Often erroneously attributed to John Wayne, the quote “This life’s hard, but it’s harder if you’re stupid” actually comes from George V. Higgins’s 1970 novel The Friends of Eddie Coyle. The phrase is spoken by a gunrunner trying not to get killed during a deal, but its applications are truly universal.

Let’s not be so discourteous as to call a certain cadre of today’s college students stupid, but let’s just say Tuesday’s election has left many of them stupefied. Their teachers and administrators made sure of it.