My election prediction of sorts
You are reading this in the future. By now you already know what happened while I have no idea as I write this. I’m talking about the U.S. election.
The interesting thing about weekly newspapers is there is often one day of the week that if something happens we can’t report on it. That’s exactly the case this week with a Monday deadline and Tuesday being a dead day so the paper can come out midweek.
A part of me wants to make predictions and say there will be fights and riots as Tuesday night roars on and the United States welcomes (and I use that term loosely) a new president (even looser) into power.
You see, no matter what happens, no matter who wins, there will be controversy and scandal. If Clinton wins, Trump will continue ranting that the election was rigged and undoubtedly demand recounts and investigations and drag out the official declaration of the winner for as long as he can. That could lead to widespread anger and violence that has often erupted amongst Trump supporters.
If Trump wins, I sense there to also be chaos as the deplorables (Clinton’s word, not mine) revel with a frenzied celebration that annoy Clinton supporters so much that they clash in the streets or whatever public venue they are watching the results come in.
So as you read this you already know what played out Tuesday night and what potential fallout there was on Wednesday morning. In a perfect scenario, the election results were revealed, the winner was gracious and the loser was congratulatory. But knowing how yucky the campaign was I don’t sense that happening. And I really would like to be wrong on this, trust me, I’d actually like to be wrong.
While I am not saying I hope there is fighting and shooting and terrorist attacks (as noted as a possibility by the FBI last week) the country’s track record speaks for itself. Gone are the days of a peaceful protest and accepting other people’s viewpoints and beliefs. Instead, the norm is to aggressively disagree and intimidate others to scare your opinion into them. And that’s just from the presidential candidates. Does it work? Well, I guess we’ll see over the next four years.
Nevertheless, congratulations, Mr. or Mrs. New President.
