Waiting for Trump to go

I was going to go to bed early last night, as I was pretty sure there wasn’t going to be any clear idea of who was ahead in the Presidential race for days at least, but I couldn’t resist waiting up until Florida was called, on the off-chance that Biden might take the state, and thus allow me to sleep soundly, knowing that Trump had no path to victory.

As it was, Trump won the Sunshine State fairly comfortably, and I didn’t have a particularly restful night. I’ve calmed down a bit as the day has gone on, and the advantage has seemed to swing towards Biden, but it’s still much closer than I would like. The results from Wisconsin, Georgia, and Michigan might be in tonight, but Pennsylvania and Nevada could be tomorrow, and North Carolina accepts late postal votes until next week, so it’s unlikely that we’ll know for sure who’s won for some time yet.

What’s interesting is that, despite all Trump’s bluster, and his shout-outs to the far-right, his promised army of vigilantes failed to show up to suppress the Democratic vote. Similarly, his attempt to claim victory before the votes are counted has failed to gain any support, and it’s not clear what legal avenues he would have to dispute the result. Now that the threat of losing the Senate seems to receding, and with the Supreme Court already packed with conservatives, the Republicans hierarchy may be thinking that Trump has outlived his usefulness, resigning themselves to a Biden administration and turning their thoughts towards 2024. That does look like a more sensible long-term plan, for both the GOP and US capitalism, than continuing to tie their fortunes to an unstable would-be dictator.