On election night, it appeared Donald Trump was destined for four more years.  Those numbers, however, were a mirage.  As the absentee and provisional ballots poured in, they overwhelmingly favored Joe Biden in states like Pennsylvania and Georgia as the Philadelphia and Atlanta metro areas chipped away at Trump’s lead.  This dynamic led to a dramatic finish for Biden, one replete with events America will never forget. 

Trump set a record for the number of votes received by a sitting President in a general election.  His only problem was that his challenger set the record for any Presidential candidate.  Like an experienced thoroughbred waiting to make its move until the final turn, Biden set a calming pace, encouraging Americans to be patient and wait until every vote was counted.  Trump meanwhile grew increasingly unhinged, even after claiming victory on election night, despite the fact all votes had yet to be counted.  He claimed Democrats were trying to “STEAL” the election, made cries of fraud and unfairness, and then started self-proclaiming states as Trump electoral votes.  Courts of law require evidence and substantiation for these types of claims, of which Trump has yet to produce.

The following is a breakdown of my eight favorite moments from this crazy 2020 election.  Now that he has lost (it’s true), what Trump will do in the future is anyone’s guess, but there is one certainty – we have not seen the end of him.  Without cover from the presidency, there is no telling what liability he might face when (or if) he steps down on January 20, 2020 (as constitutionally required).  Trump has survived one impeachment, twenty-six accusations of sexual misconduct, and approximately four thousand lawsuits.  There is a reason for his current desperation – he needs the legal air cover the presidency provides.  

What drove me to denounce the party that enabled Trump is still present in the very fabric of Republican ideology.  The party is not Republican, it is Trumpian.  Prior to November 3rd, Democrats had lofty dreams that the election would repudiate the Trumpian brand of American politics, but if anything, the election only strengthened it.  Regardless of the election fraud nonsense spewing from Trump’s mouth or Twitter feed, nothing will change the fact that 70+ million Americans voted for him despite the persistent threat he has posed for democracy since his inauguration.  But for now, let’s look at some of the highlights from this election.  

1.  The First Statement of Election Night – Fox News Calls Arizona 

This sent the Trump team reeling.  After appearing to win Florida, the Trump campaign thought 2020 was setting itself up as a repeat of 2016, where the early Florida win foreshadowed Hillary’s defeat.  This made the Arizona call by Fox News all the more significant.  Not only was the call blasting from Rupert Murdoch’s Trump propaganda machine, Arizona itself was crucial to Trump’s reelection.  The Trump campaign disputed the projection, but Fox News refused to retract it.  Most other major networks and media – many consistently labeled as “fake news” by Trump – had refrained at that point from calling Arizona for either candidate given the number of outstanding votes to count.  The solitary Fox News voice calling it so early for Biden was shocking.  It was as if John McCain had orchestrated the announcement from the heavens. 

2.  David Chang’s Twitter Feed

As with most Democrats, Chang’s night started in agony.  A slew of profanities led to questions like “Democrats need to stop going to college?”, only to transition to relief when Arizona started to favor Biden.

I love Arizona and Bianco pizzeria

— david chang (@davidchang) November 4, 2020

Then Chang hedged in case Trump prevailed by reading up on New Zealand and practicing his kiwi accent.  He praised Oregon’s legalization of psychedelic mushrooms while appearing to be enlightened by other substances as well.  Most of us could empathize with Chang by Thursday when he declared, “I have slept 9 hours since Monday night.”  He simultaneously claimed “first” on coining “majordosing” as a word.  We’ll have to see if it takes off.    

My favorite string of his commentary, however, came when Pennsylvania started to turn in favor of Biden.  At that point, Chang placed all of his culinary weight behind Biden in Pennsylvania, stating that he was “gonna eat some Herr’s cheddar horseradish chips, a Tastykake honey bun and a roast pork from John’s.”  He rightfully described Pennsylvania as the “holy land of snack foods.”  I like to think that Chang’s appetite and good vibes carried Biden to victory in the Keystone State. 

3.  Meanwhile, Many Republicans Spread Misinformation

From Laura Ingraham to Sean Hannity, Kevin McCarthy to Lindsay Graham, Republican media figures and politicians alike circled the wagon for Trump.  They made baseless claims about voter fraud, election integrity, and ballot counting supervision.  Hannity even aired an incoherent clip of Rudy Giuliani (more on him below) demanding that ballots be thrown out and rhetorically asking the public, “Do you think we’re stupid?  Do you think we’re fools?”  Yes, Rudy, we do. 

Spineless Senators like “Little” Marco and “Lyin” Ted even chimed in.  Pennsylvania’s Attorney General, Josh Shapiro, grew so sick of Ted Cruz’s conclusory and baseless claims that he reminded him about the practice of law. 

