Yes, early on in the voting tonight, the great haired one himself, that patriot, that birther, that idiot Donald Trump decided to get on Twitter and start moaning about how the President won in the electoral vote but lost in the popular vote. Therefore we are not a democracy; the will of the people have been thwarted. Bla bla bla. But what the old birther blow hard didn’t understand is that those of us watching, though we saw that the official popular vote wasn’t caught up to Romney yet, that once the mostly Democratic west coast votes came in that those numbers would change. And that’s what they did.
We knew it would be close in the popular vote, though it was beginning to look like an electoral landslide. You can look at the final results on Politico, as really this blog isn’t the place to go into the blow-by-blow. You can look at the numbers on Politico here. But right now, as I turn in for the night, only Florida is still considered too close to count, and even in the popular vote Obama is now slightly but safely ahead by almost 2 million votes. It’ll probably balance out at about a million when the final votes are all counted, but not enough for Mr. Trumps trumped-up revolution.
Which must be why he has deleted his earlier angry tweets, though I suspect a frantic call from his lawyer might have helped encouraged him to expunge. But luckily some others had screenshots, including Salon, whose article you can read here.
The evidence is out there on several sites, Donald, and the last political post I plan on making in a while includes this thought: I wish it were enough to get you arrested for attempting to incite treason. I know that’s too much to hope for, but it’s an image that makes me smile. The world deserves far better role models than you.
Even Romney at least made a gracious concession speech. It took him long enough, and included a call to Rupert Murdoch to make Fox News to reconsider their call. But the math wasn’t in Romney’s favor, and even his media supporters could not pretend that it was.
Role models like our President, Barack Obama. You should listen to the video and check out the full transcript on the Washington Post, but honestly, as much as a nail biter as this was, I didn’t expect to cry. Again. But I did. I voted for you twice, sir. And you make me proud. Here are just a few clips from the speech:
… whether you held an Obama sign or a Romney sign, you made your voice heard and you made a difference.
I just spoke with Governor Romney and I congratulated him and Paul Ryan on a hard-fought campaign.
We may have battled fiercely, but it’s only because we love this country deeply and we care so strongly about its future. From George to Lenore to their son Mitt, the Romney family has chosen to give back to America through public service and that is the legacy that we honor and applaud tonight.
In the weeks ahead, I also look forward to sitting down with Governor Romney to talk about where we can work together to move this country forward.
. . . Democracy in a nation of 300 million can be noisy and messy and complicated. We have our own opinions. Each of us has deeply held beliefs. And when we go through tough times, when we make big decisions as a country, it necessarily stirs passions, stirs up controversy.
That won’t change after tonight, and it shouldn’t These arguments we have are a mark of our liberty. We can never forget that as we speak people in distant nations are risking their lives right now just for a chance to argue about the issues that matter, the chance to cast their ballots like we did today.
. . . And whether I earned your vote or not, I have listened to you, I have learned from you, and you’ve made me a better president. And with your stories and your struggles, I return to the White House more determined and more inspired than ever about the work there is to do and the future that lies ahead.
. . . You elected us to focus on your jobs, not ours. And in the coming weeks and months, I am looking forward to reaching out and working with leaders of both parties to meet the challenges we can only solve together. Reducing our deficit. Reforming our tax code. Fixing our immigration system. Freeing ourselves from foreign oil. We’ve got more work to do.
But despite all our differences, most of us share certain hopes for America’s future.
But that doesn’t mean your work is done. The role of citizens in our Democracy does not end with your vote. America’s never been about what can be done for us. It’s about what can be done by us together through the hard and frustrating, but necessary work of self-government. That’s the principle we were founded on.
And so without further comment, we can return to our regularly scheduled program of poetry, fatherhood, and that elusive question, “Why didn’t I have time to go birding this year?”
Thanks for putting up with these brief couple of posts, but honestly, this is a personal blog as well as a family and poetry blog, and it is impossible to separate politics from these sort of discussions without doing what I see so many blogs do, become stale, seem fake or forced. I won’t have that. I long ago decided that this blog couldn’t hide reality in hopes of making a better professional name for myself. If I cannot be myself in my profession, then it’s no profession for me. I’m a dad, a poet and a naturalist. As a gay man and parent there are many issues that affect my family, and I cannot pretend otherwise.
One of the greatest things out of this election is also that the state of Maryland has voted to legalize same-sex marriages, which means I’ll be able to dance at the wedding of one of my biggest supporters in life, a best friend and big brother named Keith. Keith, you and Bob. . . I’m just so happy. Enough said for now.
Whether you agree with me or not on how to get there, we really want the same things for our future and our families. I thank you for your kindness and respect. However you voted, if you voted today, thank you for participating in the process, and thank you for understanding.
David J. Bauman 
‘Terminate Obamacare’ says the multi-millionaire who never had to choose between eating, paying bills or a visit to the doctor. Disgusting.
So glad the President was re-elected, and I say that as a natural right-winger. Romney terrified me.
Never apologise for what you post, especially politics. Wasn’t it Lenin who said that politics affects everything?
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I think you are right. Plus it’s been a mantra of the feminist movement for years that the personal is political. It looks like I have several more comments from people here to whom I need to not apologize to. 🙂
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You to do to now to! 😀
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Um, wha…?
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Too many ‘to’s in that last sentence 😀
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It was more than two much for me. 🙂
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😀
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Re Trump. I have no time for idiots !
