This election has been one crazy ride. On the one side, you had a candidate who faced and survived multiple assassination attempts, got the endorsement of prominent people from across the entire political spectrum, campaigned like crazy, was attacked by state and federal governments, the media, and his own political opponents, and still managed to pull of the win. On the other hand, you had a candidate who was literally handed everything, promoted by the media, endorsed by celebrities, and given the softest of interviews and still failed spectacularly.

And that’s before we even get to the squirrel.

And I do mean Harris failed spectacularly. She under performed Joe Biden in every single county she won. States that have been solidly blue for decades went purple or red. Even in those that stayed blue, places like New Hampshire, Virginia, and others where you’d normally expect to see a 20% or greater split in the vote, show Trump generally sticking withing 5% of her. Across the board, in places where her vote should have been secured, you see massive in roads, if not outright take overs. The Blue Wall shattered, the Blue Horn was closer than anyone expected, and even the West Coast has something in the range of a 60/40 split across the board. Something I never really thought I’d see. As of this writing, if my math is correct and nothing crazy happens, Trump is looking to walk away with 312 electoral votes and the popular vote by a good margin. The Republicans as a whole are looking to walk away with the House and the Senate, leading to what I’ve been calling a “triple sweep.” The man has, without question, won.

No doubt over the next few days you will see a lot of people, both in the online Pagan spheres and elsewhere, losing it. I’ve seen people complaining that we’ve “failed women,” that we’ve “failed immigrants,” and no doubt there will be other similar statements and worse to come. There will be much fear mongering, no doubt there will be demands to deny the results, to not certify the election, and perhaps even calls for physical violence. No doubt a number on the Left will insist it is time for a civil war, to stop Trump and “save our democracy.”

Thing is though, I don’t see a “civil war” happening. The numbers don’t lie, and they spell out that the people wanted Trump. Latino communities, some of which have voted blue for over a century, went for Trump. It’s not a surprise, really. Under Biden/Harris, we saw inflation go crazy, as much as 300% in some areas, and 200% in a lot of others like food. People vote with their stomachs, and it’s hard to justify voting for a person when they are directly responsible for you and your family going hungry when the other guy is promising a return to the prosperity that occurred under his previous administration. Because that was one thing Trump had going for him, he’d been a president already and things had been going great economically while he was in office. So promising to fix the economy wasn’t some empty phrase, it had evidence to back it up.

The main Democratic line, however, was about the social, not the economical, so let’s talk about that a bit. One of Harris’s big running points, arguably the biggest, was abortion. My thoughts on that matter are well documented on this blog so I won’t really get into them, but suffice to say I’m not a fan and I frankly was happy enough with Trump’s plan of it being a state issue rather than a federal one. Harris’s campaign made a big deal about getting her elected so that she could “restore” a Federal level Abortion Law to make it universally legal. This is why many people are saying “we failed women,” because somehow not allowing a woman to kill her unborn child is failing her. Of course, this led to many on the right laughing about how “I want my daughter to get raw dogged by fifty guys without consequences” was a hell of a campaign move, but I suppose it is what it is. Frankly, I’m not one to judge another person’s fetishes, though I do typically prefer it if that fetish doesn’t involve someone being murdered. Maybe I’m weird like that.

The other hot button issue of course was Immigration, specifically Illegal Immigration. Trump and Harris both ran hard on that one, but frankly I’m not terribly surprised that Trump pulled ahead because of that. Regardless of race, if you’re having trouble feeding yourself or paying your rent (and dear Gods, rents have gotten insane. Even in my area there’s places charging $2600 a month and I do not live in a major metropolitan area), meanwhile the government is bringing in tens of millions of people and giving them a totally free ride for shelter, food, and luxury items, you’re going to get a bit pissed off about that. The fact that many of these illegal immigrants have then gone on to cause massive problems (Haitians eating people’s pets, Latin American gangs taking over entire neighborhoods with violence, etc) only exacerbated the problem. People, regardless of race or creed generally have some pretty basic desires. They want to be fed, they want to have shelter, and they want to be safe. Unfortunately for Harris, her administration stripped a lot of people of these things and then made the grave mistake of not only not being sorry for it, but calling them bad people for wanting those things. Meaning that when Trump said “you’re good people, you deserve these things, and I will make it happen…”

Well, the results speak for themselves, don’t they?

