The American Wringer

9/11    |    The Financial Crisis of 2007–2008    |    Corona Virus 

Let's face it. As a nation, we've been through the wringer. In the past 20 years, Americans have endured unthinkable tragedies in form of terrorist attacks, a global financial crisis, and a pandemic. Each disaster is worse than the last. At the onset of each disaster, American leadership has sought to minimize the impact and hasten our recovery. 

That is, until now. The current president has, in no uncertain terms, told us that we have to "live with it." Of course, nobody can just live with the corona virus. Instead, it has killed approximately one quarter of a million Americans. We can't just "live with it" because none of us have the same level of healthcare that the President does. Therefore, millions more Americans are going to get sick, and many of the infected are going to die. The President signaled to us that he doesn't care. We just have to deal with it. 

So here we are. Just nine days before the election. According to the polls, the race is close. Millions of American have fallen for the President's on-going con, which is a complete and total contradiction: Everything is fine, and only he can fix it. 

We also know that the President is is actively suppressing votes and rigging the election in his favor. These are acts of a desperate man because he knows he can't win in a fair election. 

But why does the President want to stay in power? He hates his job, and it's evident in everything he does. One hypothesis is that he needs this job so that he can continue making millions of dollars from direct lobbyists [1]. He also needs to stay in office because he learned, via Robert Mueller, a sitting president can't be indicted. 

So what's going to happen to us? What's going to happen on Election Day? If the President loses by a landslide, will he concede? Will there be a peaceful transfer of power? Will he appeal his loss to the Supreme court? How will they rule?

We are in an agonizing limbo that isn't likely to end on November 3rd. Instead, mail-in ballots are going to need to be counted, and that is going to take some time. There will also be accusations of voter fraud on both sides. 

If the outcome is that the President is re-elected, then Americans will be forced to endure four more years of his divisive, caustic, hateful rhetoric. Any sort of restriction on his behavior will be completely removed because he won't be campaigning for re-election. He will undoubtedly test the limits of his power by doing whatever he wants. Many of the freedoms that we enjoyed before his Presidency will be gone. Only straight, white, male Americans will be safe (and even that statement is debatable). 

But if, by some miracle, he loses, then we have a different challenge ahead of us. We know that nearly half of the voters, i.e., those who backed the current President, are going to be angry and feel resentment toward the other half of America that voted for Biden and Harris. We need to repair the damage that the current President has enacted on all of us. But how will we move forward, as a nation? How will we learn to appreciate our differences? How will we become less racist and more tolerant? How do we ensure that this never happens to us again? 

There are so many open questions. I just hope that on November 3rd, we put ourselves on the path toward building back better.