#election2020

The global effect of the result of this US election is more pronounced than ever.

I will be awaiting news from #ap before celebrating or commiserating :slight_smile:

https://twitter.com/AP

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I think that the global effect is likely to be substantially greater than the effect on the average American citizen.
In view of the fact that the Democrats look set to retain control of the House of Representatives, and the Republicans seem reasonably secure in control of the Senate, it really doesn’t matter very much who becomes President from the viewpoint of the actual governance of the USA. Whatever the Senate proposes the House will vote down, and vice-versa, and so from a Federal Governance point of view what will continue to happen is very little, regardless of who occupies the Oval Office.
From a practical day to day aspect it is the State Legislatures that actually govern the USA, and what happens in Washington DC is for the most part simply irrelevant to daily life.

Also, I find it interesting to note that whilst what took place on November 3rd is commonly referred to as the Presidential Election, that is not the case at all. The actual election of the next President of the USA will take place on December 14th when the Electors of the Electoral College meet.
What took place on November 3rd is actually a state by state referendum of the people so that they may ASK the appointed Electors of their state to vote in favour of a particular candidate during the meeting of the Electoral College on December 14th. For the vast majority of States the Electors are not even legally bound by the result of their state’s referendum, and therefore can vote to appoint any American citizen to be President as they may wish.
Fundamentally the President of the USA is elected by representatives of the each of the 50 states, and is NOT directly elected by the citizenry at all.

As for the global effect; Well on the one hand we may miss the high entertainment value of the present incumbent, and on the other there will hopefully be an improvement of how both America and Americans are viewed by the peoples of the rest of the world.

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That’s a pretty amazing post, thanks :+1:

Yes, both of the above, however the President can overule the Congress in certain cases, so not a complete paralysis.

One piece of good news I take from @james’ AP link is that the C-19 has greatly eased in Victoria (Aus) where I think they had a complete lockdown, closed borders and all. Perhaps a lesson for all the UK governments?

I see where you are coming from - and if it were two conventional politicians I’d agree.

But this is Trump who has no love of and no respect for the institutions of democracy - not only in terms of his current attempts to hold onto power, but also his attempts to subvert the election all along, refusing to commit to peaceful transition of power, in the way he runs his administration - appointing family members to senior/influential roles, his supreme court nominees, blackmailing foreign governments to damage his political opponents, his relationship with Putin, refusal to condemn white supremacists - I could go on.

It’s not just getting rid of Trump, it’s getting rid of the whole dynasty - talk about draining the swamp!

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The origins of the Electoral College.

In 1800, "The South’s baked-in advantages—the bonus electoral votes it received for maintaining slaves, all while not allowing those slaves to vote—made the difference in the election outcome. It gave the slaveholder Jefferson an edge over his opponent, the incumbent president and abolitionist John Adams.

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Biden wins!

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BBC - trump going to court Monday morning to get results overturned he’s busy playing golf at the mo ffs

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At this wonderful time and hopefully a brighter more inclusive future for all mankind let’s just take a moment to remember that Nigel Farage just lost ten grand!

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…and they expect to find a nine iron lying next to his caddy’s body.

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I just won $1,000!

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It just got better!

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Most Americans don’t know that.

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I had no idea either. Interesting reading, food for thought.

Karma!

Sadly I don’t think this will be the end of it just yet.

So far, Biden has over four million more votes than Trump (and the most in US history).
The Electoral College has finally got to go!

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I find it astonishing that 70 MILLION Americans voted FOR Trump. They can’t all be red-necked gun toting bigots can they? (And that’s just the women.)

Thanks Nige, for rubbing their noses in it. People have lost their jobs during lockdown, £10 may of helped them, never mind £10,000

Agree but there are times when schadenfreude just feels like the right emotion.

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