Well, it's happened — it truly is a cold day in hell. People were so unhappy with the way our congressional "leaders" were acting that they elected the loudest of the presidential nominees — even though he has put forth no thoughtful, workable plans for anything. I am literally sick to my stomach and truly afraid for our country. God bless America, and may she prove strong enough to survive the chaos and disappointment about to ensue.
Penny Lawson, Bloomington
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How is it possible that a man with no experience in politics, lacking a basic understanding of our Constitution and system of government, who has never done anything for anyone other than himself, and has demonstrated misogyny, racism, xenophobia, divisiveness, and little to no regard for facts, has defeated the most qualified presidential candidate in modern history, who has devoted her life to public service? I am extremely disappointed in and embarrassed for my country and fear what the next four years will bring.
Dawn L. Gagne, St. Paul
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We did it! We deplorables did it!!!
Corby Pelto, Plymouth
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America has taken a stride backward. Republicans have successfully put a racist in the White House. This is a 180 from eight years ago when America elected its first African-American president.
Xai Lor, Blaine
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I'm old. I've been following elections since the 1960s, and early on determined this is a racist, fascist nation. The Donald Trump result confirms the racism and fascism and an intention to be less polite about it.
Mark Warner, Minneapolis
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Congratulations to the Alt-White. Tag, you're it.
Lew Beccone, Minneapolis
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Remember, we survived four years of Jesse Ventura!
Lily Chua O'Connor, Edina
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Now will Trump show us his income-tax returns?
Donald Grussing, Minnetonka
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Dear "journalists": Now that the election is over — and this year was the year hackers became journalists and you "journalists" became hacks with blatant clear collusion with the Democratic Party — don't think the public will forget. Whatever small credibility you still retained is completely gone now. Thank you, WikiLeaks, for confirming what most of populace already knew: that the newspapers, newscasters, journalists of all types are simply the media wing of the Democratic Party. Good luck to you, Star Tribune, in trying to come clean and unslant yourselves as you become completely irrelevant. Congrats to the "white working class" and you dumb rural rubes, as the media likes to infer constantly, for repudiating the propaganda masters called the mainstream media who donate their money 95 percent to the Communist — oops, I mean Democratic — Party. A toast to my fellow hardworking citizens who won't be led by the "elites" they think they are anymore.
Robert Stevens, Zimmerman, Minn.
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By popular vote as of Wednesday afternoon, Hillary Clinton won 59,794,938 to Trump's 59,588,437. The electoral vote will go to Trump, as today the electors are aligned with their parties, but (and I quote from an article at factcheck.org): "As Alexander Hamilton writes in the Federalist Papers, the Constitution is designed to ensure 'that the office of President will never fall to the lot of any man who is not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications.' The point of the Electoral College is to preserve 'the sense of the people,' while at the same time ensuring that a president is chosen 'by men most capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station, and acting under circumstances favorable to deliberation, and to a judicious combination of all the reasons and inducements which were proper to govern their choice.' "
So if it is not functioning as intended, get rid of it.
Caroline Munoz, Austin, Minn.
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What is the value of the presidential debates? Donald Trump lost the three debates and yet he is president-elect.
Jim Barrett, Minneapolis
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What people don't seem to understand is that a lot of voters never utter their true feelings in public. Be it a poll they might respond to, or sitting around with friends discussing an election or whatever, they are just not comfortable saying anything that isn't in accord with the friends or what the population is saying at that particular time.
I believe one of the reasons the media was so far off-base on this one is because they just reported what was being said. Don't get me wrong, I feel the reporting, including the Star Tribune's, was extremely biased, but there was more to it than that.
But while a voter doesn't feel comfortable discussing who he or she is backing, when that person gets into a voting booth and it's just them and their feelings, they do what they think is best. I think a lot more people favored Trump over Clinton but just never said so.
Dave Colburn, Hayfield, Minn.
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So, another election has come and gone. Trump has won the presidency, and my chosen candidate, Clinton, has lost. As much as I loathe and detest Trump (and I do), he is now our president, and I must find a way to set aside my overwhelming feeling of dread for the future, and do what I can to be a good American. In the military, you must salute a superior officer, but you salute the rank, not the man. In that way, I give my respect to the office of the presidency, if not the man himself. It is said that a democracy is only as strong as its weakest link. We are about to put that notion to the supreme test.
Donald Voge, Robbinsdale
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Your son in the military is tortured by an enemy because torture is now OK.
Your son comes home crying because his principal made fun of his disability.
Your daughter's male gymnastic coach regularly walks in while she's changing.
Your wife is crudely groped by a stranger in a bar.
Your child dies from an asthma attack due to the rise in pollution, because business profits come before all else (even while taxpayers continually pay to clean up after them).
The United States is attacked by nuclear bombs in retaliation for a U.S. strike, because nuclear strikes are now OK.
Your small business fails because a big corporation refused to pay you, and paying to fight it would bankrupt you just as much as the lack of pay. That is also now OK.
Your child goes to a college for two years, comes out with debt, no grades, no transferrable credits and a degree that's not even recognized. But that's OK, because it was a for-profit school.
You pay into health insurance for 20 years with very few health problems, get laid off, can't afford health care, go bankrupt, lose your house. But that is OK, because of personal responsibility.
Your government goes after your family after you go to jail, punishing them for your choices, because that is now OK.
Your husband cheats on you. Your husband trades you in for a younger model. Your daughter has anorexia because she wants to be a 10 and thinks she is worth nothing if she's not. Your daughter leaves a professional seminar running out scared for her safety because the male presenters there got the crowd taunting her for asking a difficult question.
You cannot complain about any of this when it happens to you or your loved ones if you voted for Trump. If you voted for Trump, you voted for this.
