ANXIETY!

 OK, we're less than a week away from election day here in the ol' US of A and I am feeling a little bit of anxiety.

Correction:  I am feeling a lot of anxiety.  

Correction:  I am feeling ANXIETY!!!!!!

 I trust that conveys the level of my feeling of...

You know...

ANXIETY!!!!

Yeah, that. 

On Tuesday, November 8, 2016, I wrote a post detailing my assurances to myself that Donald Trump's chances of winning the Presidency were slim to none.

Well, we know how well that turned out. 

Look, in 2016 we had an extremely well qualified candidate for President running against a loud mouth fucking moron. And the polls were in favor of the extremely well qualified candidate. 

What could possibly go wrong? 

In 2016, Trump's path to winning the 270 electoral college votes to win the election was very narrow; with even one or two states slipping the other way, Trump can't win. Trump needed things to go precisely and exactly right for him to win and I'll be damned if things didn't go precisely and exactly right.

Now we are again in 2020 and once more we have an extremely well qualified candidate for President running against a loud mouth fucking moron. And the polls are once more in favor of the extremely well qualified candidate. 

Is it any wonder I'm feeling...

Well, you know...

Yeah, anxiety.  

Things are different. 2016 is not 2020. 

In 2016, Donald Trump was the ultimate outsider. In 2020, Trump has been in power for 4 years, has an actual track record to run on and despite his efforts to paint himself as superhumanly effective, he really doesn't have a lot to show for it.

In 2016, Trump's uncouth rhetoric was atypical of most politicians and may have been seen as refreshing. In 2020 and 4 unrelenting years of Trump's constant blabbering, there is a high level of fatigue with the man. A lot of people who may have been ready to try something new in 2016 are not so ready to give Trump another go in 2020 because after 4 years of unrelenting Trump, a lot of people are ready to try something new. 

In 2016, the extremely well qualified candidate running against Donald Trump had a boat load of negatives, a few self inflicted and deserved but most of that negativity was revved up by right wing media like Fox News, Breitbart, Rush Limbaugh and more. These media forces had spent decades grinding away at the millstone at just what awful people Hillary Clinton and her husband Bill were. In 2020, all efforts to cast Joe Biden as the same sort of dislikeable status of Hillary Clinton isn't working. The nearly 3 decades of hostile drum beat against the Clintons is not something that can be translated to Joe Biden. Hell, there is a virtual army of Republicans signing on to vote for Joe Biden over Donald Trump and it has nothing to do with political ideology and everything to do with the general perception by a lot of people that Joe Biden is a nice guy and an honorable man. Every effort by Trump and his allies to paint Joe Biden and his family has corrupt grifters rings flat. 

In 2016, the extremely well qualified candidate running against Donald Trump was a woman. In 2020, the extremely well qualified candidate running against Donald Trump is  a man. Look, I don't like that observation at all but let's be blunt. A lot of people pulled the level for Trump in 2016 was from a deep distrust and disdain for a female President. It is a sad commentary on the state of the American electorate but to quote Donald Trump, "it is what it is." 

In 2016, thanks to Mitch McConnell's theft of the Supreme Court nomination from President Obama, a seat on the Supreme Court was at stake. The evangelical Christian right voted for Trump to get a conservative majority on the Supreme Court. In 2020, with the confirmation of Amy Barrett to the Supreme Court, mission accomplished with a 6 to 3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court. The impetus for voting for the immoral, unChristian acting Donald Trump is no longer as strong. 

In short, 2016 is not 2020. 

Maybe I shouldn't be feeling so much...

Well, you know...

Yeah, anxiety.  

In 2020, the situation is different and the odds do not favor the  loud mouth fucking moron. 

But if 2016 taught us anything, never bet  against a loud mouth fucking moron. 

Stay safe and remember to be good to one another.