Joe Biden won. Beside a brief trip to my folks’ backyard for a socially distant dinner and a running date with a buddy, I mostly sat on the sofa in front of the TV all day. iPad and cellphone at hand for a massive date with twitter.
It was great fun.
Donald Trump was completely psychologically unequipped to run our country. There was definitely a screw loose somewhere – maybe it was clinical narcissism, maybe it was a developmental disorder, which made him more of infant – I am not sure. All I know is that this guy has not totally right in the head.
He was also completely unprepared, knowledge and experience-wise, to run our country. It would be like I was suddenly hired to run Ford Motor Company. Do I know anything about cars? No! Have I ever taken a business course? No! Have I ever held a job in a car company? No! Am I comfortable stopping at a red light on a hill, while driving a stick shift car? No! I think probably everyone in this country would agree that I should not run Ford Motor Company, and they would be right.
I don’t even think that Trump himself wanted to be president. I’ll never forget that glum, depressed face as he met President Obama in the White House for the first time. Running for office was a lark for him, a ploy for some other long-term goal, but very quickly, he began to love the adoration of the mobs at the rallies and he began to believe the sycophants who surround him.
Despite the massive inappropriateness of this guy, 70 million people voted for him. Now, many people believe that that 70 million people are despicable, racist, erasable, wife-beaters, low IQ dinosaurs, and otherwise nasty creeps. I don’t think that, but I’ll talk about those folks another day.
Let’s just talk about what I hope that a Biden-presidency can bring to our country. I hope that he’ll bring opportunities to people, who don’t attend and graduate from a four-year college. I hope that those folks have good jobs, a nice place to live, a car to get to work, and regular meals. I hope that little kids and disabled kids have a free, appropriate education. I hope that we prioritize schools over bars (and over parties in the street). I hope that we can find a sensible way to control the virus. I hope that everyone receives quality healthcare.
And mostly, I am just pleased that I won’t see all caps tweets. Painfully embarrassing tweets. I am looking forward to some old fashioned, boring professionalism and competence.
I do hope that we can figure out what compelled 70 million people to vote for this guy. If they have some rational complaints with the status quo, let’s help them out.
A friend purchased a foreclosed house from the bank last year. It was a fixer-upper on a busy corner, but her husband is handy, and the price was right. When she toured the home with the real estate agent, the previous owners had already moved out, but before they moved out, they left a poopy baby diaper in every closet in the house. The aroma of fecal matter infused the home. It was a big fuck-you to future owners, the bank that took away their home, a world that did not provide them with a suitable income to afford the mortgage for fixer-upper house on a busy corner.
That’s what I am afraid that Trump is going to do in the remaining days of his office. I am worried that he’s going to trash the place on the way out.
He hasn’t talked much since yesterday, which is awesome. I hope that he remains very, very, very depressed on the golf course for weeks. Anything that he says with be destructive and damaging. Keep your mouth shut, Donald.
Apt. 11d 
Leaving aside the antisemitism, I’m still pissed about the Soros-conspiracies they put out. Democratic turnout in Allegheny County increased by 50,000 votes from 2016. I saw that happen from the ground and it was not outside money.
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Laura said, ” I hope that everyone receives quality healthcare.”
That’s pretty much impossible until COVID is over or at least much more under control.
I also strongly suspect that Europeans are not getting “quality healthcare” right now, and won’t for many months. They’ve been shipping Belgian and French COVID patients to Germany. God bless Germany, but you can imagine what a mess things are in Belgium and France to be doing that.
MH said,
“I saw that happen from the ground and it was not outside money.”
There have been quite a few cases lately where outside money hasn’t moved the needle at all.
I wonder when people will learn that they can set $100 million on fire and it’s not automatically going to get them a win?
Bloomberg apparently spent $100 million in Florida to put Biden over the top. Result–47.9% for Biden. Beto O’Rourke spent nearly $80 million and got 48.3% of the vote.
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Exit polls are showing that Trump voters were making a different calculation about COVID than Biden voters. They didn’t think defeating COVID was worth the price of crippling the economy. So, it turns out to be “The economy, stupid,” again. Additional factor: concerns about public safety. There turns out to be a segment of the population that will always vote against violent demonstrations. This includes a lot of non-white people. Not nearly as big as the group that wants to re-open the economy, but big enough to make a difference.
On top of that, there is the argument that identity politics is good but only up to a point. It helps with group cohesiveness and sense of efficacy among marginalized groups, but to the extent that it alienates white males (and let’s face it, they are the only group that is not currently allowed to valorize their own history, and they are well over 35% of the electorate), it pushes some who would otherwise be Democrats into the arms of the Republicans. Something to think about.
