the united states has seen worse than donald trump. it has endured political crises and corruption, war abroad and bloodshed at home. but that doesn<u+2019>t make it any easier to contemplate the catastrophe that looms if we wake up wednesday morning to president-elect trump. there<u+2019>s no sense complaining anymore. the hurricane is three days from landfall. the urgent thing now is to avert the worst, minimize the damage, save the foundations, clear the mess. averting the worst starts with electing hillary clinton. for many voters that will mean defying republican efforts to jam the electoral machinery through lies, legal obstructions and the threat of violence. we hope the voters hold out, however intimidating the process and long the lines. for americans who may feel unmoved or unwilling to vote for mrs. clinton, here is a question from the future: in 2016 we were closer than ever to electing an ignorant and reckless tyrant <u+2014> what did you do to stop him? this surreal, miserable presidential campaign exposed a lot of rot in our democracy<u+2019>s infrastructure, and anger in the populace. those conditions are related. it has exposed a sick republican party. some in the never-trump movement tried and failed to stop the nominee. but history will not be kind to the other republicans who, out of cravenness or calculation, sidled up to a man they knew to be unfit for office. paul ryan, mitch mcconnell, ted cruz, marco rubio <u+2014> weaklings all. a party of holier-than-thous standing athwart history, saying, <u+201c>stop hillary, whatever the damage.<u+201d> mike huckabee, on twitter , shared this pithy lunacy: <u+201c>trump may be a car wreck, but at least his car is pointed in right direction.<u+201d> it is a history of coded race-baiting combined with myopia and cowardice that puts the republican establishment in lock step now with the alt-right, the ku klux klan, the racists and misogynists and nut jobs, the guy who shouts <u+201c>jew-s.a.,<u+201d> the crowds that scream, <u+201c>lock her up.<u+201d> for some it is taxes, abortion or immigration, for many it is simply clinton hatred that allows them to justify supporting a candidate who also stands for torture, reckless war, unchecked greed, hatred of women, immigrants, refugees, people of color, people with disabilities. a sexual predator, a business fraud, a liar who runs on a promise to destroy millions of immigrant families and to jail his political opponent. if mr. trump is rejected on tuesday, the nation will have a momentary breather. and some good news to build on. the republicans who have spent the last weeks and months jumping on, then off, then on the trump bus will have been discredited, and some may be unseated. those in the trump inner circle will be freshly disgraced, and perhaps go away <u+2014> like rudy giuliani, former new york mayor, now mr. trump<u+2019>s conspiracy ghoul, and gov. chris christie of new jersey, who has been separately brought low in an unrelated courtroom drama. and the electorate will have demonstrated its decency. the rejection of trump is the simple part. win or lose, the harder job will be confronting the conditions that spawned him. this country<u+2019>s problems will still be deep and complex, and the republicans in congress show no signs of giving mrs. clinton any more respect than they gave president obama, or of abandoning their jihad against responsible governing. if she wins, mrs. clinton will have the burden of managing the jihadis, while governing for the benefit not only of her supporters but also of the tens of millions who will have voted for mr. trump expecting <u+2014> against all evidence <u+2014> that he will make everything better. it won<u+2019>t be easy. <u+201c>winter is coming<u+201d> is the title garry kasparov gave his book about vladimir putin. autumn is here in the united states, too. it<u+2019>s time to focus. to confront what trump represents, the better to end it. let this election have the salutary effect of reminding americans as a nation of who we are, and the good we can do, when we are put to the test. follow the new york times opinion section on facebook and twitter (@nytopinion) , and sign up for the opinion today newsletter . a version of this editorial appears in print on november 6, 2016, on page sr10 of the new york edition with the headline: imagining the country on nov. 9. today's paper | subscribe
imagining america on nov. 9
the editorial board