Countdown: 7

[edelsont]

Today is Tuesday, September 15, 2020.  Seven weeks remain before the general election on Tuesday, November 3.

When I started this countdown, there were fourteen weeks remaining.  So we're halfway there.

Around that time, I expressed the opinion — though not in this journal — that President Trump would act crazier and crazier as the election approached.  So far, I think I am right.

This makes for uneasy times (for those of use who think that Trump's re-election would be a disaster).  One reason for this, as I see it: often, when Trump does something crazy, it pushes my emotions in two directions at once.  On the one hand, it makes it less likely that he actually will be re-elected.  On the other hand, it makes it seem more likely that he will try to stay in power even if he isn't.

Now, here is one thought that has some tendency to reassure me — though not as much as I wish it would.  I genuinely believe that it is very unlikely that he would succeed in staying in power against the will of the electorate.  (One reason why this isn't sufficiently reassuring: even if it failed, the attempt would cause an awful lot of additional harm.)

If you frequently find yourself just wishing that it were over, as I do, this could be part of the reason why.