A New President
Well it took a while to get there, but less than an hour ago all the major media networks in the USA “called” the result of the 2020 Presidential Election. It looks as if they were all waiting for Joe Biden’s lead in Pennsylvania to exceed the 0.5% threshold needed to rule out a mandatory recount. Once that happened, they all (CNN, CBS, Associated Press, et al – even Fox News) projected that Joe Biden had won. It had been looking that way for some time, but the press agencies wanted to be sure of their ground. Moments after the Pennsylvania result, AP and others also called Nevada in favour of Biden. The remaining tight race, in Georgia, can still go either way, but Biden now has enough electoral votes to be President Elect.
I’ve never felt happier to have lost a bet.
Congratulations to Joe Biden, and to everyone who helped his campaign. A special vote of thanks is due to Jo Jorgensen, the “Libertarian” candidate who polled considerably more votes in the key Swing States than Biden’s margin of victory…
The result is, among many other things, very good news for Ireland. Joe Biden is an Irish-American and we can be confident that he will not allow the Belfast Agreement to be sabotaged by Johnson & Gove. It’s not so good news for Boris Johnson but at least we’ll have the pleasure of seeing him twist in the wind until he resigns in a few months’ time.
Nobody expects Donald Trump to go quietly, however, and there’s no sign that he is going to concede. I think he’d be quite happy to watch his country burn rather than admit being a loser. Some patriot. I think the USA is now entering a very dangerous period in its history. It’s really a question of whether Trump’s entourage can persuade him to accept reality. I’m not sure they will be able to do that. Instead there’s a real possibility that Trump will try to encourage his followers to violent protest. At the very least we can expect him to issue a string of executive orders intend the sabotage the new President. I hope I’m wrong, but I’m more anxious about the next few weeks than I was about the election.
PS Can this evening’s TV schedule on RTÉ 2 really be a coincidence?
PPS. I watched “The Death of Stalin” last night and thought it was very good!
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In the Dark 
November 7, 2020 at 7:16 pm
The Americans played an important part in the negotiation of the Belfast Agreement.
But what I meant was that if the UK government wants a trade agreement with the USA it had better back off on its threat to ditch the Northern Ireland protocol of the EU withdrawal agreement.
November 7, 2020 at 8:53 pm
Irish heritage is extremely important to those Americans who have it. And most of them know that the reason their ancestors left Ireland was the Great Famine.
November 7, 2020 at 7:20 pm
The Supreme Court of the State of Pennsylvania declared a little ahead of the election that, contrary to what had been put very clearly into law, votes arriving at the counters after the cutoff of 8pm on election day would nevertheless be counted. (They were.) An argument of unconstitutionality was lodged with the Supreme Court of the USA ahead of the election, together with a request that the appeal be heard that quickly. The request for speed was dismissed but the argument will still be heard soon. (Beware of confused statements that the argument was dismissed.) It will obviously be heard before presidential swearing-in. I believe the Pennsylvania Supreme Court had no authority to change the law as it did, but only to interpret the law or on occasion make it (common law style). You don’t have to love Trump to stand a little delay, only love democracy.
November 7, 2020 at 9:00 pm
The statements made by the officials conducting the election in Pennsylvania claim (a) such ballots which arrived after the election day but were postmarked to a valid time have been segregated and following the current Supreme Court opinion have not been counted among the votes that were sufficient to project Biden as the winner (b) the number of such ballots which are segregated are quite small and if added (I believe that is the current plan) to the current votes will have no effect whatsoever. If these are accurate, the issue is moot.
However, suppose the officials are wrong. There was a good enough reason to allow the ballots to come in late this year due to the exceptional circumstances. It is possible that the PA judges did not have the appropriate authority to make the declaration … I don’t know the law. If the US Supreme Court declared that invalid then and there, it would be OK. But, having suckered citizens into thinking that their vote would be accepted even if it arrived after the election day by an authoritative body, and then disenfranchising them later on seems appalling. Maybe that is the letter of the law, but in that case it would one of the few cases where following that is a terrible travesty of justice, and horrible for democracy.
November 8, 2020 at 9:04 am
I don’t mind if the differences are slight. I want the result as under the electoral law in Pennsylvania, whoever it is.
November 8, 2020 at 12:00 pm
It may well be that the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania erred in law by trying to implement a remedy to the people of Pennsylvania with regard to the attempt by the Trump campaign to sabotage postal voting. It will be important to establish the case law in this area as it may be needed in the next election. It probably won’t influence the outcome of this election as the number of ballots involved is very small.
November 9, 2020 at 10:35 am
Apparently his staff thought they were booking the Four Seasons Hotel, but it turned out to be Four Seasons Total Landscaping.