I normally pay too much attention to politics. I read the news; I watch interviews; I watch the conferences and the debates. Since the election, I've been taking a break, partly out of exhaustion and partly out of disappointment and resignation. In my mind, this election has proven that Trump and the MAGAGOP is what our country has decided it wants, and now we have to own the ramifications.
Over Christmas, my parents said something I keep seeing in social media, and hearing from others I speak to: that the election wasn't a landslide, because the popular vote was actually pretty close. My point, which made my parents angry enough that we eventually had to change topics, is: It was a landslide in the only way that matters. We have to stop telling ourselves that this is an abberation.
Trump won every swing state. Even here at home, Trump "increased his vote share in 45 of 58 California counties". We lost the Senate, and the GOP held the House. The popular vote doesn't matter. It also doesn't matter how unfair you might feel the electoral college is. If we can't figure out how to win the game that's actually being played, instead of consoling ourselves with results that just don't matter, there will be no turning this back.