Like most of you, the sea of red on the maps this morning is making me queasy.
Even with a Biden win, the ugliness and ignorance of this country have been revealed.
That half the country could willingly and knowingly vote for hate and incompetence over compassion and intelligence is shocking. Vote for bigotry, misogyny, homophobia, and xenophobia over inclusion; choose pathological lying over truth, the dark ages over science. It is mind-boggling and dispiriting.
I have never felt more disillusioned and removed from my country. It feels unrecognizable. I am crushed.
I grieve for America.
Envisioning The American Dream 
Feels like the zombie apocalypse.
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It’s not over till it’s over. (Yogi Berra)
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I agree . I do believe that Joe Biden will win but not without a lot of kicking and screaming from Trump. But was is truly so disturbing is the clear evidence of the deep divsion in this county and the number of people who still support and voted for Trump
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The division is so palpable Sally. Whoever wins the road ahead will be quite (trumpy) bumpy.
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We are headed for a very rough road ahead.
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Sally, we just need to stay calm and be patient. The process should run its normal course. The true winners in all of this are the conscientious election workers who are trying to get it right. Trump is within his right to claim a recount when the process is finished. Any judge worth his salt will say let’s follow normal processes and not stop them from occurring. Suing is just grandstanding, which is what the president has been posturing for over six months.
This post I wrote this morning adds a few more thoughts. Keith
https://musingsofanoldfart.wordpress.com/2020/11/04/keep-calm-and-be-patient/#comment-34105
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It is now a bit later in the day and things are looking better if not a certain victory for Biden. What remains disturbing is that despite knowing who Donald Trump is people voted for him in droves. In 2016 he was still a murky character for some. Now we know exactly who he is.
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Sally, I heard one of the reasons some men voted for Trump is his machismo. Really? I don’t see it. I see false bravado. I see someone who is not accountable or responsible for his actions or words. “It is not my fault” is a common saying. I also see weakness. I see someone who would not attend a debate in 2016 because Meghan Kelly asked him tough questions at the last one. I see a person whose greatest fear is informed people asking him follow-up questions, especially if they are women.
So, I truly do not see this machismo these folks are talking about. There is an old saying to be more wary of the quiet person. Trump definitely does not fit that bill. Keith
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This put everything into perspective
A very worthwhile analysis from Mike Vatis who clerked for RGB and Thurgood Marshall:
We’re now in Phase 2 of what was always likely to be a multi-phase election. If all the votes are counted in accordance with the law, Biden is almost certain to win. He has taken Arizona and the one electoral vote based on the congressional district around Omaha, NE. This means he likely does not even need to win all three of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. Georgia also is still in play. The outstanding votes are widely expected to favor Democrats, since they are mainly mail-in votes, which we have known for months would favor Democrats, as Democrats were far more likely to vote by mail due to their belief that the pandemic is real and dangerous and in-person voting should be avoided if possible.
Phase 2 will consist of Trump calling for the counting to stop (which he has already started to do), lawsuits to try to stop the counting, ballot-by-ballot efforts to toss Democratic ballots, public demonstrations and, unfortunately, violence to try to create turmoil and a pretext for stopping the vote. The deja vu we should all be feeling is not from 2016, but 2000, when many of these same Republican tactics were deployed. A big difference this year is that the GOP strategy for Phase 2 has been planned for a while, while in 2000 it was more seat-of-the-pants. A bigger, and more worrisome, difference is the violence we are likely to see this year.
In 2000, we had the “Brooks Brothers riot,” young preppies who were able to yell and pound on the windows enough to disrupt vote-counting in Palm Beach County. This year we will see throngs of Trump supporters, often armed, descend on vote counting facilities and state capitals. The armed thugs who occupied the Michigan capital earlier this year, the dangerous Trump “parades” that dangerously blocked traffic on highways this week, the provocateurs who tried to foment violent reactions from peaceful BLM marchers…all of those things were dry runs for what is likely this week. Fortunately, the governors of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania are Democrats. I hope they are prepared to call out the state police and the National Guard if necessary to protect the vote counters and let the vote proceed.
God knows how many mail-in ballots will never make it to the vote-counters in time to be counted, due to Louis Dejoy’s transparent effort to slow down the mail, or how many ballot-by-ballot challenges will succeed based on technicalities (no signature of the voter, or no witness signature, or no security envelope, etc.). But I’m optimistic that the ballots that did (or do) make it on time will be enough for Biden to win.
Phase 3 will be Trump’s effort to get state legislatures to disregard the vote in some of these states that he loses, and to appoint the electors on their own. But let’s first win Phase 2.
Stay confident, and prepare to march to defend democracy and the rule of law.
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