Election 2016 is over, and I for one am not surprised that Trump won.

Much to say. The only question is where to start.

Not to toot my own horn excessively, but I warned the well-established Democrats about what they were doing in boosting Secretary Clinton, or at least I tried to warn them. As I wrote–about the election–in March, the Clintons and Clinton allies are counting on voters who know they can’t count on them.

She was never a shoo-in. She was never even plausible.

Trying to seem above it all

Not that this is just a matter of politics or of political victories. From the first, the effort behind the scenes to install Clinton as the inevitable candidate showed a comfortable lack of concern over ethical collapses like the invasion of Iraq and the subprime mortgage debacle.

That  misplaced complacency continued well into last night. I myself could not watch MSNBC for more than a few minutes, at any point, because it was so clear that the self-congratulatory on-air personalities were 1) so in the tank for Hillary Clinton and 2) so out of touch with the public good. Right now, commentators with no expertise or depth are undoubtedly chewing over ‘what went wrong’ in the election.

Chew no more, my fellow writers; here’s what went wrong. (Yes, the statements below are quite possibly future article titles.) (Sorry about the caps. As with trying to warn insider types not to invade Iraq, this whole process has been frustrating.)

DONALD TRUMP DID NOT WIN THE 2016 ELECTION. THE DEMOCRATS THREW IT AWAY.

SECRETARY CLINTON SHOULD NOT HAVE RUN. That’s where it all went wrong–that Clinton, with all the reasons she should not be a candidate for the highest office, was financed and media-tized into a campaign that like the universe seemed to have no (known) beginning and no end.

CHOOSING A WINNER BEFORE VOTES HAVE BEEN CAST IS NOT A WINNING STRATEGY. Some insider Democrats made a huge mistake–not only in choosing Clinton, but in shutting out everyone else, as best they could. The attitude is exemplified in this wikileaks email, subject line “Democrats See a Field of One Heading to 2016.” Response from one of Clinton’s hacks: “Praise Jesus.” So the New York Times was hailing a Democratic “Field of One” in March 2015, implying a race all but over at that time, to grateful joy in the vicinity of John Podesta. These are the political experts? –These people do not seem to understand that a pre-selected candidate lacks popular appeal, for being pre-selected. –How could political professionals not know this? The process itself was vitiated. The democratic process was undermined from the start, by a cadre of over-promoted and under-qualified individuals who not only picked a poor candidate but put together a strategy designed mainly to prevent input, or even awareness, from the public.

GETTING AN OUT-OF-TOUCH MEDIA ESTABLISHMENT IS NOT THE SAME AS GETTING VOTES. The list of well-placed individuals in the news media who should resign/retire is long, and growing.

Wolf Blitzer, David Brooks, Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews . . .

Memo to Dems: Next Time You Want to Shove a Pre-Selected Candidate down the Public’s Throat, Don’t Choose the Wife of an Accused Rapist

To be continued . . .