They’ve Gone Insane

I just don’t get it. People are going insane about Donald Trump being president-elect. It’s beyond the wildest anger and fear I saw even about Richard Nixon, my hero. And, as I say, I just cannot see it.

For example, this morning, I got several emails from men who had been my friends since high school. “America is going through its worst days ever,” said one letter. “We’re going to lose everything,” said another.

It gets even worse. A dear old friend — a woman who has been my close friend since the mid 1970s, a woman who never even liked Hillary Clinton much — has simply refused to speak to me since election night. Her daughter, the wife of a wealthy real estate developer, sent me hate mail election night, when she learned I had reluctantly voted for Mr. Trump.

Why are people so upset? What has Mr. Trump done that’s so awful? His choices for the Cabinet fall well within the range of the usual types — Wall Street, campaign helpers, ideological bedfellows. Despite what you may have read online, none of them has made horrible statements. None is a Klansman. None is a Nazi. They have different views from those of the ACLU, but that’s what you get in a free country.