I am not too proud to admit how wrong I was about the presidential candidacy of Donald J. Trump.

So, I will do so here. I will admit to being totally off-base, out to lunch and out of touch with what was going on all around me here in the middle of Trump Country.

I’m still baffled by the idea of Trump being elected president of the United States. I accept the result of the election, that the first-time candidate for any public office won more electoral votes than his infinitely more qualified opponent, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Every single warning sign went ignored.

* Trump called Mexican immigrants criminals; his fans didn’t care.

* He denigrated Sen. John McCain’s status as a war hero; pfftt!

* Trump mocked a reporter with a disability; B. F. D.

* Trump criticized a Gold Star family for speaking out against him; who cares?

* This guy boasts about groping women, grabbing them by their genitals; hey, boys will be boys who engage in “locker room talk.”

He got a pass on all of that. Imagine what would have happened had Clinton had said things such as that. Imagine hearing her brag about grabbing some dude by his, um, jewels; imagine the backlash if she had said any of the things that Trump said.

I didn’t see it coming. I didn’t foresee this know-nothing ever being nominated, let alone elected president over someone with the credentials that Clinton brought to this campaign.

I take small comfort — and that’s all it is — in realizing that few of us out here in the peanut gallery got it right. Trump steamrolled his way to his party’s nomination. Then he flipped several of the states that President Obama carried in two winning elections.

Bingo! He wins.

This election result is going to take some time to sink in.

Bear with me while I try to ponder how I got it so damn wrong.