re: Why was Hillary's loss so hard for liberals/democrats to deal with?

After 8 years controlling the white house and favorable polls for Hillary, I think they had gotten used to having things their way, and might have convinced themselves that the country had “turned the corner” for them.

Look at MSM coverage immediately following the election, and the attitude was that everybody must hate what happened and agree with the propagandists. Hollywood talk was the same. It took a few reminders that half the country voted the other way, and the fake news callouts, to somewhat cool that off.