For the Record: Nov. 9

How do we move forward now?

Well, it’s kind of like the day after Christmas: Some take down the decorations and start worrying about how to pay for all the crap they just bought, while others crank up the holiday tunes and lament why Christmas couldn’t last a few more days.

Except few are pining for more politics the day after this Election Day. More than 46 million of us voted early because we wanted this thing over. Done. Kaput. Let’s never speak of this again, OK?

But we need to do some sort of post mortem. Because even if you don’t want to think about it, we elected Donald Trump, the first president with neither political nor military experience. We’ll try to be brief about what happened so you can go back to not thinking about the election.

THE ROAD TO 270

Let’s break it down with our best answers to your most-asked questions:

How did the election map shape up? Not how most expected. Clinton was favored in most outlooks, some heavily so. But Trump knocked big holes in Clinton’s blue wall, most notably the nail-biter races in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. He took Ohio, the state that has sided with every winning presidential candidate since 1964. And he won the big one, the state most prognosticators said was the key to winning the election – Florida.

Why? Was there a “silent majority” that supported Trump but never admitted it in opinion polls? Did Millennials really not hate the guy as much as polls suggested? Did third-parties really spoil the outcome in squeaker states? Did too few Latinos vote? Exit polling data in Arizona suggests Latinos had a lower turnout than in 2012, for example. Or did they not meet expectations to vote en masse against Trump?

Patience, grasshopper: The answers will come as smart people dive deeper into the results. We know this, though: Election 2016 is shaping up to have a record turnout nationwide.

Were there riots/problems at the polls? There were standard Election Day problems: Long lines and scattered reports of failed election machines. There also were a few skirmishes – including a fist fight in Michigan and a face-full of mace in Florida — and an active shooter near L.A. that locked down two nearby polling sites, though the violence did not appear to be election-related. But mostly, we were just tired and looking to shake off politics-induced stress. There was a furious search for Election Night drinking games. And there were puppies at some polling places. Alcohol and puppies make everything better.

How did Hillary Clinton react? Well, she clearly wasn’t planning on losing. She used her final campaign stops to tout unity and reconciliation as president. “I hope to be remembered as someone who began to help heal our country, to overcome the divide, the very unfortunate feeling that a lot of people have that this election was very much filled with nastiness and negativity,” Clinton said in a radio interview.

What happens now? We’re just beginning to wade through the impacts. Obviously, if Trump wins, women will have to wait at least another four years to break politics’ highest glass ceiling. Global stock markets went volatile on Election Night, worried about what a Trump presidency might mean for trade. The Senate was on track to keep its Republican majority, and the House’s never was really in question. So, yeah. Despite some prognosticating that the GOP was in its death throes, it seems to have a lock on federal power for at least the next couple of years.

MORE FROM THE VOTING BOOTH:

• Marco Rubio’s boots, Chris Christie as a hostage and other great moments from the primary (Paste BN)
• Lines, lines, everywhere the lines. Cloggin’ up the polls in Florida to the pines (Naples Daily News)
• An Indiana woman began labor but stopped to vote first – and no one made her wait (Indianapolis Star)
• Nevada judge on Trump’s request to make poll workers' names public: I award you no points, and God have mercy on your soul (Paste BN)
• Problems were anticipated, particularly in states with no federal monitors. They didn’t disappoint (Paste BN)
• Early birds get the win: An estimated 20-30 percent of Milwaukee voters cast ballots before 9 a.m. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
• That’s it, you’re done with this country? Fine. Here’s how to gain your Canadian citizenship (Detroit Free Press)

AND YOU THOUGHT VOTING WAS HARD

Two final thoughts: 1) A picture of Donald Trump shooting a glance at Melania as she voted more or less broke the Internet Tuesday. Most of the speculation was that Trump wanted to be sure his wife voted for him. But we’ve seen that puzzled look before. Our guess: Trump got so excited about voting for himself that he completely forgot to research the races at the bottom of the ballot. And 2) If you felt physical pain voting Tuesday, take solace in this classic clip from “Third Rock from the Sun.” John Lithgow nailed Election 2016—in 1996.