We ask you, gentle reader, after indulging in some well-earned schadenfreude, to print this epistle, burn it and let its incense waft heavenward to be inhaled by St. Thomas More, the patron saint of politicians, who, among other achievements, was beheaded for dismaying Henry VIII. We should be so lucky.

This sacrificial rite is called for, we believe, after our premise on election eve was neatly defenestrated by the stunning victory of Donald Trump and the upending of our expectation that divided government would persist in these United States.

The upshot in financial markets has been a rout in debt on expectations of a Trumpian agenda that includes more spending on infrastructure and defense, meaning more bond supply; fewer workers via mass deportations, meaning wage inflation; and, perhaps more importantly, the expectation of significant tax cuts for corporations and the one-percenters. Stocks, meanwhile, have climbed ever higher, anticipating brisker economic growth on the back of the aforementioned government outlays, tax cuts and business-friendly government.

The irony in all this, of course, is that the hot-under-the-blue collar class (no snarky ripostes, please; we’re a working man ourselves) is likely to cede even more slices of the pie to capital.  If you’re a lefty, you should be happy; after all, to paraphrase Lenin, “It has to get worse before it gets better.”  How much worse (or better, if you’re so inclined)? As the network correspondents say, only time will tell, but Trump’s recent selections for the Labor and Environmental Protection portfolios suggest coddling for capital and nose-thumbing for workers.

We all live in the meantime, though, and we are reminded of a line from our favorite Christmas movie, It’s a Wonderful Life. When Clarence the angel remarks no money is needed in heaven, George replies, “Comes in pretty handy down here, bub.”

With the warning that the cake that Trump bakes will be heavily salted with surprise, we attempt to reconfigure our outlook.