Shame. On. Me.

My friends and I never, ever, thought they could pull this off. 

We were smarter and righter and more compassionate and more sensitive and we cared more and we knew how to do all this stuff and they ... well, they didn't.

I, and most of the people I know, are registered members of the liberal elite. Hillary Clinton is also a charter member of the club.

We think – no, we believe – that we are the ones who know how to solve problems and run a country/state/city/county or whatever. Here's what else we truly believe:

• We are smart. They aren't.
• We know important things. They don't.
• We are kind and caring. They aren't.
• We have a sense of humor. They don't.
• We are civilized. They aren't.
• We are entitled to run things. They aren't. 
• They are deplorable. And we aren't.

We know all that stuff is right. It's the way the world ought to be, and we are happy to be able to run things.

The problem, of course, is that we don't run things. What we are selling, nobody is buying. Our message of social justice and equal opportunities is like spitting into the wind. 

The "deplorables" – Hillary called them that – are in charge. And much to our shame, we thought it was OK for them to be be in charge of their little world. Let them have their fun. After all, we believe there weren't enough of them to actually do any of the crazy things they were talking about.

Build a wall? Export immigrants? Ban Muslims? You're kidding, right? Look at that "Access Hollywood" tape! Listen to him on Howard Stern! Listen to the deplorables chant, "Lock her up."

They don't stand a chance, do they? They don't stand a chance.

Much to our surprise and shock, they not only stood a chance; they actually beat the crap out of us. 

There's going to be a lot of teeth gnashing about this, and people are going to look at all the numbers. Who voted, and why? Who didn't, and why not? Where was that coalition of young and minority voters who elected Barack Obama twice?

We were so smug. We told jokes about the Trump campaign. "Did you see Alec Baldwin last night?" 

Our politically-correct blinders kept us from seeing some things – some important things. 

We just couldn't fathom that the millions of Bernie Sanders passionate supporters had more in common with Trump's passionate supporters than they did with our crowd.  

We kind of laughed at those passions. Who needed passion when we had positions? And more positions. And more.

We asked ourselves, "How could anyone actually vote for that guy?" The problem was that we asked it as a rhetorical question. We should actually have looked for a real answer. 

The fact was – and we all missed it – is that all those "deplorable" white people weren't in the least bit ashamed or embarrassed about voting for Trump. In fact, they were proud of it. They thought it was their birthright, and we never got that. 

There is lots of talk now about healing and joining together and how we all have to pull in the same direction and support this president. 

I don't know about that. It just may well be that I, as a member of the liberal elite, can't get behind a lot of the stuff that is going to happen. He may have won the presidency, but he hasn't won me over. I truly believe he's going to be a disaster, that he's going to be absolutely deplorable. 

I just wish we liberal elites had taken all those deplorables much more seriously when we first had a chance.