By the time you are reading this, our country will have elected a new President as well as Congress members.

As I sit here watching CNN’s “news coverage” on Election Night, with 10 or so tabs open on my web browser that include several major news sources as well as the North Carolina Board of Elections results by county and statewide, I am astounded at CNN’s laughable coverage of the Presidential election.

Like Cal Bryant, the editor of this publication, put it a few minutes ago (around 9:30 pm Tuesday), “Where are they getting their numbers?” – to which I had no answer because I couldn’t figure it out, either. Our sports editor, Gene Motley, called the election in Donald Trump’s favor around the same time as the three of us were still sitting in the newsroom.

Meanwhile, CNN’s talking heads were still refusing to call either North Carolina or Florida – two key toss-up states that at the time both had between 97 and 99 percent of precincts reporting and both with at least two percentage points to Trump’s advantage.

It looks like Hillary Clinton’s well-oiled political machine isn’t operating as well as everyone thought it would – or at least those rooting for her. To that I say, what a relief! And no, I’m not saying that means Clinton wasn’t my choice for office, but I am saying it’s about time the old-school Washington establishment was turned on its head.

So like I said, as you’re reading this, it’s finally over (something else I’ll be relieved about) and many people I know have such very different views, but that is part of what makes America great. This Presidential election saw more mud-slinging than any I’ve ever been alive to remember, but perhaps there are those of you who remember another time when this happened. For me, though, it was a first. I was shocked at some of the things that were said by both parties about the other – and all for a headline for the mainstream liberal media to spin.

This is why I also agree with Gene that Trump will win. The man isn’t stupid – he knows that even bad publicity, which frankly is almost all he was given, is still good publicity. Not that I think there is a person in America or in any developed nation who doesn’t recognize the Trump name, at least he made his opinions loud and clear, however offensive they may have been.

I also think that exit polls, and polling in general, is highly skewed towards the candidate that is viewed as the “popular choice”. I say this because, as Cal and I were discussing a few minutes ago, say if I – as a relatively young white female – were to be asked in front of several other young white female friends who my choice for President was upon exiting a polling locale, I’d say Clinton, despite whether I actually voted for her or not. And I believe that most people feel that way. Older white men are the demographic who have been “expected” to vote for Trump, regardless of their political beliefs. It’s rather taboo for a young white female to say she voted Trump.

Despite how high tensions have run for months, life will go on. Some of us will be upset, and the rest will be jumping for joy.

But tomorrow (Wednesday), we will all wake up and put our pants on one leg at a time, drink our favorite morning eye-opener, drive to work, and face the same old mess a different day. There will be one thing that will also remain to anyone reading this, if we were ever friends – if on Monday prior to the election we were friends, then we will still be on Wednesday morning and beyond.

I’m not going to say – in this publication, anyway – who my choice for President was (or is). Frankly, neither of them were good candidates, in my humble opinion. Apparently I was not the only one to feel that way, either, as most people who voted Trump said they did so because they didn’t like Clinton, and vice versa for those who voted Clinton.

Either way, it will be one or the other, obviously. Unless Mickey Mouse somehow makes a last-minute showing, that is. And life will go on.

Jennipher Dickens is a Staff Writer for Roanoke-Chowan Publications. Contact her at jennipher.dickens@r-cnews.com or call (252) 332-7206.