Trump is President. What now?

So. Donald Trump is president.

I don’t have a whole lot to say about how or why he won. There’s no point in trying to explain it. The election is over.

So what now?

If you’re a Republican, you hope that Trump can put his money where his mouth is. You just elected a man who is about to take away health insurance for millions of people, cut taxes on the rich, use tax money to build an unnecessary wall, and move America towards a policy of isolationism. This will either be your greatest success or worst failure.

If you’re a Democrat (especially if you supported Clinton from the get-go), you learn a huge lesson. You own up to the fact that you were wrong about Clinton being a safe candidate. You re-examine every criticism you threw at Bernie Sanders. You wake up realize that it’s time to restructure and maybe, just maybe, consider opening up to pro-life voters.

I’m tired. I didn’t sleep last night. I would love share some sort of optimistic message, but I don’t really have one. Donald Trump was pretty open about who he is and what he plans to do, and we elected him anyways. In every way, he is the exact opposite of the kind of person I was raised to be, and we elected him anyways. I certainly don’t think we’re staring down the apocalypse, but things could potentially get pretty bad for a lot of Americans.

My only advice is to get motivated. If you’re upset or scared, don’t try to pretend otherwise. Be upset, be scared. But don’t let it paralyze you. This is the kind of thing that happens in a democracy. If you want to change things, you have to get to work, and there’s going to be a lot of work to do over the next four years.

I’ll be focusing a great deal of time on the New Pro-Life Movement. If there’s a tinge of a silver lining, it’s that NPLM has a clear opening to shake things up. And if you feel lost, stuck, or scared, consider joining our efforts.

I’m looking forward to Mass on Sunday.