A few weeks ago my husband sat down for breakfast and told me the latest gloomy bullshit. “Trump might not leave if Biden wins.”
“Where did you hear THAT?”
It was in one or perhaps a dozen of our nation’s venerable newspapers.
Naturally, we were appalled, and we voted for Biden as soon we received our ballots in the mail. We would have voted for him as soon as the ballots came anyway. But I slowly realized the hysteria about Trump’s not leaving office is probably bullshit. He may have said it in a tweet–that’s what I heard–but who in her right mind is on Twitter these days? And on Twitter it’s one thing today, another the next. I could get behind a law that forbids tweeting, period. It is one of the most hysterical super-spreader media of all time.
The truth is, there is a lot of bullshit before a presidential election. Not just before an election–for years before an election. The polls said Howard Dean would be a shoo-in in 2004. No, he did poorly at caucuses and primaries. We all thought Hillary would win in 2016. I had reservations about the candidacy of the always-unpopular Hillary, but I am hardly a pundit. Guess what? Hillary didn’t win.
When the whole rat race for the 2020 nomination began (two years ago?), journalists had many favorites. They loved Sherrod Brown, an experienced, pro-Labor, progressive, and yet not radical senator. Since he has a degree in Russian Studies (which probably includes literature), I would have voted for him! And surely he would have gone to a humanities festival and participated in a reading of the Pevear-Volokhonsky translation of War and Peace. (Such marathon readings are popular, and support the humanities.)
Biden, too, has a liberal arts background. He has a B.A. from the University of Delaware (not too fancy, so I can relate), with a double major in history and political science, and a minor in English. Then he went to law school–which so many of them do. But forget that. Let’s concentrate on the liberal arts!
We do not know the future. Really, we do not. Get the vote out, then worry.
And skip the more hysterical editorials that will reduce you to tears and may or may not be based in reality.
The bottom line: Vote!
Read the editorials after the election!
Meanwhile, carpe diem!
There’s no knowing what a crazy person will do. It can’t be predicted with logic. The question is what will his handlers and toadies do. It’s going to be interesting, either way!
I have no spin on this, because I now limit myself to one political article a day, or sometimes just headlines. Vote, vote, vote! That’s all we can do. 🙂
Your husband was right! My husband said it was going to be razor edge close, and I really thought there was no way this country would vote for Trump after the last four years. And yet… Here’s hoping the transition happens smoother than it’s looking.
I can’t think about any more news till after Christmas! 🙂