The Late Night Results Thus Far

It's near midnight in California, which makes it 3 PM in the east, and so most vote counting has finished down in many states for the night.  And so, it’s too early to know what the final results of the election will be, though they clearly are are on the edge of the abyss for Democrats, with Harris underperforming in many districts, even when winning the districts, and Trump overperforming by a little – but “a little” can be enough in a close election.  While it remains possible that Kamala Harris will win, since there are still a lot of votes outstanding in Blue Wall states, those states no longer include Pennsylvania which got called for Trump not long ago, making a victory "possible," but unlikely.  And so, I was not only totally wrong about the race not being as razor-thin close as most people who know better than me said, but also it appears about her winning.  I certainly hope that’s not the case, but hope isn't likely to carry much weight.  But whatever happens, even if for some improbable reason, Harris does the improbable, the results are disturbing for what it says about the electorate.

That certain demographics have voted as strongly for Trump as they have despite him denigrating them – even wanting to criminalizing many of them -- for the past eight years, that people have voted for Trump despite his white supremacy, fascism, crudeness, felony convictions, being found liable of rape, guilty of fraud, racism, saying he wants to be a dictator, saying he wants to throw out the Constitution, and clear cognitive decline that psychologists have said is dementia and physical weakness at age 78 is a troubling view of where the country sits.

I did think that after the “gold standard” poll in Iowa said Harris would win, as much as that seemed unlikely, it was possible she might win there.  It wasn’t to be.  And I thought that with such a horrific candidate for governor in North Carolina, that Kamala Harris would win that state, despite it generally leaning Red.  Nope, that didn’t happen either.  But at least that horrific candidate, Mark Robinson, did lose.  I thought Harris winning Georgia was possible, but nothing to count on.  And that went to Trump.  And though Pennsylvania was always a toss of the coin in polls, it's generally landed for Democrats -- with a Democratic governor and two Democratic senators.  Well, not this time.

The thing is, whatever happens, it’s a messed up country.

And it will most surely be a Senate with a Republican majority.  I did expect that.  But I’m nonetheless sorry to see Ted Cruz win, and Sherrod Brown lose.  In Brown’s case against a guy who couldn’t understand why women over 50 would care about abortion.  (No word yet on Bob Casey or Jon Tester, though I suspect that Tester is in trouble.  And no word yet on Ruben Gallego’s race against Kari Lake.)  I’m glad that Angela Alsobrooks won in Maryland, not a given since she was running against a popular, moderate Republican former governor.  And I’m glad that Andy Kim won in New Jersey.  So, there are bright spots.

I have no idea where things stand in the House, which I expect the Democrats to flip – but the reason I don’t know is not because it’s so tight.  It may be – or not – but the reason for my uncertainty is that MSNBC has pretty much not mentioned House results, which I find not just irresponsible but inexplicable.  And it's inexplicable because if Trump does win the White House, and since MAGOPs will take the Senate, then who controls the House becomes critical

There’s a lot I can say about what the results of the election means.  But since too much is uncertain, I don't want to over-analyze the relief or angst.

I will just say this – if Kamala Harris does manage to somehow win, that’s great and miraculous, though she will be leader of a very divided country with the losing half the country supporting a fascist convict with dementia.  And if Trump does win, it transcends troubling – but I don’t think that means the end of democracy.  It would be leading towards that path, but it is a divided country.  Half the nation did not vote for Trump.  And unlike other countries that elected a fascist leader, the United States is made up of 50 individual states, with their own governments, many of which (including most of the most populous) are Democrats.  And it’s not like Democrats across the country will say, well, Trump won, that’s the way it goes – but rather I am sure will fight back at every fascist inroad. 

But – who knows what the rest of the night and early morning and day ahead will bring?

Godspeed.