Counselor, as you may recall from your days practicing law, in court we deal with facts and evidence — you have none.

Plus, the Dallas Cowboys suck.

Case closed. https://t.co/mAq2ArjNV0

— Josh Shapiro (@JoshShapiroPA) November 6, 2020

Facebook groups spawned in the chaos, most notably Stop the Steal.  Although it was shut down shortly after attempting to spread conspiracy theories about Biden and election fraud, it had already become one of the fastest growing Facebook groups of all time.  When that avenue was shut, the conspiracy found alternative channels via other groups on the network, Twitter, YouTube, and right-wing conservative sites.   

4.  Pennsylvania (and America) Turns to John Fetterman

If this election had a “better angels” mascot, it was this guy, Pennsylvania’s Lieutenant Governor.  When asked whether the state has an election fraud issue, Fetterman responded: 

We just had the largest election in our state’s history…we rolled out vote by mail for the first time in our state’s history…the only irregularity we had was the president’s campaign rolling up in a clown car in downtown Philadelphia.

It only got better.  When asked if he was concerned about Trump filing lawsuits, Fetterman declared that Trump “can sue a ham sandwich” but it won’t change ballots from being lawfully received and counted.  And when Philadelphia County’s votes were arriving heavily in favor of Biden, Fetterman tweeted that Wawa is better than Sheetz, but for that day only.  Wawa is always better, John.  

5.  Unfortunately Nothing Could Stop the Most Dishonest Presidential Speech of All Time

I can’t even link to it.  On the evening of Thursday, November 5th, the results were heavily favoring Biden.  Instead of waiting for more definitive results before opening his gobber, Trump decided to make a speech.  This part was unclear to me – the race had not even ended, but Trump still wanted to discredit the entire election.  What would have happened had come back and won?  Would the results have suddenly transformed in validity?  

Almost every sentence he uttered in this speech was false.  He accused unnamed conspirators of stealing and rigging the election.  Trump claimed that he actually had won states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Georgia.  He called mail-in voting a “corrupt system.” 

What was corrupt was his speech.  Without citing any evidence or naming any perpetrators, Trump made serious claims that undermined the very heart of democracy – the electoral process.  It encouraged uncertainty.  He failed to win, he thought like any other poor sport child – the other side must have cheated.   

6.  Democrats Fail To Repudiate Trump

Centrist Democrats were justified in lashing out at their more left-wing colleagues.  Republicans picked up four seats in the House largely due to the fact swing voters in those districts were deterred by socialist rhetoric.  What was supposed to be a “blue wave” was hardly a ripple.  Quite frankly, Democrats were fortunate to perform as well as they did.

The rhetoric over the summer about “defunding the police”, banning fracking, and implementing medicare-for-all was too extreme.  It will be interesting to see how the party evolves moving forward.  After the 70 million plus votes for Trump, it should be clear to Democrats, leftist fringe and centrists alike, that a large number of Americans are not interested in turning the country into a socialist democracy.  America is not Europe.  Socialist ideas may inspire healthy debate, but it does not win elections.  At least in America.         

7.  Four Seasons Total Landscaping

You know you are losing an election when you host press conferences outside “Four Seasons Total Landscaping.”  What was originally billed by Trump as a press conference at the Philadelphia “Four Seasons”, the luxury hotelier, was quickly corrected to the landscaping company in an industrial part of Philadelphia.  Boy, I bet they saw their site traffic pop.  

At the landscaping company doors we were greeted by none other than Rudy Giuliani.  If Fetterman was the “better angel mascot” of this election, Giuliani was Lucifer’s lawyer.  He even praised the heavens at one point in his speech, mocking the fact that all of the media networks (Fox News included) had called the election for Biden.  Better yet was the fact that on one side of Rudy was an adult bookstore and on the other, a crematorium.      

8.  Biden and Harris Speeches

Back in reality, Biden and Harris gave their victory speeches on Saturday night.  It was like they were stars in a drive-in movie, with cars filling an entire parking lot.  Sleepy Joe came jogging onstage after Kamala introduced him in one of the most moving political speeches I’ve heard in some time.  She captured the moment.  It was easy to envision numerous little girls and young women, regardless of skin color, watching history unfold and feeling empowered to think, why not me?  

Biden delivered a message of unity.  He did not engage in the trench warfare that Trump beckoned him to fight.  And he has not backtracked on his intentions to work across the aisle with Republicans, despite most members of the party (including McConnell) still supporting Trump in his refusal to concede.  But unfortunately, this is nothing new.  It is not that Republicans were scared of Trump these past four years.  They were just like him.   

And so we are back where we started when Trump began his bid for the Presidency.  He flouted conspiracy theories then about Obama’s birth certificate, and now he’s spreading unfounded claims about election fraud.  At least there has always been some level of certainty amidst his chaos.