I am doing NaBloPoMo this month. 30 blog posts in 30 days. Come join me. #nablopomo2020
photo credit: @gaellemarcel via Unsplash
Yep, here were are, almost 48 hours later and we still don’t know who our president is going to be. It’s a little nerve-racking for everyone, including for Donald Trump and his supporters apparently, who are now asking for states to “stop the count” and other states to “count the votes” (depending on if he’s ahead or trailing in the vote counts) in a desperate attempt to claim victory in this election. Does he know that this is not how this thing works?
And even though there is no evidence for it, he keeps trashing mail-in voting and calling it fraud, because it doesn’t seem to work in his favor.
Does Donald Trump understand that absentee ballots are votes that were cast BEFORE election day and um … mailed in? … and that the only reason they’re just being counted now is because his party passed laws barring canvassing boards from starting to count before Election Day?
— Joy VOTE & MASK UP!! Reid 😷) (@JoyAnnReid) November 5, 2020
So, he doesn’t want legally, before-election-day-cast ballots to be counted after election day, but do you know why we don’t have a final result yet? Because the Republicans in certain states have passed legislature that prohibits pre-processing and counting of absentee (mail-in) ballots, which is one more effort to infringe on people’s voting rights. Go figure.
Look: you can’t cherry-pick the votes that you want to have counted. You can’t make up voter fraud, if it’s convenient for you. You can’t declare victory because you think you deserve it or because you have the crazier crowd.
I came across this ‘gem’ earlier today. This right here is what’s wrong with America.
I never see people driving around with Biden flags, someone want to explain how this guy who couldn’t fill a high school auditorium is leading currently?
— Kevin Sorbo (@ksorbs) November 5, 2020
I have never, ever, EVER seen such a cult around a political leader in my home country that I’ve seen here. This doesn’t even have anything to do with being politically (and morally) competent for the office, this is a personal cult around Donald Trump.
If you’ve listened carefully to the debates (or any public announcements) in the last few months, there was ZERO political agenda in Trump’s speeches. Just self-praise, personal attacks on his opponent, senators and other representatives, and a little bit lot of pettiness about how unfairly he’s been treated. It’s always the other people’s fault!
But you know what?
The president (chancellor, prime minister, what have you) is YOUR public servant, not a pop star that has to be worshipped and adored (and occasionally pitied and propped up). In the best case scenario, you like the person that is leading your country, but their credentials and competency for the job are much more important than likability and it’s totally fine if you don’t publicly display your love and affection for a political leader. You don’t have to be a “super-fan”. It’s totally okay if you don’t plaster your bedroom wall with their image or ride around with a huge flag on your pickup truck.
After all, you don’t have anything to prove to them, but they have EVERYTHING to prove to you. They want your support (and vote), of course, but they shouldn’t need to be constantly praised (for doing the bare minimum, or less) and cry “foul play” every time someone says something critical about them. This is not a reality TV show, this is real life. You don’t go into politics for fame and fortune. If you are not willing to work hard for your country and if you don’t have a thick skin and a moral compass, you are not equipped to be president.
This is when you vote them out.
This is all just insane. Totally insane. He is unhinged and someone needs to tell drunk Uncle Don that the party is over and it’s time to go home and sleep off his hangover. I hope some Republican leaders stand up to him. It’s hard to imagine a peaceful transfer of power. He’s going to be drug kicking and screaming out of the white house. I’m not surprised this is happening – I mean he said the 2016 election was rigged when he didn’t win the popular vote. But I just wish Republican leadership would stand up to him. Seeing Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz pander to him just makes me sick. I”m so ready for this to be behind us but it’s going to be so drug out as it seems unlikely he will concede, even though none of his law suits have any merit.
I am so glad this is (technically) over now, but yeah, Uncle Don has to be locked up for a while and sleep off his delusions.
Even if Biden wins – I’d be still so disapointed in this country, I wouldn’t able to feel celebratory. What we currently have to witness is a shame!
This was craziness.
This is all just surreal. I totally agree the part about “a president is not a pop star” – and actually it’s just like in highs high schools people who were popular most likely didn’t have anything substantial to say or any backbone, they most likely didn’t stand up for the weaker community while people flying under the radar are just people who do the job and don’t need to put themselves in spot light all.the.friggin.time
Exactly… what are people even excited about? He doesn’t have a platform, they just “love” his personality (which is a huge mystery to me how you can even like the man).
The twisting and turning by this administration (and his family) to discredit certain votes and the election results is appalling. I can’t imagine what his followers are thinking or how they are able to blindly follow. I got into a discussion with someone via instagram last week who told me I was espousing hate and intolerance by calling for a recognition of the racism of this administration and that there is room for all of these views at the table. What?! How is there room for white supremacy at the table?! This was someone who was educated, who I believed to be kind, and a decent person. There’s no explaining away any of this to me. I’m curious to see where it goes from here, but ultimately, I just need a bit of kindness, humility, and normalcy back in the WH. The speeches last night were the antidote that my soul needed.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried to understand (impossible) or ration (impossible) what people see in Donald Trump.
“Cult” is absolutely right.
I’m so relieved that we elected Joe and Kamala, but knowing what we know about how hard it is for cult members to leave, I still have worry about the next two months (and beyond), where the base is concerned.
This is still not over until it’s over… hahaha…. because we really need to get the man (physically) out of the White House. I hope there are people who know how to do that.
It’s so wonderful to be able to breathe again… but so daunting to think of the work we have ahead of us. More than *sixty percent* of white people in this country voted for the most despicable president we have ever had. Sixty. Percent. I just… I cannot comprehend. It’s going to be a long 2 months until everything is certified and settled, and it’s certainly not helped by the tantrums, rage, and deception coming from the losing side. I hope we can all band together to fight back against it… It’s really just starting, not ending.
The next two months are going to be hard and Biden and Harris have their work cut out for them. It’s not going to be easy to stir the country back into the right direction… but I do have hope.