IT’S over but the shouting,” say some local observers of US politics. They claim that the assassination attempt on the Republican presidential candidate by a 20-year-old Republican-registered voter using a rifle that Republicans are happy to see in the hands of ordinary citizens is bound to generate a wave of sympathy votes that has clinched the November presidential elections this early.
I believe the word spreading about Joe Biden’s political demise is too far ahead of its time and does not take into account the nuances of US presidential politics: from the matter of the electoral college to the hot issues of the day such as women’s rights, presidential immunity, and Trump’s civil and legal liabilities.
Not to mention that fact that no president or presidential candidate in history — I won’t even say recent history — is as polarizing as Donald Trump is, meaning that you either hate him or love him and there’s no in-between. And it’s from those non-existent in-betweens that a sympathy vote is supposed to come from
‘… it’s going to be that close, a nail biter and, sadly, perhaps just the beginning and not the end of it all.’
Many Democrats are not too hot about Biden, but very, very few hate him to the extent they’d be happy to vote for Trump. There are more Republicans, though, who hate Trump and would be happy to vote for Biden. But even if they just sit it out that could be enough to tip the scales where they matter.
And they would matter most in the so-called “swing states” — those that have voted blue (Democrat) one election cycle and then red (Republican) the next or vice versa — the six or seven states that could very well decide who between Biden and Trump would win.
My gut feeling is this: it’s going to go down the wire and the results in the swing states will be decided by five percent or less of the votes cast in each state. And when that happens, all hell could break loose, especially if one candidate (am not saying who) insists that his victory was stolen (again).
Imagine one candidate winning in Georgia or Nevada or Michigan or Pennsylvania by half a percent of the vote? I am afraid January 6 would look like a Junior-Senior prom.
But yes, it’s going to be that close, a nail-biter and, sadly, perhaps just the beginning and not the end of it all.
Because Trump has already said he will not accept the results if he loses.
Good thing for Biden, the US Supreme Court has granted him immunity from prosecution for official acts. So if all hell breaks loose indeed, ordering the arrest of agitators and rioters will be an option open to him as President of the United States. Haha.
Because yes, it’s not yet over (far from it) but it will be very, very close.
