So many things to observe in this marathon of an election night. #
First, it's nice that it isn't a nailbiter. We know the outcome. Unlike my friend Tom Watson, who is beyond impatient for the networks to call the election, I'm glad that it's stretching out. I wish the 2008 election had been similarly extended so we could have had a chance to absorb the change gradually. Instead boom, he was elected, giving his acceptance speech, still gives me goosebumps, and we all went out to party in the streets. Now we're getting to savor the fullness of the moment. And the eventfulness of 2020 is cooperating. #
For example, Covid is raging. Growing exponentially. We're doing nothing to resist it. The example Trump set during the campaign, all those awful rallies, more awful because they were such good entertainment, is probably responsible for a good portion of the growth. I heard on the news that there's a high correlation between regions hardest-hit by the virus and those that voted for Trump. They see it as a conundrum, but it's obvious what the connection is. People who live in Trump Country don't see the virus as a threat. That's gotta be one of the biggest indicators. People who don't feel threatened by it are probably more likely to get it.#
Okay so here's something people don't like to say out loud. But obviously the Trump election was a reaction to the Obama election. The yin to the yang. People who don't like uppity presidents (ie blacks) probably don't care for presidents who don't know their place is in the home (ie women). They thought Trump was the perfect way to say Fuck You Try Again Assholes. Let Trump drive them crazy. Smart. It sure did that. So when enough people got tired of Trump the Dems offer up an affable white grandpa, he likes dogs! -- just the thing, but they snuck in just behind him a woman who happens to be black! We hardly noticed. #
At one point the other day, when it seemed clear that Biden was going to top it off, we realized oh shit it's going to be Vice-President Harris. She's really going to be VP. The glass ceiling is breaking as we speak. But you know what, the people in Trump Country noticed. They might've told the pollsters they were going to vote for Uncle Joe, thinking all the time that a black women wasn't their idea of someone who should be a heartbeat away from the presidency. Esp such an old heart. #
It's good that there's some time to contemplate this before it's official.#
Another thing that's good is it gave Fox some time to decide how to handle this. At first they were going to refuse to call Biden President-elect Biden. That would have been a catastrophe. In the meantime, they figured it out, and Laura Ingraham, last night, looked into the camera and told Trump to go gracefully. They gave him an out. You have to figure if he doesn't take it, they're going to go ahead and call Biden president-elect. We had time to negotiate this. This is kind of a miracle but hardly anyone noticed. Fox isn't going to help start Civil War 2.0. #
Nate Silver is openly trying to figure out what happened with the polls. He seems glad that this is being drawn out too. Consider maybe the electorate was a moving target, and the polls, with all their heuristics couldn't pick that up. Things were seesawing with Trump in October. First he's in the hospital, looking frail, sick with Covid, possibly dying. That can't have been good for his polling. Then he recovers, is full of energy, pumped up on steroids, holding his normal now murderous rallies, and the Dems were holding drive-in embarrassments. He juiced his base in late October, and it worked. It got people to think "Hey hun, the old Trump is back," the virus didn't get him, look at the fun, and they switched their vote. They could, because Trump told them not to mail in their ballots. I think, net-net, people are being too hard on the polls, and too hard on the statisticians at the networks. #
PS: Meadows getting the virus at this moment and spreading it while covering it up is the perfect epilogue for trump as something other than a tragic punchline.#
Last update: Friday November 13, 2020; 10:12 AM EST.
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