by John Walters
Biden His Time
While President Trump was “hereby” claiming states that had not yet finished counting votes, challenger Joe Biden was keeping a low profile and letting the vote-counters do their job. As we type this it’s late Wednesday evening and still no definitive winner. Is this what prolonged labor is like?
We don’t want to go “Dewey (Beach) Defeats Trumpman” here, so we’ll note that one candidate is throwing paradoxical tantrums (“Stop counting the votes!” “Keep counting the votes!”) while the other is sitting on the front porch playing Crazy Eights with his wife.
It wasn’t easy: voter suppression, voter intimidation, a concerted effort to delegitimize the U.S. postal service and Chevy truck caravans… and still, MORE AMERICANS voted for Joe Biden than any other presidential candidate in U.S. history (Donald Trump received more votes than any Republican candidate in history, too). By the way, in seven of the last eight elections, counting this one, the Democratic candidate has received the majority of the votes. Sounds as if the GOP is getting governmental assistance via our electoral process: is that not socialism?
p.s. Your faithful scribe moved to Arizona last March and voted here. You’re welcome, America.
Heaven-Sent
When the up-and-down history of the year 2020 is written, it should be remembered that the coronavirus was the stuff that saved democracy in this nation. Just as 405,000 American soldiers gave their lives for the U.S.A. in World War II, more than half that have sacrificed theirs in 2020 for this country.
Not following? When you see how slim the margin of victory for Joe Biden was in this election, there’s little getting around the idea that Donald Trump wins without the introduction of the coronavirusāand his administration’s response to itālast winter. And if Trump wins in 2020 the path of darkness for this country only becomes more sinister.
By no means is this country out of the woods yet. And let’s make no mistake: this is a battle between white supremacy, i.e., the patriarchal white male, and inclusion of all types of people. That’s all any of this is about. Don’t attempt to complicate it.
There will be other Trumpian figures in the future. For now, America has held him and his horde at bay. To continue to do so in the future will take vigilance. But for now, God sent down a virus to provide an assist. And again, there’s nothing more outlandish about suggesting that than suggesting that God Him/Herself exists. The evidence is equally convincing/unconvincing on either count.
And, before we leave this topic, 1,100 more Americans died of Covid-19 yesterday. With more than 100,000 new cases. America First!
Stop The Count!
No one ever said White Supremacy in America would vanish without a bitter fight. Here are some “patriotic Americans”, a.k.a. “Vanilla Isis“, in Michigan literally chanting that votes should not be counted because, you know, ‘merica. Listen: “Stop the Count!” was quite the populist expression centuries ago in Transylvania, but I’m not sure if it’s really that in modern-day Wayne County, Michigan.
Of course the funny part is that all of the GOP and Trumpism is rooted in hypocrisy. So what a perfectly symbolic end for what may be the end of his presidency:
Whose Side Are You On?
A question I posed some of my friends (we are divided) last night: Watch these two clips and determine whose side you’d rather be on. Him?
Or him?
Black people forever wondering how come they have to be twice as smart, twice as composed, twice as articulate just so that white people won’t call them radical or unhinged. You know what? They have a damn good point.
That’s WMR (White Male Rage) up top and this is what happens when you don’t realize that the Constitution is color-blind (especially after that whole Emancipation Proclamation deal).
The Manchester (Ob)Scene
In the world of soccer, Manchester United was once the gold standard. But nowadays Man U. cannot even maintain the goal standard. We’re not super-sophisticated when it comes to football acumen, but based on the media reactions from punters it seems that the defense here against Basaksehir, a Turkish club, in Champions League defeat was, well, indefensible. Something you’d admonish your 10-and-under team for failing to be prepared for.
The goal was scored by that unmarked man, Demba Ba, who is 35 years old. Basaksehir won, 2-1.
I voted in NE-2.
I voted in DuPage County in Illinois – just outside Chicago. So, my vote really didn’t make any difference considering that Biden won Illinois in a landslide.
I was really intrigued by the CNN “Magic Wall” and found that you can pretty much use it on their website, which is cool. It’ll let you dig into voting by county (just like on the broadcast). It shocked me, but it shouldn’t have, just how many of the votes cast were from Cook County and DuPage county – Chicago and it’s suburbs. Which brings me to my question …
Do you think that with COVID-19 causing a trend of people moving out of city centers and working from home in cheaper (and perhaps prettier) outskirts, do you think that it’ll cause a shift in the red/blue counties? Specifically, it appears that counties with big city centers tend to be blue, then the counties with smaller cities/towns appear to be mostly red.
The margin of victory for Biden may not end up being all that slim, when all votes are counted.