When you knew Trump would win...

[JGibson]

At just after 9PM CDT, when Ohio was called for Trump and Florida was likely going his way. Also, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan were too close to call.

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

I was watching the election returns. I broke down(something along the lines of telling a bunch of t****(Censoring the name actually is kind of a good idea, less because of vulgarity and more because denying t**** the blessing of a catchy name is good, maybe Drumpf would work for that...) swing states to get f'ed (eg "f*** Michigan"). And this was a public non-anonymous facebook profile, not my atlas) then kind of numb. And I was really excited before the results came in...

[OSR stands with Israel]

When he won Florida

[Shameless Lefty Hack]

Two moments: early May (in emotional turmoil over the flaming explosion of the Sanders campaign at the time) and when Florida came in.

[Devout Centrist]

When Michigan first reported, I knew immediately it was over. I told my friends as soon as it happened and they didn't believe me until nearly two hours later.

[I Won - Get Over It]

Re: When you knew Trump would win...

When I first time heard him - it was his now famous:

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I almost choked on my coffee, but I knew that Liberals would double down on identity politics and lose.

Seriously, but not literally

[SingingAnalyst]

Fully expecting Clinton to win both my state (MI) and the election, I voted for Gary Johnson. I stopped watching TV at midnight ET, shortly after Colorado had been called for Clinton, still expecting Clinton to win. I slept soundly.

When I awoke at 3 AM I checked my phone, saw PA red (WI still hadn't been called) and Trump leading 260-somthing to 220-something, I began to feel surprised, shocked, sad, and disturbed. Trump will win, I thought. When WI was called I knew Trump had it. It bothered me that so many votes were still pouring in and that Clinton was ahead in the PV, because based on past experience I knew her margin would grow. I checked Facebook and was overwhelmed by disgusted, sad, brokenhearted reactions (mixed with a few happy ones). I did not sleep the rest of the night, and felt very uneasy for a couple of days.

TBH, I still feel uneasy.

Clearly, I hadn't been crazy about either Clinton or Trump (which is why I voted Johnson). But had Clinton won, I would not have felt the same sense of shock, and would have felt happy that the glass ceiling had been shattered (whatever my misgivings about Clinton as a candidate). When MI was finally called for Trump, I felt almost personally responsible for the outcome, and not in the best of ways.

[The Other Castro]

I was thinking things were not good and I was very nervous around 9-9:30. Around 10:30 or so I knew he was going to win.

[Badger]

At 5AM when Mrs. Grumps told me that he won and he won PA........the coffee was sooooooooooo good that morning. 

And to properly honor the moment, you didn't take it black.

[Lachi]

At around 3:30PM Wednesday my time, turning on the TV after getting back home from school, and seeing that Florida had gone to Trump. incidentaly, I fell ill for a couple of days after, not sure why, but I know it was not from shock.

[bagelman]

Right before I went to sleep the night of

[MAINEiac4434]

I was weeping at my computer.

Not crying. Weeping like a member of my family had died. I distinctly remember the moment before it started. Wisconsin was red, but not called, on every results website. It was about 9:30 eastern. I had turned off MSNBC because it was getting too dire. I looked at Wisconsin, said "Oh my god," about a dozen times before saying "She's gonna fucking lose!" and breaking down.

I wasn't heartbroken that he'd won, at least not entirely. I was heartbroken that Hillary Clinton lost.

Kamala why are you making me relive this?

[Crumpets]

My last moment of confidence that evening was when Colorado was called for Clinton reasonably early, so I went downtown to get a late dinner with my mom, figuring it was still roughly 50/50 who would win. There was a TV on at the restaurant, and after Florida was called, it became increasingly clear that Pennsylvania and Wisconsin were going to Trump. I ended up not eating anything, and just ordering more and more water. That night I went home and deliberately went to bed around 10, thinking "I want to wake up one more time not knowing for certain that Trump will be President."

I don't think I ever really felt sad or amused or anything. I think the closest feeling I could describe it to is when you suddenly remember you've forgotten something really important, like turning in a paper that's work 1/3 of your grade, and you get really hot and your clothes feel really uncomfortable.

The night of the election was still definitely the worst, though. Watching the TV returns at dinner, I was pretty sure that Clinton would lose the popular vote, Wisconsin would go for Trump by about 7 points, Pennsylvania by about 4, Michigan by about 3, and New Hampshire by 1 or 2. Finding out over the coming days just how little of a mandate Trump would have definitely helped my mood.

[The Govanah Jake]

Right before Wisconsin was called when trump was leading in all the rust belt states, i knew it was over.

[America Needs R'hllor]

I was grimly walking around the house and preparing to go to school. There, I was kind of on edge for the whole day.

[DavidB.]

On my own, in my room, drinking wine, watching Fox News and talking with Greenline and Sunrise. When Florida turned out to be competitive and Republicans did far better than expected in their Senate races I thought it was hilarious. As NC turned red, WI was called for Johnson and Trump was up there by a comfortable margin with 60% in or so, however, I understood that it was actually happening.gif. From that point, disbelief mixed with more alcohol resulted in me being not that happy, to say the least.

Waking up to 10,000 "haha u were wrong" messages by Trump-supporting friends with a hangover at 5PM the next day wasn't fun either.

[Phony Moderate]

Got a few beers in and put on a few episodes of The Simpsons (an election day tradition of mine for some years).

Looked at a results map (maybe on CNN) at around 6-7:00PM EST. I felt that the earliest returns coming in from IN and KY were not good for Clinton, but thought little of it.

Drank more beer and watched more Simpsons.

