I took weeks off from this site and now I remember why. Isn't it maybe important not to amplify each other's anxieties? It all feels way too much like the hall of mirrors scene in "The Lady From Shanghai."

No one I know in journalism who's been following this election closely believes there's a legit chance for Trump to win. I get the concern about Bill Barr, the Supreme Court and black magic, up to a point. But I think even that is symbolic.

Isn't the real underlying unease about the fact that our "democracy" basically doesn't work? Because whatever happens in the coming week won't change that.

I totally share the yearning for catharsis here. And I think a big Democratic victory is way more likely than not (if that's reassuring, which it probably isn't). But that won't actually fix anything, including our mythic, symbolic, pathological obsession with That Guy

It will be profoundly disorienting to deal with political and cultural reality with That Guy off the stage, if and when that actually happens. We all became addicted to him. We allowed him to change us, to change everything.

I have no desire to mock people who want "normal." It's normal to want normal. But That Guy has made clear that normal is not available. Honestly, the old normal was a fake. Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer can't bring it back.

There's a long road ahead, whatever happens this week. But we've seen the biggest upsurge of activism in 50 years, and that's immensely hopeful, Trump or no Trump. (That's my first lame bridge-nerd joke in four years!)

We'll get through this. It's not the end of the world. It's not even 2016. Trump is not Voldemort -- and Voldemort didn't win in the end anyway. It'll be a tough week, yes. Let's be kind to ourselves, and each other, if we can.