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Thanks, excellent comment. I’ll revisit these points in a day or two.
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EB said, “On top of that, there is the argument that identity politics is good but only up to a point. It helps with group cohesiveness and sense of efficacy among marginalized groups, but to the extent that it alienates white males (and let’s face it, they are the only group that is not currently allowed to valorize their own history, and they are well over 35% of the electorate), it pushes some who would otherwise be Democrats into the arms of the Republicans.”
It currently looks like Trump lost some of his 2016 white male voters…but gained in all other demographics, including white women.
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Relief is what I am feeling. I hope for a competent, rational, less drama government. I am also relieved that the national vote (+4.27 million Biden, and 50.5% of the vote, now) and the electoral college votes agree. We can now say the Democrat was preferred in 7/8 of the last elections and governed in five of them.
My priorities are COVID (including the vaccine), a stimulus/economic recovery plan, voting rights, and health care (and, at first, I mean fixes, not big new systems). I may have some dreams, but I am firmly committed to the art of the possible. And the possible might lead us to more, but let’s get some of the possible done first.
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I think there are too many hot takes on the exit polling. Exit polling has all the issues of polling and is made all the more complicated in this pandemic year.
My mom got called the other day by someone (we think Democratic party, but don’t know) who surveyed her. She said her priorities were COVID, health care, the economy, and drug costs. They have a neighbor who has been calling them to check in on them during the pandemic and she is having trouble paying for her medications, which is why that item came to the top of their list.
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For example, I think that it is probably true that Trump voters think the economy is more important than addressing COVID, but is that because they think it is, or because they are Trump voters?
I don’t think the question “do you like the direction the country is going?” means anything at all. I think “are you financially better off today?” is better, but it is still susceptible to being biased by whether you prefer the incumbent or the challenger.
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I think the COVID vs. the economy takes are mostly beside the point. The bar owners and such have been livid here about the “shutdown” as if it were actually very strict and as if there would be full tables if it weren’t for the government.
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Oh yes, it is COVID and the economy. But, we can talk about trade offs, when they are trade offs. But it’s an example of the effect in which if you are a Republican voter you are more likely to say the economy is important to you (and the other way around).
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Until it gets safer, the capitalists aren’t letting me or anyone I know travel or expense any dinners. I don’t see how the restaurants and airlines get around that.
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bj said, “For example, I think that it is probably true that Trump voters think the economy is more important than addressing COVID, but is that because they think it is, or because they are Trump voters?”
…or because their economic problems are genuinely more pressing than their COVID problems?
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Maybe, but my point was to question the survey responses for everyone (including when Democrats say they are more concerned about COVID). I don’t particularly think that Republicans are more likely to answer in a way that favors their candidate than Democrats are (I might argue for minor differences, but my impressions would have to be more data driven).
I’d say that was true for me, but I don’t have any economic problems. My quality of life is worse now because of COVID, not because of the economy.
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In the times article about the protests based on the AP NowCast polls, 90% of voters thought the protests were a factor in who they voted for, 75% a major factor, and 20% the most important factor.
The article is confusing at that point, but then says that for those who saw the protests as a factor, 53% voted for biden and 46% for Trump. (but at which level, the 90% who saw is a factor at all? Which would mean many of the people, or the 20% who saw it as an important factor?).
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It’s not over. I read one survey that 83% of Republicans (or maybe it was R voters, not sure) believe the election was stolen. On the one hand, it’s nice to see that 17% have either brains or integrity or both. It’s also nice to see some R election officials in Georgia and PA with integrity. The two R Georgia Senate candidates issued a statement calling for the resignation of the Republican Secretary of State, with absolutely no evidence of any wrongdoing. Some of the R Senators have made semi-reasonable statements, but only a couple, like Romney and Murkowski, really acknowledge the state of things. So your friend who predicted this was right, sad to say.
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I’m sort of not thinking of surveys as very reliable right now.
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y81 said, “I’m sort of not thinking of surveys as very reliable right now.”
That’s a fair point!
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yes, good point, and this seems to be changing all the time. And I came back to say, I don’t really mean that people who believe him have no brains – I think they are victims of a deep, insidious long con whereby someone very wealthy who felt like having the power of the presidency has managed to convince millions of people that he is the only source of true information. The fact that people are rejecting the Fox network because it does not say what he wants is alarming to me. In the end, this may only be 10% of the people who voted for him – but 7 million people is still a lot of people.
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