Looked at the 8:00PM exit polls, saw that Clinton was in line with expectations in GA, VA, FL, NC etc so I thought she pretty much had it wrapped up.

Drank more beer and watched more Simpsons.

About an hour more passed and I looked at the results map again. It was very red, with Trump ahead in MI, VA, NH, OH. NC and FL were going back and forth.

Drank more beer and watched more Simpsons.

FL was now almost all in and Trump was ahead by a seemingly undefeatable margin. NC looked good for him too and OH was all but certainly in his column. PA looked pretty good for Clinton at this point and VA dodgy. Pretty much looked too close to call now.

Drank more beer and watched more Simpsons.

Most of the polls had closed now. MSNBC or some network were now talking in terms of "assuming this (President Trump) does happen".

Drank more beer and watched more Simpsons.

Trump was now at 244 or something. Went through the key states, didn't look as though Clinton had a path. Decided to watch YouTube videos that were suitable for this situation. Then a bit later there was the announcement that Clinton wouldn't speak that night, and then the concession call and Trump victory speech.

[RINO Tom]

On my own, in my room, drinking wine, watching Fox News and talking with Greenline and Sunrise. When Florida turned out to be competitive and Republicans did far better than expected in their Senate races I thought it was hilarious. As NC turned red, WI was called for Johnson and Trump was up there by a comfortable margin with 60% in or so, however, I understood that it was actually happening.gif. From that point, disbelief mixed with more alcohol resulted in me being not that happy, to say the least.

Waking up to 10,000 "haha u were wrong" messages by Trump-supporting friends with a hangover at 5PM the next day wasn't fun either.

Jeez, dude!

[mvd10]

I fell asleep when things weren't looking terrible for Hillary and when I woke up the first thing I heard was something about the stock markets dropping and I realized Trump was winning. My reaction was something like yeah lol.

[DavidB.]

On my own, in my room, drinking wine, watching Fox News and talking with Greenline and Sunrise. When Florida turned out to be competitive and Republicans did far better than expected in their Senate races I thought it was hilarious. As NC turned red, WI was called for Johnson and Trump was up there by a comfortable margin with 60% in or so, however, I understood that it was actually happening.gif. From that point, disbelief mixed with more alcohol resulted in me being not that happy, to say the least.

Waking up to 10,000 "haha u were wrong" messages by Trump-supporting friends with a hangover at 5PM the next day wasn't fun either.

Jeez, dude!

Remember that I live in Europe. The first results in IN only came in at 2AM here. I just stayed up all night.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

September, 2016, I had a gut feeling (turn for the worst) that Trump will be the next prez, because the economy wasn't nearly where it should of been.

And I was hoping that on election day, Clinton could have overcome that.

[The Arizonan]

I believed that Hillary Clinton would certainly win even into the early evening of November 8. That night, I went to eat $1 chicken tacos at a local bar/restaurant in downtown Portsmouth, Virginia. Even when the election results were close, I still wanted to believe that she would win. Only when the map was very, very red was when I realized that he would win.

[Dr. Arch]

Two things led me to lose hope:

Jefferson County, FL: Red
Columbia/Sauk County, WI: Red

When PA flipped back to red late in the night, I knew it was over.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

After FL was called and the OH early vote came in and only showed a narrow Clinton win, my gut told me that it was over. I had a "dark night of the soul" after this (yes, I cried, one of my parents is a Mexican immigrant, would you expect me to act differently?), though it was a cakewalk in comparison with the following month, where I might as well have been the walking dead. That night broke my heart and will forever be etched in stone as a point in my life when I stopped believing in the inherent goodness of people.

Interestingly, I'm far less unhinged than most liberals at this point and don't feel much personal animus towards Trump these days. This, I think, is the part of me that died. I have no expectations of our political class or, more specifically, the right. I see them as depraved locusts and expect them to act accordingly. It's hard to feel angry at a locust for behaving like a locust. It's part of their nature.

It's quite easy to be on the right and read a post like mine and scoff "snowflake" but, at some level, my tears related to the demise of my belief in the idea that norms of civility, respect for others and rules of decorum meant anything to anyone. There's nothing edifying about our political context. It's disgusting, nasty, toxic and abhorrent to anyone who isn't a manchild. Even the "victors" haven't won anything. You've won paranoia and a siege mentality that mirrors the paranoia and siege mentality of liberals/the left. We all lost on November 8th. Anyone who says otherwise is kidding themselves.

[MAINEiac4434]

After FL was called and the OH early vote came in and only showed a narrow Clinton win, my gut told me that it was over. I had a "dark night of the soul" after this (yes, I cried, one of my parents is a Mexican immigrant, would you expect me to act differently?), though it was a cakewalk in comparison with the following month, where I might as well have been the walking dead. That night broke my heart and will forever be etched in stone as a point in my life when I stopped believing in the inherent goodness of people.

Interestingly, I'm far less unhinged than most liberals at this point and don't feel much personal animus towards Trump these days. This, I think, is the part of me that died. I have no expectations of our political class or, more specifically, the right. I see them as depraved locusts and expect them to act accordingly. It's hard to feel angry at a locust for behaving like a locust. It's part of their nature.

It's quite easy to be on the right and read a post like mine and scoff "snowflake" but, at some level, my tears related to the demise of my belief in the idea that norms of civility, respect for others and rules of decorum meant anything to anyone. There's nothing edifying about our political context. It's disgusting, nasty, toxic and abhorrent to anyone who isn't a manchild. Even the "victors" haven't won anything. You've won paranoia and a siege mentality that mirrors the paranoia and siege mentality of liberals/the left. We all lost on November 8th. Anyone who says otherwise is kidding themselves.

This is an excellent post.