and what they mean for conservatives, the country, and the Republican Party in the days and weeks ahead. But for now, the only prediction I feel comfortable making is that the next four years are going to be very interesting.