For the History Books

The Pandemic was already going to be in the history books, but the 2020 Presidential Election is sure to be right alongside it.

These screen captures are not in all chronological order, but it goes a little something like this...

Donald Trump has a good turnout on election day. He does far better than the vast majority of pollsters preditced.

Only the tune kept changing as time went on.

Neither side had enough electoral counts to win with several key states hanging in the balance. 

However, the more mail-in ballots that came in, the more Trump fell behind.

He called conspiracy and started legal processes that have continued for weeks after the election.

Personally, I think there are two likely explanations for the discrepancy in mail-in ballots.

1) There was cheating on both sides and the Democrats did a better job.

No, I don't think only one side did it if it was done. There are allegations going on now about PACs formed to support spoiler candidates that helped Republican candidates win office.

However, after everyone cried foul in 2016 this had to be one of the most closely watched elections. Ever. There's always a chance for incompetence, but it's less likely under intense scrutiny and oversight. There haven't been any big revelations from the courts or anywhere else so far.

2) People who did mail-in votes were more likely to vote for Biden.

Trump trash talked mail-in ballots and encouraged all his supporters to vote in person on election day. I bet they mostly did. He had a strong turnout and good numbers. Trump supporters in general tend to be less fearful of the pandemic.

On the other hand, Biden did not trash talk mail ballots. His supporters tend to be more fearful of the pandemic. I expect more of them used mail-in ballots.

So I'm pretty sure this headline is true. Trump got the vast majority of his votes cast by people who voted in person. Biden had a portion of his votes that came in over time.

If the mail-in ballots were done legally, then they should count. 

Trump's reaction was very human in it's frustration (and why many of his supporters feel he's more trustworthy than typical politicians), but unprofessional (and why many of his detractors have a problem with how he conducts himself). 

I couldn't help but feel that Facebook might be having some fun at Trump's expense with their fact checking on his posts. Trump went after them multiple times and I'm sure the company didn't appreciate it.

Trump's posts are probably the closest I or many other people will ever see a President's true feelings and reactions whether people agree with them or not.

I flipped back and forth between Fox and CNN to see the different takes and spins they put on things.

For the most part their numbers and races called were in line with each other. The headlines they delivered around those numbers? Very different.

I'm sure that many people have felt uncertain with Trump refusing to acknowledge Biden's victory and his claims of voter fraud.

My life has gone on as usual. I wake up, work, and do my best to be a blessing to everyone I talk to. 

One student said something about the election a couple of times, but the rest have all been quiet. I teach math, so it's not like current events are a frequent topic. I normally hear something, but with Zoom making every discussion a full class discussion by default students seem to be much more cautious with what they say.

I do check the news out of curiosity to see how things unfold. If Trump really tries to throw down it could be a major catastrophe for the democratic process, but personally, I don't think he will. My personal prediction is he will be upset, do everything he can to find a conspiracy or a loophole, not find anything, sulk, and make his exit. 

More interesting question: What will Trump do in his final moments and after he leaves the presidency? Who will he pardon? What can he pardon? Pre-pardons? Will he try to pardon himself? Or does that admit he did something?

The headlines of CNN and Fox continue to be very different even as the same events unfold before both of them.

Clearly, Fox is anti-Biden.

And CNN is anti-Trump.

In my opinion, less-biased news has been a casualty of the past decades.

I'm sure someone will come out with a book or story about the election that happened this year. I'm not going to read it, but I have found the extreme reactions on social media interesting. They're there, but almost never with anyone I talk to directly. 

Historic times. I prefer to leave them to the historians, but I can't ignore it all in my blog either. Shane may have to do a book report on this one day and the screenshots could be interesting.