I took note of (supposed) conservative NYT columnist David Brooks pre-election column dismissing the ‘banality of change’:

A few weeks ago I met a guy in Idaho who was absolutely certain that Donald Trump would win this election. He was wearing tattered, soiled overalls, missing a bunch of teeth and was unnaturally skinny. He was probably about 50, but his haggard face looked 70. He was getting by aimlessly as a handyman.

I pointed to the polls and tried to persuade him that Hillary Clinton might win, but it was like telling him a sea gull could play billiards. Everybody he knows is voting Trump so his entire lived experience points to a Trump landslide. He was a funny, kind guy, but you got the impression his opportunities had been narrowed by forces outside his control.

One of the mandates for the next president is to help improve the life stories of people like that.

Yeah I get it—Brooks is just describing one of the many faces he met along this craziest of campaign trails, but it’s not hard to read between lines: Trump supporters are aimless, tattered and toothless people narrowed by forces beyond their control. And it turns they knew more than David Brooks. I’ve has my issues with Trump and while knew the election would be close, I honestly didn’t see a path to the presidency. We’ve still got a lot of work to do as a country, but right now knowing that elitist snobs like Brooks are wondering where they went wrong is indeed satisfying.