Five times in our nation’s history the Electoral College winner has lost the popular vote, and twice in the past 16 years (both favoring the Republican nominee).

Abolish the Electoral College!
“While the nation—and much of the world—shudders at the thought of a Donald Trump presidency, our electoral system has once again failed to deliver a formal victory to the person who got the most votes.” — The Progressive

Keep the Electoral College
“Those clamoring to dump the system cobbled together by the nation’s Founders — which gives each state as many electoral votes as it has members of Congress — should be careful what they wish for. Adopting a national popular vote would trade one set of problems for another.” — USA TODAY

An easier way to reform the Electoral College: States collectively possessing at least 270 of the 538 available electoral votes would change their rules to force electors to support the candidate who wins the national popular vote. Read More

• The Hill: States can kill Electoral College — here’s how to empower popular vote
• People: 500,000 People Sign Petition Asking Electoral College to Pick Clinton as President Instead of Trump

Despite calming words from Hillary Clinton and President Obama, many anti-Trump Americans aren’t smoking the peace pipe.

New York Times: “Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in Manhattan on Wednesday night and converged on Trump Tower in Midtown to protest the election of Donald J. Trump as president. Similar protests happened in several cities across the country, including Boston, Chicago, Seattle and Washington, and at college campuses in California, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.”

Hillary: “Donald Trump is going to be our president. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead.”

Obama: “We are all rooting now for his success in uniting and leading the country.”

There it is. For many, unthinkable. But for most, doable. That’s Democracy, majority rules.

Trump’s victory demonstrates how poorly we understood the fear and loathing out there, the abandonment of working folks, the arrogance of media elites and the assumptions of special interests.

The losers might blame what they see as the ignorant misogynist masses, and label Trump a demagogue, which only reaffirms this result for those who chose it.

Let this be a lesson, not a call to arms. If Washington, and the Democratic Party in particular, don’t take on some of the blame for this and stop belittling voters who want change, it happens again, just like it did in the 2014 midterms and again last night.

For mournful Hillary supporters I know your pain. I had chosen another Democrat to work for, and had to accept in the end that what he offered wasn’t selling. When the voters don’t see what you see it hurts.

Accepting what voters choose is what Democracy is all about.

Tracey Ullman once did a skit featuring a woman on a boat in choppy waters who sees a giant head of lettuce ahead and shouts, “Oh No, It’s Iceberg!”

This might not be a Titanic night for Hillary Clinton but it certainly is not the night many of us expected.

Donald Trump clearly has turned out voters who weren’t reached by pollsters, perhaps millions of disaffected Americans who don’t usually show up.

Win or lose, Trump gets bragging rights (not that he needs a justification to brag). Win or lose, it’s a stunning blow to the Clinton camp’s confidence.

Polls are closing and Trail Mixers are commenting. Join Us!

Closing Times

• 6 p.m. – Indiana, Kentucky
• 7 p.m. – Alabama, Florida, Georgia, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia
• 7:30 p.m. – North Carolina, Ohio, West Virginia
• 8 p.m. – Connecticut, Delaware, D.C., Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas
• 8:30 p.m. – Arkansas
• 9 p.m. – Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Wisconsin, Wyoming
• 10 p.m. – Idaho, Iowa, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah
• 11 p.m. – Alaska, California, Hawaii, Washington