I think that one way to be at peace with this election is to accept both the horror and your own personal responsibility. There are no good outcomes but, no matter what happens, we still have a responsibility to do our little bit to create a healthier politics.

If Trump wins, the most likely outcome is that he will betray his supporters and will be succeeded by a left-wing Democrat. If Clinton wins, you get a corrupt and reckless politician who will radicalize the Supreme Court. There are varieties of terrible even within a Clinton victory. If she wins narrowly, Trump-supporting conservatives and Never Trumpers will be tempted to fight each other rather than the liberals. If Clinton wins a broad victory, the Senate is probably gone and Clinton will be able to do even more damage.

That leaves us. We can choose to despair at the loss of our “last chance” to save our country, or we can choose to endure regardless of whatever terrible policies are implemented by the next president. We can choose to kick each other over who voted for Trump, or we can choose to work with each other to create an agenda that can appeal to both working-class Trump supporters and right-leaning non-whites who hate Trump as a racist.

It may be many years before such efforts bear any fruit. It may be that the good we do will not fix all of the harm that will be done in the next few years. But, if we give in to despair and mutual contempt, even the limited good that we might do& will not happen. Whoever wins the presidency — and whatever he or she does with the powers of the presidency — we will still have the responsibility to do the best that we can for our country within the limited possibilities of the given situation. The only question is whether we will choose to live up to those responsibilities.