He told us who who he was.

Throughout the campaign he told us who he was. I wonder why so many people did not listen.

A wise person told me once “If someone tells you who they are, believe them.”

To my female friends, my gay friends, my Democratic friends, and to all those who simply did not like Hillary Clinton, I ask this: are you surprised by where we are now? To those who are now in deep consternation over his lies, his actions, his Supreme Court pick, and the effect all of this may have on life as we know it, I have to say that none of this should have come as a shock.

He walked down that escalator and showed us who he was. He told us he was willing to use bigotry as a political tool. He told us he would work to get rid of Roe v. Wade and threaten reproductive rights. He said women should be punished if they exercised those rights. Throughout the campaign, he told us he would lie, mislead, and divide. Since then, he has shown us narcissistic, calloused, mean-spirited behavior and cruelty again and again.

To union members and hard-hat workers, how comfortable do you now feel about organized labor rights and higher wages? To Black voters who stayed home, what do you think will happen to voting rights, civil rights, and affirmative action? To those who believe in marriage equality, how secure do you feel? To those who have health care, especially those with preexisting conditions, how confident are you that those protections will remain?

The same political forces that gave us Citizens United, unlimited dark money, and gerrymandering are not finished. It is not enough for them to pick their voters. They also want to decide what freedoms and rights you have left, religious or otherwise.

I believed him when he told us who he was, and I voted accordingly. So to those who stayed home, voted for Stein or Johnson, or joined the Bernie voters who voted for Trump because they were angry that Hillary Clinton won the nomination, you are not innocent bystanders. You helped make this possible.

Elections have consequences. That phrase may sound worn out, but it remains painfully true. If we want to regain any sense of normalcy, responsibility, and basic decency in public life, hoping is not enough. Complaining is not enough. Being shocked after the fact is not enough.

The new Supreme Court is a gift to the far-right evangelicals and their political allies, earned because they stayed focused while too many others were distracted, disillusioned, or uninformed. Trump merely took up where Pat Buchanan left off in 1992. He just did a better job of exploiting fear, prejudice, resentment, and tribalism.

It can get worse, and it will get worse, unless people get active. If you want to change the coming reality, get off the sidelines. Register. Vote. Help others vote. Pay attention before the damage is done, not after. Pay attention before it is too late.

Listening is a skill that should never go unused or ignored. He told us who he was.

The question now is whether we have finally learned to listen.