To those protesting the election of Donald Trump as our next president: he was not my first choice, but he was the choice of my party — we nominated the one person Hillary Clinton could defeat, and not long after that, the Democrats returned the favor. What followed was a long, acrimonious, ugly campaign, and now it is over.

In 2008 I was not happy with the election of Barack Obama, but on Jan. 20, 2009, he became, and remains, my president. At one minute after noon on Friday, Jan. 20, 2017, Donald Trump will become our president.

I am reminded of the immortal words of Andrew Shepherd, president in the movie “The American President,” who said, “We have serious problems, and we need serious people to solve them.”

Terence McManus

New Sharon