Last night a reporter was working the crowd at an anti-Trump demonstration here in L.A. He came up to one young man holding a Never Trump sign.

Reporter: Did you vote?
Protester: No, on principle I did not vote.
Reporter: And what would that principle be?
Protester: That the middle-class should stand on its own.
Reporter: I see.

The reporter moved on to a young girl, clearly too young to have voted.

Reporter: So you’re against Trump?
Girl: Yes! My dad and I organized for Bernie Sanders, so we don’t like Trump!

Another protester was yelling “Never Trump!”

Reporter: Trump was legally elected. What do you think you can do about it?
Protester: I don’t know, but he can’t be allowed to take office.

Personal note: I fully support peaceful demonstrations and the people expressing their opinions. I also wish Trump hadn’t won, but he did. I’m not suggesting we “normalize” him. We have to keep fighting any draconian measures he and the Republican Congress try to enact. But I also believe in the rule of law. If we don’t uphold the law, we’re no better than the basket of deplorables who elected him. He was elected. It makes me sick to my stomach, weary to my bones, but it’s the reality we have to live with. At least I know I voted against the bastard and didn’t waste my vote. Standing on principle is cold comfort when the party in power tries to deport you or your grannie, or takes away your medical coverage, eviscerates Medicare and Social Security, appointments ultra-conservative justices to the Supreme Court whose influence will last for decades, forever and ever, Amen…

Yes, the politics of reality, realpolitik, often is not pretty. Sometimes you have to choose between the lesser of two evils. Sometimes you can joyfully and fully support a candidate, as I did Hillary Clinton. Those are the breaks. You work with what you have and if you decide to stand on an idealistic ideology with no thought of the real world, you pretty much have to live with what that principle leads you to. And, unfortunately, drags the rest of us into.

Ab hoste maligno defende me.