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My thoughts exactly. Usually. You might want to look at a couple of other responses that I am about to make. 🙂 Too many people saying the same thing and I don’t want to repeat myself.
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Why any pays mind to an attention seeking tool is beyond me… I wonder if anyone listens to him even in his own family…
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I don’t think you mean me, but I am going to sort of answer this anyway. Honestly upon the rare times that I do make a political post, and it might not be that rare, because as I said elsewhere, it’s true in many cases that the personal is political, but those times I do, you’ll notice I never mention Trump, Ann Coulter, Fred Phelps, Carl Rove, Rush Limbagh, the list of bone heads who spoke irresponsibly about rape, or any of those blow-hards. There are plenty of other blogs who do talk about them. They do not need more promotion, press and attention from me. I refuse to give them the time of day, and I’ve had plenty of opportunity.
The reason is of course in part because this blog is about the things that bring me joy, and probably I could have entitled the post something else, because the second half of it was about my gratefulness at the election’s outcome. But to be honest, what Trump said was so irresponsible that he needs to be called out on it. I saw it early and decided I wanted to go down in history as being among the first blogs to call him out on his bullshit. And this is more than just bullshit this time.
Attempting to incite violence, an overthrow of the government? There are crazies in this country with automatic weapons. They’ve been known to walk into restaurants, malls, schools and movie theaters and start shooting. There are people who would follow a crazy man like that. So his saying that, regardless of how soon he deleted it, should actually be a punishable crime. If an assassination takes place, the blood should be on Trump’s hands, at least in part. This sort of behavior cannot be tolerated and should be nipped in the bud immediately. Instead, I fear that the Democrats, as usual will try to be gentlemen, and forget about it.
Funny thing is his reasoning for this revolution was laughable. He thought Obama lost the popular vote, when we were just waiting for those numbers to come in. He won that by almost three million, by the way. But when George Bush won the presidency without the popular vote the Republicans were just fine with that. Life went on. Hell, Lincoln wasn’t voted in by half the country. But oh, this little thing, even if he hadn’t been wrong? Oh, it was no cause for treacherous words to incite violence and treason.
Maybe it doesn’t fit the technical, legal definition, but to me, that was something akin to treason, and it would truly bring me joy to see that idiot locked up. That’s my rant for the day, and I promise I will leave it there as long as my readers do. No apologies though. 🙂
Thank you all for commenting! I’m so glad that the rest of it turned out the way it did.
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Oh I didn’t mean you, but I so appreciate this insightful and thorough comment. It is such a shame that people like Trump and co have the platform they do, and yet use it for selfish agenda.
Thank you so much for this…I so appreciate it 🙂
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You are such a sweetheart, B. Forgive me if I sounded a little testy. Thanks for not taking it personally. What that man does and gets away with upsets me . I think the least that should happen to him is to receive an intimidating visit from the FBI.
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My thoughts exactly. Great post.
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Thank you! 🙂
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I was actually pleased to see that we did not have any battling over recounts this election. Obama won both the popular vote and the electoral college, Romney conceded. Now let’s move on.
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Agreed. I hope we do move on. I do hope that Trump gets more than a slap on the wrist though, because this was insane, and irresponsible and shouldn’t be tolerated. Otherwise, I would never have mentioned the guy. He”s a waste.
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I like your post very much.
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Thank you. 🙂
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even though i am not american, i’m also very excited that Obama won the election. I guess Donald Trump just doesn’t understand what a democracy is. People voted, Obama won, just deal with it ! oh and, how amazing it is that 4 states finally legalize same-sex marriage, now i’m just super jealous with americans!
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Yes, that’s one of the best things, the marriages that will happen.
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Great post here, please do not apologize for it!
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Thank you!
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Ha! Thanks so much. The fact is that it is not such a narrow popular vote victory – bigger than any victory by Bush (who lost the popular vote), and as big as many have been.
I worked in Philly for the day, and of course, close up one thinks of everything one might have done different and all the obstacles, so when I heard ( on the street) that Barack had won Pennsylvania I just began weeping. (Of course, I was also very cold and tired.)
Good luck. Thanks for your kind support of my blog as well. k.
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True! It turned out to level at something like three million rather than one million ahead in the popular vote. Had Trump done his math, or at least waited until all the votes were counted, he’d have seen that. And it’s true, Bush did not win the popular vote, and I didn’t hear conservatives up in arms about “the voice of the people!”
And I cried too. I didn’t realize you were a fellow Pennsylvanian!
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Pardon my the language I’m going to use, but unfortunately we have to deal with that wanker a bit since he has a resort up in Scotland, and does all sorts of mischief around it. Couldn’t someone sell him a desert island, and then cut off boats and the internet to that island? 🙂
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Sorry, forgot the link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/oct/22/donald-trump-bbc-film-row – is what he’s been up to. Bullying people to the left and right.
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Thanks for the link, Colin! Please don’t apologize for calling the wanker what he is. He calls his critics morons, and makes it very clear that he is the stupid one. His bullying ways can’t continue, especially after his recent actions on election night, which border on sedition. I would love for him to be arrested for it, but I am not getting my hopes up. Still this sort of thing simply cannot be tolerated.
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I always thought Trump was kind of arrogant, but I never realized how bad he could be until he joined the “birther” carnival.
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