Day 5 into the post vote election and we finally have a declared winner: Biden. The world is likely breathing a sigh of relief.
It’s been a long road, but we have finally made it. The American people have finally fired Donald Trump. His replacement, Joe Biden, is going to assume office soon.
This moment finally concludes a long cliff hanger which started early on this week. By the day of the election, some of the highlights were that record numbers of people did come out to vote. That record turnout wound up being partly to blame for why a result didn’t appear the night of the election.
On day 2, another factor became very evident: the election wound up being a very close one. This led people to point out that this said a lot about the American people who were, for some, gleefully re-electing an authoritarian.
By day 3, some were hoping that an election result for the president would be forthcoming. Maybe the votes will finally reach a certain point that some states would be called and enough electoral college votes could be cast to favor one candidate or another. That, as we know now, didn’t happen.
While some were admitting that day 3 might have been a bit early given how things were going, more were expecting that, by day 4, an election result would come down. To the surprise of some, that didn’t happen either. By that point in time, many observers were asking when we are actually going to see an election result. After all, in recent memory, a delay by this long simply because the vote count was taking so long is rather unusual. Previously, delays in calling an election were the results of legal actions, not because there were too many votes cast to get a quick result. Still, day 4 marked a turning point in the count. Mail-in and early voting ballots were finally being counted. Many point out that large portions of them were favoring Biden. This led to many feeling optimistic that Biden would actually win the election.
Now, here we are today, with enough states called for Joe Biden to be declared the winner. Supporters are cheering in the streets knowing that their candidate of choice has won. What’s more is that they achieved the dream of making the Trump a 1 term president. This marking a moment where relief is setting in. Not only is there relief among more progressive leaning people, but relief for people around the world. Maybe the trade tensions will finally drop among allies. World leaders have to worry less about walking on eggshells with a thin-skinned president. Domestically, there is optimism that the country can start healing from the wounds caused by the Trump presidency.
While this is, indeed, a major moment, it only marks the beginning. The United States is still reeling from a pandemic. Two days ago, according to reports, there were over 120,000 new infections. Yesterday, that number exceeded 130,000 new cases. With spiking COVID-19 cases, this signals a seriously out of control virus that will take a lot to get back under control. With Trump neglecting the pandemic, a lot needs to take place to even start the work of fighting the virus.
In addition to that, there is a tanking economy. Businesses and individuals are starving for some kind of stimulus. With the out of control pandemic, chances are businesses aren’t re-opening any time soon. So, intervention is pretty much on the horizon already.
Then, there is the strained relationships around the world. The US backed out of several key treaties such as the Paris Accord. There is the war on NATO that Trump pushed. This over top of the trade wars Trump started for often trivial reasons. Mending relationships is going to be a tall order, but one that has a chance to get kick-started soon.
With so many expected big ticket items on the agenda, the question is when Biden will get to mending the problems currently marring technology, innovation, and digital rights. When will Biden start working on a fix for network neutrality? Is Biden going to direct people to halt the war on Section 230? Will he strengthen whistleblower protections in the US? Is he going to reverse the attempt to ban platforms like TikTok and WeChat? All this over more long-standing issues such as the expansion of surveillance, the problems with copyright (i.e. anti-circumvention laws), fighting the war on encryption, and so many other larger issues.
Still, there is one thing that is a bit more certain: a Biden win means the beginning of the end of 4 years of constant whining from the president. Indeed, throughout the election, Trump has been whining and screaming about election fraud with claims never backed up with any evidence. On Twitter, the number of warning labels attached to Trump tweet has been stacking up substantially in recent days. Some are even speculating that the special treatment afforded to Trump might also be coming to an end. A few are even hoping that Trumps rule violations might finally get him banned from Twitter.
Moreover, Trump has been on the litigation warpath. There doesn’t appear to be much of an end-game in sight, but Trump has been trying to halt votes and pushing to have legally cast ballots thrown out. It’s behavior that suggests that the whiner-in-chief is growing increasingly desperate to hold on to power. The only thing to really fear is the underlying worry that Trump supports will turn increasingly violent on the American people. Some have even publicly commented that they see a civil war on the horizon. Whether or not that even comes close to happening remains to be seen.
Still, this moment does have similar feelings of finally lancing a festering boil. On the lead up to the moment, there was a lot of tension, but now that it has finally popped, relief is flowing.
While many were hoping for a repudiation of the president, it’s hard to dispute that Biden becoming president is a step in the right direction. As many others are saying, the work to restore America can finally begin.
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Facebook.
