It turns out that a lot more people, many of them well-educated and intelligent, were in the Trump “basket of deplorables” than anyone imagined—including 53 percent of white women. And while Trump richly earned his poor performance among African-American and Hispanic voters with comments that were often repugnant and insulting, he actually did better with both groups than Mitt Romney did in 2012.
Catholics can take some comfort from Trump’s recent words about abortion, Supreme Court nominees, and other issues, as well as from his conciliatory victory speech. Contrary to his critics—and rather obviously, given the election results—he is neither crazy nor stupid. He is a pragmatist. After eight years of an ideologically driven White House, and if Trump listens to decent and sensible advisers, pragmatism could be a good thing.
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