Tag Archives: election

COVID-19: 2020’s Real Undecided Voter

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Donald Trump is being petulant in defeat. Who’d a thunk?!? But come on: If he graciously accepted loss and showed his conqueror the palace, wouldn’t you suspect something?

And the CornMush-In-Chief may still land a legal haymaker and steal the will of the people. There can be no argument: The man knows the art of the steal.

But should he find himself on the asphalt of Black Lives Matter Plaza Northwest in DC on January 21, 2021, he and historians looking for reasons can look for one: The time a bully picked the wrong kid to shove.

That kid was COVID-19, and it cost Donald Trump the election.

The president, a germaphobe who routinely shuns handshakes, made a profoundly cowardly move when he learned of the virus in February. Like the draft, he ducked and ran. Unlike the draft, money doesn’t get you out of a date with COVID.

Even then, the president played make-believe matador, taunting that he had taken its punch, found himself to be a superman, and urging mortals not to let it dominate their lives. Remember the great unmasking atop White House stairs? Sure, you could see he was still sucking wind from the gut punch, but it made great theater.

Covid-19 positive Donald Trump gets criticism after taking off mask in front of the White House | Trending News,The Indian Express

But when when he invited the virus to step outside the bar, the president learned why you don’t pull the mask off that ol’ Lone Ranger. Consider how COVID mopped the floor with Trump:

  • It may have literally killed off a portion of his base.

Consider his super-spreader events, on White House grounds and in stadiums nationwide. COVID’s death count is around a quarter-million. Statistically, at least half of those deaths include Republicans, presumably Trump Republicans. Perhaps much more than half.

Seven infected after 'Amy Coney Barrett superspreader event' at the White House | Daily Mail Online
  • COVID was the election issue.

Trump would even muse aloud that his re-election was in the bag before the “kung flu.” And his disdain for his own CDC left voters — particularly in the decimated MidWest — without consistent medical information. That’s as unsettling as pre-existing conditions.

Trump's Lethal Shell Game: Will Pre-Existing Conditions Coverage Vanish? - New Mobility
  • COVID is still Trump’s problem.

That Biden came out with a COVID plan the Monday after the race was called not only made Joe look presidential; it made Trump look impotent. If Pfizer’s claim is true, Biden could walk into the best circumstantial political timing since the Iranian hostages were released minutes after Reagan was sworn in.

Remembering the Iran Hostage Crisis – Dolphin Media

This isn’t to say that Trump, a political Houdini, couldn’t pull another escape while hanging upside down in a straight jacket. The man puts the easel in weasel. It’s an art form for the guy.

But as Fox Mulder liked to point out, the truth is out there. We know the popular vote, and its expanding gap. We have seen the beauty of democracy, and exercised it.

Meanwhile, COVID, the last undecided voter in America, decided where it stands on political symbolism. And you don’t spit into the wind.

Fate’s Knock

Where do I vote?: Resources to help you find where, when and how to vote on Election Day 2018 | Life | petoskeynews.com

Fate is a stone cold sumbitch.

Normally, Fate tells you How It’s Going to Be, often in the form of a karmic email:

To whom it may concern:

Welcome to existence. You are here.

Find enclosed your race, gender, height, eye color, physical and emotional frailties and your lot in this place. Good luck with all that.

With utter indifference,

Fate

But sometimes, Fate slips up.

You see, Fate is lazy. Fate relies on odds. Fate prefers probabilities. And in that slipshod work ethic, Fate occasionally knocks on your door with a package, tosses it in your hands and says, “You deliver it. I’m busy.“

And the choice is yours, what happens to the package. Because Fate doesn’t give a shit what you do with it. As Fate said, it is busy delivering other destinies. It’s not going to tell you what to do with it, what’s at stake, or encourage you to follow one path over another. That’s up to you.

We usually realize the knock in retrospect: The job we didn’t take; the words we should have said; the boldness we meant to express.

And we tell ourselves: “Next time it knocks, I’m going to be ready. Enough with the missed opportunities.”

Did you hear that?

Fate’s knocking.

Who’s there?

Angst Off The Port Bow!

A clear US election result will calm investor nerves | Financial Times

I keep expecting my TV to short out.

What with all the Sturm and Drang on the 24/7s, I figure it’s only a matter of time before beads of perspiration roll down the flat-screen as my set electrocutes itself.

I’m not sure what everyone is so stressed about. The election is already decided.

This is not to predict any specific races Tuesday, including the presidential one. What I’m saying is that the results are largely moot, because America began juking to the left the day Donald Trump was elected president. The moment we, as a nation, discovered that the candidate who claimed power actually lost by 3 million votes, we have been pushing against that power. It’s just America’s way.

It’s hard to accept, because Trump is so lecherous and his cronies so loud. It’s easy to believe that groups like white militias, QAnon and anti-vaxxers represent the United States. A major news corporation needs you to think that, because fear keeps its lights on.

But look at the liberal victories that have punctuated the Trump administration:

  • Women took to the street by the millions to help lead the 2018 blue revolt that captured the House.
Midterm election results 2018: why Democrats' blue wave wasn't bigger - Vox
  • A conservative Supreme Court ruled that the LGBTQ community was protected under the Civil Rights Act.
Supreme Court's ruling will grant protections for LGBTQ workers in Texas | The Texas Tribune
  • Black Lives Matter and #MeToo have opened serious dialogues on race and gender for the first time in America for a half-century.
The key issue Black Lives Matter and #Metoo have in common - U.S. News - Haaretz.com

And liberal victories are continuing all along the march to Election Day. Just two days from Nov. 3, at least 93 million people have already voted – about two-thirds of the total votes counted in the entire 2016 general election.

Don’t take our word for it. Just look at what were once impenetrable conservative strongholds: Texas and Trump rallies. Today, the Texas Supreme Court rejected a Republican petition to discard almost 127,000 votes cast via drive-through sites in Harris County, where Houston is located. In that state, more people have already voted absentee in this election than voted in all of the 2016 race. The question has become when Texas will turn blue, not whether.

And look at Trump rallies. CNN and MSNBC love to bitch about how the rallies violate the rules of social distancing, which is true. But look at the crowds. Notice how many are wearing masks. Yes, they’re still calling for Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to hang for closing bars and gyms during COVID. But now they’re screaming through cotton. Pandemics will do that to shuttered minds.

Watch the Trump Rally from Reading, PA - Coal Region Canary
At a Pennsylvania rally this weekend.

Obviously, there are still stakes. The Affordable Care Act, abortion, even gay marriage may be at risk.

But the reason Republicans didn’t rescind Obamacare is because America didn’t want to give it up. The ACA — along with gay marriage and legal abortions — may still disappear, especially with the latest Supreme Court justice thrust upon us.

But the country will not like it, and such outcomes will only delay the day of reckoning awaiting Republicans who have painted themselves between a rock — science, technology and a blended population — and a hard place: The Trumpian narrow mind.

Or simply look within. I hate the word “woke,” but ask yourself: Since Trump’s election, are you more or less enlightened about:

  • Racism?
  • Sexism?
  • Climate change?
  • Policing?
  • Health?

Has that knowledge (or lack thereof) moved you further left or right?

So don’t stress, southpaws. Conservatism works against the very laws of physics: The Second Law of Thermodynamics mandates constant change in the universe — a core liberal tenet. That change may not come Tuesday, but it’s coming.

Just imagine what life must be like for those on the other side of the political aisle. Imagine having to defend a virus-denier, which will one day draw comparisons to other denials.

Change is coming for them, too. Except for them, it will feel sudden.