TGHusker
New member
Short answer: Lots. At this writing the fat lady hasn't sung yet, so there is still more to learn. Biden at this moment has overtaken Trump in PA and GA and appears to have secured the votes needed to be declared president. Below are some of my observations - you can add more with your posts
1. A really polarizing candidate can draw a crowd. Trump is the most polarizing president in my lifetime (64 years). Result: record turnout. Most votes ever cast for the winner and for a loser(Trump, did you read that last word?).
2. The country is divided - but maybe not as divided as we think. I think there is a very sizeable group of people in the range from right of center to left of center who aren't afraid to vote for a candidate from the other party. Joe was a moderate Dem who drew a lot of GOP support. I would venture to say, that if he had a different VP (Amy K, Mich Governor, or Demmings or Duckworth) he would have won even more GOP support. I'm not saying Harris is terrible but she leans more left than many of us would prefer (yes I know not as far left as the progressives on this board desire).
3. The era of the conservative has not ended and the era of the progressive has not yet begun. There was no blue wave and especially no progressive blue wave. If there was a wave it was the election of conservative women to the House of Representatives. In the congressional races - both Senate and House - conservatives won in spite of the person at the top of the ticket.
4. The nation again appears to like divided/shared rule/governance. Dem president, GOP senate. Unfortunately, The Turtle will be Majority leader. This most likely will be a roadblock to progress on many important issues and have a moderation affect on some of Biden's goals. I don't want the next 4 years to be a repeat of GOP obstruction as it was under Obama, but it is hard to see it otherwise wt Moscow Mitch at the helm of the Senate.
5. # 4 gives Biden the opportunity to work with his old Senate pals and do what he promised to do: Unite us, find common ground. I pray for his success.
6. The polls cannot be trusted. And to a large extent the media that pushed them. I'm not getting on the Trump fake news bandwagon, but one cannot ignore the colossal failure of the polling industry. They need to find other, unbiased ways of polling accurately or shut down and find something else to do. If Biden wins all of the remaining states except NC, the polls may not be as far off on the EC vote, but remain far off on the vote for Trump.
7. Not only do we need election reform, but we need election day reform down to the county level. There is no excuse for the length of time to count these ballots. There has got to be a better way.
There has got to be a uniform method for securing the timely counting of all ballots. Yes, this year was different with the massive mail in ballots. Yet other large states made it though quickly. Some standardization may be in order to help us to arrive at a final result quicker on these tight races.
8. I'll go out on a limb with this one & remove my history hat and put on a prophet's hat: With Trump's defeat, the door is left open for one very undesirable consequence -the Glover Cleveland option. As you know, Cleveland was the only president who had a split 8 year presidency. He served 4 years, was defeated, and came back 4 years later and won another 4 years. This isn't hard to predict, one does not need to be a prophet: During the next 4 years, Trump will use his new media platform (OAN or a new platform) to obstruct, to signal, to dog whistle and to stir and make it difficult for Biden to get anything done. He will do this in coordination with The Turtle. He will keep his base fired up by feeding them wt falsehoods of every kind. He will then ride down that escalator one more time and announce his "Second Coming" and the Cult will be energized even more than before. Perhaps his false prophet VP pick this time will be Tucker Carlson.
1. A really polarizing candidate can draw a crowd. Trump is the most polarizing president in my lifetime (64 years). Result: record turnout. Most votes ever cast for the winner and for a loser(Trump, did you read that last word?).
2. The country is divided - but maybe not as divided as we think. I think there is a very sizeable group of people in the range from right of center to left of center who aren't afraid to vote for a candidate from the other party. Joe was a moderate Dem who drew a lot of GOP support. I would venture to say, that if he had a different VP (Amy K, Mich Governor, or Demmings or Duckworth) he would have won even more GOP support. I'm not saying Harris is terrible but she leans more left than many of us would prefer (yes I know not as far left as the progressives on this board desire).
3. The era of the conservative has not ended and the era of the progressive has not yet begun. There was no blue wave and especially no progressive blue wave. If there was a wave it was the election of conservative women to the House of Representatives. In the congressional races - both Senate and House - conservatives won in spite of the person at the top of the ticket.
4. The nation again appears to like divided/shared rule/governance. Dem president, GOP senate. Unfortunately, The Turtle will be Majority leader. This most likely will be a roadblock to progress on many important issues and have a moderation affect on some of Biden's goals. I don't want the next 4 years to be a repeat of GOP obstruction as it was under Obama, but it is hard to see it otherwise wt Moscow Mitch at the helm of the Senate.
5. # 4 gives Biden the opportunity to work with his old Senate pals and do what he promised to do: Unite us, find common ground. I pray for his success.
6. The polls cannot be trusted. And to a large extent the media that pushed them. I'm not getting on the Trump fake news bandwagon, but one cannot ignore the colossal failure of the polling industry. They need to find other, unbiased ways of polling accurately or shut down and find something else to do. If Biden wins all of the remaining states except NC, the polls may not be as far off on the EC vote, but remain far off on the vote for Trump.
7. Not only do we need election reform, but we need election day reform down to the county level. There is no excuse for the length of time to count these ballots. There has got to be a better way.
There has got to be a uniform method for securing the timely counting of all ballots. Yes, this year was different with the massive mail in ballots. Yet other large states made it though quickly. Some standardization may be in order to help us to arrive at a final result quicker on these tight races.
8. I'll go out on a limb with this one & remove my history hat and put on a prophet's hat: With Trump's defeat, the door is left open for one very undesirable consequence -the Glover Cleveland option. As you know, Cleveland was the only president who had a split 8 year presidency. He served 4 years, was defeated, and came back 4 years later and won another 4 years. This isn't hard to predict, one does not need to be a prophet: During the next 4 years, Trump will use his new media platform (OAN or a new platform) to obstruct, to signal, to dog whistle and to stir and make it difficult for Biden to get anything done. He will do this in coordination with The Turtle. He will keep his base fired up by feeding them wt falsehoods of every kind. He will then ride down that escalator one more time and announce his "Second Coming" and the Cult will be energized even more than before. Perhaps his false prophet VP pick this time will be Tucker Carlson.
