Initial Thoughts
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I am not publishing anything big today. I want to see what shakes out where to give you the best information possible on what happened. Hot takes are not what is needed at this moment, nor is rushing to judgment. Everyone chill.
My advice: Avoid declarative statements, gloating, depression, and anything based on results at that moment for your own sanity. This is going to take days or weeks to sort out. The next 48 hours will produce a lot of back and forths on the lead of this race. Concepts like "the red mirage" and "we won't know on Election Day" are still valid even if the national polling was off.
BUT
Here are a couple of things I am thinking about:
I think if people walk away from this result as a confirmation that Americans are a fan of either side's culture war, they are reading this totally wrong. This is not an endorsement of MAGA-style politics, and it is not an argument for a further-left candidate.
No doubt pollsters misread the anger towards the lockdowns and the inflexibility of polarization. It is a depressing thought that we may not truly know where Americans stand on much until next the Election Day in 2024.
Americans may have fallen into a parliamentary-style view of politics. 2016 might not have been a rejection of Clinton, but the first sign that national races vote in blocks. This means that persuasion means little and "closing arguments" have no effect.
It is obvious that the President is going to move on his litigation strategy that we outlined in episode 436. I strongly urge you to listen to these episodes.
Tweets
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One thing I have not seen much of while doom scrolling these last couple of days is much talk about "faithless electors." Is this a legitimate worry with the outcome being so tight that the electoral college delegates don't follow? One or two could change the result it appears. Or is this silly to worry about?