Triumph, Schadenfreude, and Relief 7

We feel this morning even more than the thrill of Donald Trump’s victory, or the very pleasant Schadenfreude at the defeat of our political enemies, the sheer RELIEF at being saved from what they would yet have wrought if they had won. On top of which, there is the prospect of seeing Obama’s vile legacy, both at home and abroad, undone.

It is a famous victory.  

Gerald F. Seib at the Wall Street Journal proclaims:

The deplorables rose up and shook the world.

“Deplorables” was, of course, the disparaging term Hillary Clinton at one point applied to some supporters of Donald Trump. Many of his loyal followers proudly embraced the insult and used it as a motivating tool.

Wearing such establishment disdain as a badge of honor, the Trump army cut a deep swath through the American electoral system Tuesday, propelling the Republican nominee to the most stunning victory in modern American history.

In winning, Mr. Trump didn’t merely vanquish Mrs. Clinton. He instantly remade the Republican party in his own image. He rewrote some of the GOP’s most dearly held policy and philosophical positions. He shredded the conventional wisdom in both parties, which held that there simply weren’t enough of the white, working-class voters who flocked to his side to win a national election. Whole sets of comfortable assumptions in both political parties now will be swept aside.

His victory sent shock waves through financial markets that are befuddled by the outcome …

They’ll recover …

and instantly gave new energy to populist and nationalist political movements across the developed world.

How we hope it has!