Supporters of Hillary Clinton are understandably devastated by the election results. So are those of us to her left, who voted for Dr. Jill Stein or who chose to observe the voter boycott. But it’s important to consider what today would feel like if Donald Trump had lost and Hillary Clinton had won.

The mainstream media and many Americans would be patting themselves on the back. First woman president! And we held off Trump the fascist! USA! USA!

Which would not have been a good thing.

A Hillary Clinton victory would have told American politicians that it’s OK to sell influence to transnational corporations for millions of dollars, transform a nominal foundation into a money laundry that finance is your daughter’s wedding, endorse NSA spying on ordinary Americans, back “free trade” agreements that put millions of people out of work in order to line the pockets of the super wealthy, start wars for no reason whatsoever and provoke possible wars with adversaries like Russia, endorse CIA torture, all while failing to stand up for the interests of the poor and downtrodden whose party you claim to represent. She was a disgusting person and she deserved to lose.

It would have told Trump’s supporters that their interests don’t matter. Does anyone seriously doubt that Hillary Clinton would sign more free trade deals? Encourage more globalization? Knock down more borders?

There are many problems with Trump, which I have documented in my book, cartoons, and columns. And I will continue to do so, obviously. As we look with a gimlet eye into the future, however, at a time that feels like Germany in 1933, it’s important to note that the alternative wasn’t much better.

At least Donald Trump offers clarity: United States is a vicious, thuggish empire. Many of its citizens are breathtakingly ignorant and uneducated and contemptuous of those who are intelligent and make an effort to inform themselves. Many of its citizens are overtly or covertly racist.

And yes, sexism is still a huge problem. And yes, sexism is definitely part of the reason that Hillary Clinton is not president-elect today.

Any system that is impervious to internal reform is doomed to external attack and, eventually, ruin. Ross Perot, a far more reasonable man than Trump, was rejected by the system. As was Howard Dean. And Bernie Sanders. Most Trumpists would have preferred one of those.

For whatever it’s worth, Donald Trump exposes the United States for the monster that most people around the world already know it to be. Make America great again? We’ve always been assholes. Now, with an asshole in the White House, what we are is super clear. Which gives us the ability to get to work in order to clean up our rancid political culture.