I’ll be out of pocket for a while, so here’s an early open line. Noted on the Twitter firehose this afternoon:

* HILLARY CLINTON: Her lead in the national popular vote has now topped 1.5 million, with more to be counted. Move along, nothing to see here says the other side. A majority vote (including minor candidates) against the sitting president you would hope might influence his thinking on some deeply divided issues. You would hope.

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* HUCKABEE HECTORING: Mike Huckabee, who was just talking the other day about liberal lecturing people, mounts a monumental lecture on the goodness of Trump’s white nationalist guru Steve Bannon and mewls  about “leftist bullying” of Bannon, referring to criticism based on his hateful messaging over the years. This from someone who’s derided a polite callout to Mike Pence by a Broadway actor for reassurance those threatened by words issued by the likes of Breitbart. Poor babies. Mike Huckabee never heaped abuse on anybody. Much.

* SPEAKING OF MIKE PENCE: He appeared on Trump TV (Fox News) today and was quoted as saying he wasn’t “offended” by the callout at “Hamilton.” From MSNBC:

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Pence said he enjoyed the show and heard a few boos as well as some cheers. “And I nudged my kids and reminded them, that’s what freedom sounds like,” He was urged by a cast member to reassure those who feel threatened by election results.

Pence also said:

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“I know this is a very disappointing time for people that did not see their candidate win in this national election. I know that this is a very anxious time for some people.

“And I just want to reassure people that what President-elect Donald Trump said on election night he absolutely meant from the bottom of his heart – he is preparing to be the president of all of the people of the United States of America.”

The Indiana governor said he’s confident the American people will see the president-elect be a president for all of the people.

“We embrace that principle,” Pence said.

Soon enough, we’ll be able to judge the sincerity of his words. But he struck a better tone than Trump in his Twitter whines. He went high, as the Obamas like to say. The top of the ticket stayed where you can customarily find him.

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