Tim Kaine stressed he and Hillary Clinton "know that the work remains.” | Getty Democrats move through 'stages of grief' on Trump

A day after Donald Trump destroyed their world, Democrats on Capitol Hill were working through the stages of grief.

Some were doing better than others.


Sen. Tim Kaine, who along with his running mate Hillary Clinton, had more to lose than anyone, was gracious in defeat, while offering a flash of regret tinged with defiance.

“Hillary and I know well the wisdom and the words of William Faulkner,” Kaine said during his joint concession speech cum final campaign rally with Clinton. “He said, ‘They kilt us but they ain’t whooped us yet.’ They kilt us. They kilt us. But they ain’t whooped us yet because we know, we know that the work remains.”

Some tried to make a joke of it. “I now know the range of human emotions — in six days to go from the heights of the Cubs’ victory in the World Series to last night’s election,” quipped Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin.

Some simmered with straight, unadulterated anger. “Our government is based on a system of checks and balances. And trust me, I will be one hell of a check on Donald Trump,” tweeted newly elected Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto.

Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, was clearly in the "defiance" phase of the grief process.

“In the coming weeks, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus will request a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump," Sanchez said. "Throughout his campaign, Mr. Trump made a myriad of insulting comments about the Latino community. We need to make sure he better understands the challenges our community faces and does not act on his extreme rhetoric as President of the entire United States of America."

Or how about New York Rep. Jerrold Nadler? “We must of course respect the outcome of the elections," Nadler said. "Looking forward, we must demand that the President-elect and GOP majority in Congress take a very different path in governance than was seen during the campaign. Simultaneously, we must leverage every tool in our system of checks and balances in order to curb the excesses of the new administration."

Trump won't even be sworn in for another 70-plus days.

Some Democrats just pretended that Trump and Republicans didn’t exist. Colorado Democratic Rep. Dianne DeGette issued a three-paragraph statement that didn’t include the words “Donald Trump” or "Republicans."

But DeGette did note that there will always be more elections.

“The next national congressional elections will be held in 727 days, and 1455 days remain until the next presidential vote,” DeGette noted. “Let's make every one of them count."

Bewilderment and confusion were common emotional states too.

"I think that what’s happening is our caucus is really reeling a bit, there’s a bit of shell shock that’s going on here and I really don’t think the caucus knows what it wants to do at this point. I think it’s going to take some time," said a Democrat who didn't want to be named.

There was also blame. Lots and lots of blame and finger pointing and handwringing and general angst and more blame. This will be something Democrats fight about for awhile, and Wednesday was just a preview of a process that is going to take months, maybe years, to resolve. If that ever happens.

Among the reasons cited by lawmakers for the loss: Clinton’s failure to tie Trump more directly to down-ballot Republicans; that she was a better policy wonk than politician; Clinton just couldn't relate to voters on an emotional level; the Democratic National Committee was at fault; it was the House and Senate campaign committees' fault; it was all thanks to FBI Director James Comey, he was in the bag for the Republicans the whole time; polls are garbage; it was turnout; African-Americans didn't come out for Clinton; millennials are the worst; their message stunk; it was locusts.

"There's not a single soul who will not agree that Comey's first letter stymied our effort," declared Assistant Minority Leader James Clyburn (D-S.C.) of the FBI director's Oct. 28 letter announcing he had reopened the investigation into Clinton's email. "I was out there, and I can tell you it dampened the spirit of a lot of our people ... I was in Pennsylvania and Virginia and Florida, and that's all people were talking about."

If all else failed, Democrats noted that neither Republicans nor the media saw Tuesday's upset coming, which is itself a useful step in recovery. A problem shared is a problem halved. Or something like that.

"As I said before, I think this election was not something we expected. I don’t think it’s just Democrats. I don’t think Donald Trump expected he was going to win yesterday," said New York Democrat Joe Crowley. "This has been a pretty jolting election."

In his own Rose Garden presser, President Barack Obama tried to put a rosy spin on Tuesday’s debacle. But it's easy for him, as he is out of here on Jan. 20.

"Yesterday, before votes were tallied, I shot a video that some of you may have seen in which I said to the American people, 'Regardless of which side you were on in the election, regardless of whether your candidate won or lost, the sun would come up in the morning,'” Obama told reporters while Vice President Joe Biden stood by his side.

"And that is one bit of prognosticating that actually came true. The sun is up.”