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Election night was tragic. I tuned into the US ABC TV coverage via Netflix hosted by Stephanopoulos fairly late in the antipodean day. I clicked on the Washington Post's map on the web. It was immediately apparent, the "shock" was on.
The West Coast polls were still open but things were not going according to the Clinton script for victory. Florida was red. Ohio was red. Michigan was red. Those are bad colours for Democrats.
Antony Green of the Australian ABC, a man not known for sticking his neck out when calling an election, called it before the polls closed. Did Stephanopoulos? No. For good reason, there is a US law against calling the election before the polls close. So he had to wait.
But even after the polls closed, the data did not get better for Clinton, it got worse. Still, staring the blindingly obvious in the face, he did not call it.
I was rolling my eyes as he kept yapping with his talking heads: revisiting the campaign themes and re-articulating the disbelief of the intelligensia in the face of the wave of Trump support.
Trawling through the internet coverage, I saw stories suggesting a tie was possible. To the end, the intelligentsia could not accept that it was possible that a guy who whupped 16 rivals in the primaries could beat one woman running on political correctness whose single viable opponent did not drop out until the Democratic Convention.
Mind you, I had thought the barrage of outrage that followed the do what you want to beauty pageant contestants line might sink the Trump ship but I guess it was countered by the scratched record of email server outrage that helped to sink the Clinton ship.
Hours of coverage went by and the key states did not change. Wisconsin was red. Surreally, Stephanopoulos was talking about Pennsylvania going red. His numbers guy was looking at booths and making noises about running out of votes from Democrat counties. To be even discussing Pennsylvania being red was to be discussing the magnitude of Clinton's defeat! And yet, the old Clinton '92 flack did not call the election.
Slack.
Clinton did not call it either. She sent a flack out to tell her supporters to go home and get some sleep!
Super Slack.
Yet not that long after she made the customary concession call to Mr. Trump. She did not front the media until the next day. The emply glass ceiling venue on the night looked pretty sick.
A lingering image of a deserted hall.
Defeat for the attempt to break the glass ceiling.
Clinton could have done the usual thing and come out and thanked her supporters who had turned out in person. She stayed in her bunker and sent them home.
Shabby. Very shabby.
Perhaps she had tempted the wrath of the whatever from high atop the thing and not had a flack draft a concession speech? There is no excuse. Candidates know the writing is on the wall long before the media do as they have scrutineers in the polling places observing the counts.
In contrast to Clinton's no show on the night, Trump was surprisingly gracious. His speech started very well. He complimented his opponent. He was generous. It was restrained, humble even. Most importantly it contained all the customary lines. There was the standard appeal to unity. He thanked people who people who needed to be thanked. He rambled a bit. He usually does.
Unsuprisingly, he accepted the result...