Joe Biden won the 2020 election.
This is a gut punch to the Trump faithful who cannot understand nor accept that the nation is moving on from their one trick pony. As such, I think it’s good that we review the 5 stages of grief and how it will impact them, and unfortunately, us in the coming 71 days.
Stage 1: Denial
This stage is the obvious one. The Trump voter base is refusing to accept the results of the 2020 election and will spend the next few weeks trying frivolous lawsuits to try to claim imaginary fraud. They will do this in spite of having no credibility and despite having lost the popular vote by over 4 million votes, and despite Biden winning the Electoral College with the same number of votes as Trump did in 2016. And despite them claiming for four years that liberals did not accept the results of the 2016 elections (sidenote: they did, however they pointed out that Russia interfered on Donnie’s behalf and that Trump violated his oath of office multiple times, thus becoming an illegitimate president).
The practical results of this stage will be twofold. First, hundreds of bullshit articles posted by the usual suspects from the cesspools of the internet, and a series of tweets from the loser in chief. They will have zero impact on the nation writ large, aside from being annoying things to swat away. The second practical impact is more damaging, as Republicans will refuse to start the transition process and thus make it harder for Biden to govern effectively and have everything set up when he takes office. It will also mean this stage will drag on for a lot longer than usual, as denial and living in an alternate reality for so long go hand in hand.
Stage 2: Anger
As it begins to dawn on them that no one outside of their small circle will accept their delusions, the Trump crowd will get angry. They will let loose with all their insults, attacks, accusations and threats, so honestly it won’t be very different from the last four years in that respect. Be prepared to see more convoys with people flying the flags of historical losers like the Confederates or Trump. Also be prepared for many articles from the FBI and CIA warning of far right threats of violence and more kidnapping and assault plots.
Note that this will mostly be the very few on the far right who have been conditioned to see anything anti-Trump as evil; most regular republicans will simply let their anger simmer and grouse and complain about how the media was unfair for quoting Trump verbatim, or how the liberals don’t care about rural folk who spent the last four years calling for them to be put to death, left to die or who reveled in their sadness. There will be plenty of playing the victim as more and more news reports break into their media bubble about other nations accepting and cheering the Biden victory. It will not concern them in the least that the only leaders who do not join in on the congratulations are the worst human rights abusing dictators in modern history and all allies of Trump.
Stage 3: Bargaining
This stage will be mostly populated by the GOP members of government; it’s highly unlikely that any rank and file Republican voter will bargain or compromise on anything with their surroundings. The GOP operatives will be looking to try three strategies:
– Pretend they were never allies of Trump
– Pretend they never said what they said or did what they did
– Try to use their outsized representation to bargain for deals with a soft Democratic Party.
The first tactic will be effective for those who left the GOP and are seeking to come back or to the very few who openly (and very minimally) opposed Trump. Liberals will most likely accept their stories and treat them as the “sane” Republicans, despite them being so far right that they see Reagan as a RINO.
The second tactic will be used especially on their supporters whenever they need to oppose something they previously supported. Expect them to suddenly care about the budget, the deficit, the coronavirus death toll, foreign intervention, freedom for any religion and bipartisanship.
The last tactic will be Mitch McConnel’s golden ticket. He knows that 12% of the nation decides 50% of the Senate, and he knows that a vote in Wyoming is worth 7 votes in California. He will use this to get Democrats to agree to deals that most of the nation opposes and to oppose deals that most of the nation wants. And if Georgia does not come through for the Democrats in the Senate, expect others to sign on to his plan and obstruct even more so than they did for President Obama.
Stage 4: Depression
Whenever any worldview is challenged to the point of breaking, it has a harsh impact on the ego. Having learned that their idol is not in fact loved or popular, and that the media was not lying about him being ousted, and that the world indeed does not respect us more because Trump was elected but rather because he was no re-elected, and that his super-spreader rallies did not in fact portent a “red wave,” his supporters will have to address each and figure out what that means for their world view. Those who successfully break out of stage 1 will probably face severe depression in coming to the understanding that they threw away family, friends and their own dignity to follow a man who has no intention of helping them or of helping the nation they claim to care about. When they see how quickly President Biden overturns all of the cruel and stupid policies Trump put in, they will realize they sold themselves out for nothing but a fantasy of “owning the libs” and that the previous four years created nothing for them but resentment and disgust.
It will take a long time for them to come out of this depression, and it is not something they can do alone without backsliding into stage 2 (which is a distinct possibility).
Stage 5: Acceptance
Joe Biden will be your next president.
Kamala Harris will be your next vice president.
You did not win the House.
You may still lose the Senate (you certainly won’t be picking up votes, and 2022 is going to be rough).
We will be rejoining the Paris Climate Accord. We will be recreating the Iran nuclear deal. We will not be pushing for an outlawing of abortion. We will not be separating children from their families at the border. You will need to wear a mask in seriously hard hit pandemic areas. You will see gay, female and minority people raised to positions of power in the Cabinet. Universal Healthcare access will be restored and improved.
And you will not get a wasteful border wall.
Everything you had set your hopes on (for what reason, is still unclear) will not be coming to pass. And when you accept that, when you begin to realize that you lost, and that the people of the United States spoke once again and this time did not let the EC silence them, did not let the lies and corruption and obvious criminality of the current POTUS stop them, when you realize that we are and will continue to revel in victory of American principles over the egotistical needs of a cult and its leader, then we can move on and work together to continue to create the vision for the greatest nation on Earth.
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I’m looking forward to having policy discussions again based in fact, in method and in vision, rather than fielding a bunch of lying, gaslighting and delusional comments. Will I see it soon? Probably not. But the invite is out, was already before the election, and I think when we can all move on from this and grow we can Make America Great Again.