I never want to hear the words “America is better than this” again. I never want to know about America's better angels.

I want honesty. I want to make an admission about who exactly we are as a country, and let's be very clear about that definition: We are a country that just elected one of the cruelest, most ruthless, and blatantly self-serving political figures in the world – who is simply aware chose modern history to be president. Again.

We just elected a convicted felon who has normalized bullying, spread hate like an industrial sprinkler, and shown us time and time again that he believes the law is irrelevant and self-enrichment sacrosanct. Facing a surging ocean of red flags — from accusations of trying to overturn the 2020 election to coddling dictators ruling enemy nations — a majority of Americans voted for the man who is a totem of the worst in all of us .

So spare me the whining “That’s not us!” I have bad news for the sensible and decent among us: That’s exactly what we are.

America simply chose mass deportations, chaos and hatred

We are a country that supports the mass deportation of immigrants, a promise Trump made and will undoubtedly keep. When families are torn apart, cities and towns are raided by federal law enforcement, and the people who once worked and made homes in communities – some for decades – are locked up in internment camps, it is the electorate that has approved such a thing.

If legal citizens get caught up in the chaos, so be it. It was the voters' decision.

Opinion: Trump's strong vote shows that America has already lost

If a bumbling and unqualified billionaire like Elon Musk is tasked with tearing the federal government apart, then America will have chosen it.

If the Department of Education is abolished and our education system falls into the hands of right-wing ideologues and religious zealots, that will be the result of the choice of US voters.

If Trump's tariffs hit and drive up consumer prices across the board, it won't be the fault of the countless economists who told us what would happen. It will be what the majority of Americans voted for. It will be the economic pot they wanted to boil in, even as the economy falters under the Biden-Harris administration.

As the New York Times reported on October 30, “Consumers are spending more. Inflation is cooling down. And the U.S. economy looks as strong as ever.”

Trump will acquit himself of his charges and turn the Justice Department against his enemies

If Trump throws out his own legal cases, destroying the rule of law his party once claimed to champion, then that will be what the people wanted. When he attacks the U.S. Department of Justice against his so-called enemies, when he goes after Democrats and others with malicious intent, and calls in the military to suppress any form of dissent, shut up about it being un-American. It is now 100% American because it is exactly what the people of this country intentionally chose.

I don't want to hear a single word about anyone not recognizing how bad things can get. I don't want to hear that food prices were too high so you thought it couldn't hurt to vote for Trump. I don't want to hear that you didn't like either candidate and therefore had to sit out the 2024 election.

The stakes in this election could not have been clearer and could not have been broadcast louder. Vice President Kamala Harris ran the smartest campaign I've ever seen. She reached across the aisle and offered people a large tent in which to seek shelter. She was qualified — as a former prosecutor, former U.S. senator and vice president — in ways Trump could never have imagined.

Face it, America. We are a country that elected Trump – a second time.

But America elected the man who blithely said he would be a dictator for a day. Voters chose the man who will denounce our allies and befriend our enemies. Voters elected the man who is a convicted rapist, a role model for no one, an often incoherent and always hateful idiot who has turned Americans against each other in ways I never imagined possible.

The voters have chosen Trump. He won. Cruelty won. Bullying won.

And that's exactly what America is right now. We are Trump, and we will absorb all the shameful, painful, and embarrassing things he does. We are not “better than this.” We lost the right to make that claim when the presidential race was called.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on X, formerly Twitter, @RexHuppke and Facebook facebook.com/RexIsAJerk

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Opinion: Trump wins. American voters just re-elected cruelty and hatred