The worst part of all was seeing my kids so sad!

They say a mother is only ever as happy as her saddest child. 

It's true.

So as heartsick as I felt Tuesday night, the worst part of all was seeing my kids so sad. We all had so much hope. Eight years ago, when Donald J. Trump won the presidency the first time, I wrote this. I didn't like him. He had shown no decency; he had earned no respect. I had listened to his spiteful, venomous rhetoric throughout the campaign, his hatred toward our Muslim sisters and brothers and our hard-working Mexican immigrants; his excessive greed, his p***y-grabbing, outright distain for women. 

Still, at that point I didn't know what he was truly capable of. 

We..... didn't know. 

Now, we know. 

We watched as he stole one SCOTUS nominee from President Obama, winding up with three in total, who then turned the clock back 50 years on women's rights, freedom, and healthcare. We watched as he called those of us who disagree with his policies "the enemy from within," seeking to further divide an already polarized nation. We watched as he separated children from their families at our southern border, while trying to block all Muslims from entering the country. He is a 78-year-old convicted felon who was found liable for sexual assault! He refused to leave office peacefully when he lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden, fueling a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol in order to stop the electoral vote-counting. He is currently under indictment on several different counts. 

And he told us during his recent campaign that he would be a "dictator" on Day 1. 

Now, we know. 

Now, we've elected him to a second term of office. 

And now, we have no excuse.

Be clear. Dictatorial tyranny is not just something we hear about in countries far away; the United States is not immune. Trump told us what he'll do. If we deliver this man a full trifecta, he's gonna do whatever he pleases, without constraint. Pray hard we don't lose the House. 

My family has been in varying stages of grief the past three days, fear for what lies ahead but also regret for what we gave up. We had such a good, good alternative. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz ran a fabulous campaign. Unlike their opponents, they sought to strengthen and unify people, to lift the discouraged, to hear the unheard, and to gather the isolated. I'm confident they would have made a wonderful President and Vice President, and we would have felt the impact of their strong, positive leadership for generations. 

Thank you, Kamala and Tim. I will never forget you. I will never forget the spirit of your campaign or how it made me feel inside. In the final days, Tim Walz asked supporters to consider a conversation they might have decades from now, when someone asks them what they did in the 2024 election to ensure an outcome that preserved democracy and promised hope, love, and joy. And our answer would be, "Every damn thing we could!"

Well that's what you did, Kamala and Tim! You ran relentlessly. You never stopped fighting. You never stopped reaching out. You never gave up on the core values you believe in. And though in the end, it wasn't enough, though in the end the American people preferred a rapist and convicted felon whose presence brings only anger, fear, and sadness, please know this....

You did every damn thing you could.