I still can’t believe it really happened. As I sat down to write this Jen Psaki announced on MSNOW that she had received a call from Troy Jackson’s campaign saying Susan Collins had called him to concede. It had been vetted through their policy, but because the network was using AP to call states, everyone was in a kind of political limbo, where Collins had lost and had also not lost—Schrodinger’s election call, I guess.

The last 12 or so years have been fouled by the presence of Trump and MAGA–so much unnecessary pain and suffering, all that money wasted or stolen. The unseen damage done to our justice system, our diplomatic relationships, and the regular processes of government. And then the visible damage done around DC to landmarks and unnecessary construction projects.

A Republican-controlled government cowering before a senile weirdo who brags about knowing what a giraffe looks like, and who must be constantly appeased, like a toddler who can drop a nuclear bomb on you if you don’t give him his Diet Coke NOW I SAID NOW, let him run the country into the ground with illegal tariffs and illegal wars. They are spineless worms squirming to make their senile weirdo like them, notice them, take a photo with them, give them his magic to win their next election.

But the rest of us don’t need his approval to get through our days. We have enough to do and send people to Washington to run the government for us; to make sure the retired people get their Social Security, that the hungry can eat, that people can afford medical care, that our food and medicines are safe, that we follow our international agreements, and that people who steal from us are punished.

And so this time the people fired the employees who stole from us, and lied to us. But there was more, a message directly to the president and it was simply this:  “Fuck you, Donald.” I thought that this might happen—that the people would just take out all the trash and it’d be a beatdown. My wildest prediction was 242 seats in the best of all possible worlds and I guess I didn’t dream big enough, because this is an extinction-level event already, and the full ramifications are still weeks away.

Susan Collins and her mewling defense of her vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh. Gone. John Husted and his ass? Gone. Darlene Graham and her staggeringly unintelligent arrogance? Gone. And the GOP politicians who survived this round? My House rep is now utterly irrelevant to the history of this country because MAGA is over. And MAGA is the only thing he and so many and his buddies had on their resumes. Fuck them.

There are some really great people joining the federal, state, and local governments over the next few months. But tonight is about savoring the defeat of truly awful people, and the huge sigh of relief that they are going to be irrelevant to our lives soon enough. We did it.

I’ll leave you with this: