To cleanse the palate, a clip that’s gotten nearly nine million views in about 17 hours. That’s what an affecting three-minute speech can do in the age of Facebook. One reaction to this is to say, “What the hell is it doing on a basketball broadcast?” But I think that’s why it resonates. It’s not standard political-gladiator bluster; it’s someone who doesn’t talk politics for a living being honest, and being honest from a religious perspective, not a partisan one. You don’t see much like it on American television. Add that to the endless list of Reasons Trump Won that right-wingers have spent the last few days on social media compiling.

It also works, I think, as chicken soup for the soul. Lotta anxiety out there:

Note how many Trumpers say they were surprised by the outcome. It wasn’t just the dreaded punditocracy who believed the polls. As far as Johnson’s point about healing goes, Trump has hit most of the right notes since Tuesday. He was gracious to Clinton in his victory speech, he was gracious to Obama during their White House photo op, and he was gracious to Paul Ryan during their brief press availability. But then, Trump has always been gracious in the immediate aftermath of victory. He praised Ted Cruz after the Indiana primary despite Cruz having torn into him earlier that day in front of the media. Trump’s problem has never been magnanimity after a win. His problem is sustaining the magnanimity after the win fades, which is why he was attacking “Lyin’ Ted” again at his rallies before the month of May was out. In fact, you got a glimpse of the two Trumps in the span of about nine hours last night:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/796900183955095552
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/797034721075228672

I think character is destiny, which is why we should expect more of the first Trump than the second as his presidency wears on. A believer like Johnson would probably say that anyone can redeem himself and change in time. Hope he’s right.