UPDATED: George R.R. Martin weighs in on the US election

(Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

(Head to the bottom of the page to see Martin’s reaction to the returns.)

The US election season has been ongoing now for nearly 18 months and counting. For the most part, George R.R. Martin has stayed silent on the subject, although fans might have guessed from earlier liberal-leaning statements which side of the fence he was on. But over the weekend, the dam broke. It started on November 2nd, when he announced that he voted early. It was the kind of typical “even-handed” type of post you see from celebrities who know that many of their fans don’t share their views, and therefore don’t want to give offense. (A sampling from his post: “Do it for America, do it for the world, do it for your children, do it for the popcorn… but DO IT.“)

But a few days later, that changed. On November 4th, an enormous screed appeared on his website urging everyone to vote for Hillary Clinton, or at the very least not to vote for Donald Trump. This was partly driven by the fear that Martin’s native New Mexico, which has been solidly blue for this cycle, suddenly began to wobble.

From Martin’s blog:

"In my lifetime, there has never been a presidential candidate more unfit to lead this nation.You don’t need to like Hillary. You don’t need to listen to what Hillary says about Trump, or what I say about Trump. You just need to listen to Trump. If you can do that, and still consider voting for him… well…"

Well, indeed. Since then, his NotABlog has been punctuated by shorter posts, all of which are very much in the pro-Clinton camp, including a Seth Meyers video, and a post poking fun at the news from the FBI that Clinton’s new emails don’t warrant investigation. In between, he’s been getting out the vote.

Yesterday, he admitted outright that worry about the election has taken over his life.

"The election still has me in a state of high anxiety. I am not sleeping well, and I think I check 538 about three dozen times a day, hoping for some good news. Tuesday cannot come fast enough for me. I think I speak for a lot of Americans when I say that I desperately want this thing to be over. It has been SO ugly. Come Tuesday night, I will either be relieved or suicidal. I think I speak for a lot of Americans about that as well."

One more day…

UPDATE: Well, the US election is over, and Donald Trump won. Martin gave his opinion on his Not A Blog. He was not pleased.

"Trump was the least qualified candidate ever nominated by a major party for the presidency. Come January, he will become the worst president in American history, and a dangerously unstable player on the world stage.And the decimated Democrats, a minority in both House and Senate, do not have the power to hinder him.Over the next four years, our problems are going to get much, much worse.Winter is coming. I told you so."

Okay, then. Happy 2017!