One of the big things I’ve seen people talking about to try and get people to not vote for Trump was the idea of “christo-fascism” taking over the country and turning it into a Right Wing Religious Theocracy. Frankly, I don’t see that happening. Yes, JD Vance does appear to be a devout Catholic and yes I have grave reservations about who he chose as his patron saint, but Trump has never seemed all that religious to me, nor does his family, and while he does have a large number of Christian supporters, I highly doubt they’re going to want to give up the Republic for a Theocracy. Especially if Trump brings about a new age of prosperity. People tend to be more lenient when their bellies are full and their wallets aren’t empty.

Still, even if it did happen, as a Heathen I am not terribly worried. Some might say that’s because I have a chronic medical condition that is likely to kill me before problems arise, but for once that actually isn’t playing into my logic here. See, the thing is, my faith is strong. I am willing to die for my faith, if that is required. I know my place is assured and I have no fear about going to take it. Heathenism is about deeds, doing what you must, and even enduring the consequences of your choices. I made the choice over twenty years ago to be a Heathen. I made the choice over ten years ago to dedicate myself to Hela and her Realm. I made my choice, and if the price of those choices and keeping my oaths is my death, then there is no greater honor as a Heathen than to pay it.

And the simple fact of the matter is, even if it all goes wrong religiously and socially under Trump and I am made to give up my life for my faith, that’s okay, because again, it was my choice. Under Harris, I and tens of millions of others faced discrimination over things we had no choice over. Democrats have long been pushing for discriminatory practices and preaching discriminatory rhetoric on the base of sex, race, gender, etc. To endure the consequences of my choices is noble, to be punished simply for the way I was born, however, is morally wrong. As MLK Jr. put it, “judge me by the content of my character, not by the color of my skin.” Yet despite the fact MLK Jr. was possibly one of the most famous Democrats, said party’s platform tends to look like this:

This brings me back to the cry of “we failed women,” because at the end of the day I do think a large part of why Trump won is because the Democrats failed men. Men across all ages and races are facing some pretty serious problems these days, both socially and economically. Even the Harris campaign admitted this to a degree (though not very publicly), but their solution to motivate men to get out and vote ultimately boiled down to “men, you need to support women,” “think of your wives and daughters,” and even going so far as to threaten “if you vote for Trump, you’ll never get laid again.” The problem with this approach was that it was, ironically enough, 20ish years too late. There is a rampant epidemic of male loneliness which means men don’t have girlfriends, wives, or daughters. Freyr’s grace, most of them are getting laid anyways. I’ve lost count of the number of men I’ve seen reply to the “you’ll never get laid” campaign adds with “well, I wasn’t getting laid anyways, so might as well vote for Trump.” As for supporting women, the internet is flooded plenty of media of women mocking men, and accounts from countless men who not only haven’t received any support from women, but have actively been victimized by them. Heathenism teaches us “a gift for a gift,” that generosity and support are a two way street, and if women (at large) have no interest in supporting men, then there is no obligation for men to support women in turn. Especially when that support is not going to be returned in kind if you give it first.

In the end, I encourage my fellow Heathens, and other Pagans at large, to view the future without fear. Fear profits a man nothing, as my ancestors said. Yes, Trump won. To some this is the best thing that could have happened, to some it is the worst. Frankly, if his term this time around is anything like his last, I think things could probably turn out pretty okay. Hel’s Grace, maybe they’ll even turn out better. Regardless though, no matter if what comes is good or bad, remember that all things in life are temporary, so keep faith with your Gods, even unto Death. For if you have lived an honorable life and kept your oaths, there is nothing to fear. The Wyrd of our lives was woven long ago, the day of our deaths chosen at the moment of our births. Hid in a hole if you wish, scream to the sky till your lungs burst, you will not live a moment longer. Do not fear death, but rather live well and make yourself worthy. Look to the future with hope, for no matter what comes, if you are true to the Gods they will be true to you.

Because that is what I will do. I will look to these next four years not with fear, but hope. Hope that Trump will bring about prosperity, safety, and security just as he did the last time. After all, there’s reasons to be hopeful. From the looks of it, Musk will be helping to innovate new technologies, Kennedy is going to give our food and medicines a much needed cleaning up, Trump has a solid record of keeping us out of wars and boosting our economy, and so many others will be leading the charge in other areas to make them better than they have been in decades. There’s plenty of reasons to be hopeful if you leave your fears behind, regardless of race or creed. So be hopeful, friends.

Hela Bless.