Bret Stephens: Hi, Gail. How are you feeling — despondent, energizedgolden plus, enraged, dumbstruck?

Gail Collins: Pretty much all of those, in 10-minute intervals. But I’ve got to add “scared” to your list. How about you?

Bret: Honestly?

Gail: No, Bret, in the spirit of the incoming administration, I want you to make up anything you feel like making up.

Bret: Hehehehe.

Gail: OK, honestly. Of course, I haven’t forgotten that you were the one who predicted Donald Trump would win, while I thought women voters would rescue Kamala Harris. Instead, Trump seems to have reduced the gender gap, compared with his run against Joe Biden.

Bret: We got through one Trump administration. We’ll get through another. What happened last week wasn’t the end of democracy. It was its reaffirmation. We’ll vote again in 2026, when the Senate map will be more favorable to Democrats. And we’ll vote in 2028, when Trump will be ineligible to run for re-election. Gnashing one’s teeth helps nobody, least of all the teeth. Life goes on.

Gail: Or at least staggers on.

Bret: Also, selfishly? I feel vindicated. I spent years warning that Biden should build the damn wall, that he wasn’t mentally fit for a second term, that there was a credible case for Trump, that Harris would be a poor candidate and that it wasn’t enough for her to run on being not Trump.

Gail: Pause for the sound of trumpets.

Bret: I’m nothing if not full of myself. One additional thought: Tuesday’s election was a blessing in disguise for Democrats. It’s the shock they needed to rethink how they conduct politics in a second Trump term.

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