Two locations, two hours, two groups of people, one question.

Thursday from 4pm to 5pm I was at the election Post-Mortem put on by the Political Science Department in the warm, comfy, safe, Devos Lobby eating cheese and fruit. The audience was nearly all white, and the age range definitely skewed older.

Thursday from 5:30pm to 6:30 pm I was at the #notmypresident rally that was started by a GVSU student in Rosa Parks circle. It was 50 degrees, overcast and windy. It was a diverse crowd, much more diverse than the panel audience, and there were people of all ages from children under ten to people over 50.The Panel talked about why the election ended the way it did.The Rally talked about what was going to happen after President-Elect Trump is sworn in.

The Panel thought the election was more normal than abnormal: people mostly voted by party; people with less education went Republican and vice-versa; and political science models mostly predicted the correct outcome. The Rally talked about how the election was a victory for hate, bigotry, misogyny and xenophobia; the election was a sign of impending doom that blotted out the powerful sun that has graced our faces for the last eight years.

The Panel said American politics has always been nasty: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, a sitting President and Vice President who personally attacked each other, and a sitting Vice President who shot and killed a former Treasury Secretary.The Rally said this was a deviation from the moral norm unlike anything this country has seen; the outcome failed to prevent President-Elect Trump from taking office.

The Panel is right. The nation is suffering from recency bias; this is a only a setback, albeit a sizable one, on the perpetual march toward progress. Congress still has to approve appointments, and the Supreme Court can still strike down laws. The structure will hold. The Rally is also right. To normalize Donald Trump's election is to accept bigotry, hatred and racism as a part of America's core beliefs. These are extraordinary circumstances, and President-Elect Trump will bulldoze the separation of power just as he bulldozed the Republican primaries and the most qualified candidate every to see the Presidency.

"But the panel is blinded by privilege!" The Rally screams. "But the Rally doesn't understand our democracy's stability and safeguards." The Panel calmly replies.

I don't know which one is right; it seems that no one else does either.