Doug's Darkworld

The vote counting has continued, it’s too close to call yet. So far my prediction about the election has been on the money. I predicted Trump would declare he won, and use the Supreme Court to install himself for a second term. And that’s precisely what he has done and is trying to do. My friends have assured me the Supreme Court would do no such thing. My friends forget 2000 when the Supreme Court did exactly that. And today’s Supreme Court is far more packed with GOP loyalists than in 2000.

So we’re not out of the woods yet. Even if Biden squeaks by with a narrow victory, Trump will do everything in his power to contest the results. If Trump wins, let me guess, the Dems will simply roll over pretty much like they have been since Trump got elected in the first place. Well, Biden did promise there would be “no fundamental changes.”

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That was this morning, early evening now. Looks like it’s going to go to Biden, he’s flipped a few states that went to Trump in 2016, and looking good in a few more. Trump is already filing lawsuits. And there’s certainly going to be recounts. So 2000 all over again, but with more than just one state in play.

In retrospect, I suppose it’s good it was close. If Trump had clearly lost, he would almost certainly already be wreaking what vengeance he could on a country that failed him. Vindictive is one of his middle names. The longer the counting drags out, I think the more likely cooler heads will prevail. If Trump does manage to pull off a Bush 2000 result, not sure what could be done about it. The Occupy Wall Street protests pretty much showed how futile protesting is in contemporary America.

The real question, I guess the heart of the matter, how did we get to such a point where American reality is a farce? The electoral college and other weird invented election systems were well intentioned, but thoroughly gamed by the early nineteenth century. Other countries make it easy to vote, even require it. Voter suppression is the norm in the USA. Gerrymandering is rampant in the US. Not so much elsewhere. Etc.

I digress. Sort of. I’m sorry, I’m talking about how the hell did we get to a point where the choice for the leadership of the ‘free world’ came down to an old neocon party apparatchik who explicitly promised nothing vs a reality TV star, failed businessman, con artist, and failed president? And Americans in record numbers voted for one of these two options? Worse, at least in my view, they are encouraged to identify as one of these two factions?

OK, epiphany time here. Or something I hadn’t grokked until now. (Yes, grok is a perfectly cromulent word.) Trump supporters make a huge deal about publicly identifying themselves as Trump supporters. It’s like a shared identity, I don’t recall any other politician in my life that has inspired that kind of, what, devotion? It’s like people who are so into their preferred sport’s team that they costume themselves to attend games? Political cosplay?

I guess Trumpism has become a tribal identity. Obviously that’s a huge deal to a lot of people. Ideology and religion, people are fervent about both. When I was young, I ascribed to such. Now, I dunno, couldn’t we just go with what works? If any particular ideology or religion was the answer, we’d know it by now. The state of our world says none of them are the answer.

I think science and reason are the answer. There’s codicils of course, but any answer that ignores science and reason is ultimately a fail. I am very happy that so far the election has been peaceful. If things really settle down, science blogs! Stay safe everyone. #StaytheFHome #WearaDamnMask #FelesRegula

Copyright © 2020 Doug Stych. All rights reserved.

(Image: Found on Facebook, attribution unknown, claimed as Fair Use under US copyright law.)