Notes from an excellent discussion on Slashdot:

1. Trump received about the same number of votes as Romney did in 2012.

2. Hillary received about 10M fewer votes than Obama did in 2012.

3. Neither was a remotely good candidate.
But only one was 'great' at exposing every little flaw of the other candidate. Meanwhile, the other one stuck to the traditional politician script in a decidedly non-traditional election.

4. They both won their primaries because they were the best politicians, not the best options.
Trump won the election because he was the best politician, not the best option.

5. Both the DNC & the RNC need to go back to square one and start promoting their best candidates, not the best politicians.