“Bad Things Happen in Philadelphia”

We are living through one of the most consequential and extraordinary weeks in American political history. The Trump presidency has come crashing down even though,  to quote Jack Nicholson’s famous line, “You (Trump) can’t handle the truth.” We all knew Trump would not go down without a fight. He has threatened all along that if he lost the election, if would have to be rigged and fraudulent. His angry rant in the middle of the night after the election was typical belligerent Trump behavior. More telling and scary was his appearance Thursday evening in the White House Briefing Room. Trump had seethed and ranted all day as he saw his lead slip away with the counting of the mail in votes. Then he saw Joe Biden come out and calmly urge people to be patient with the vote count, but he believed when all the votes were counted he would win. You could see Biden taking on the role of president.

Trump announced he was coming out at 6:30 p.m Thursday, when broadcast networks air their evening newscasts and he would have a big audience. You could tell almost immediately the change in demeanor and body language. It was starting to sink in. He then gave one of the most bizarre performances by an American president. He almost mumbled incoherently about imagined fraud and cheating in the vote count. How the election was being stolen from him with no proof, and it was terrible for the country. He said his lawyers were filing lawsuits across the country to stop this hijacking of the election that most legal experts predict will go nowhere. In an astonishing move, three networks cut away from the remarks because they were filled with lies and unsubstantiated claims. I almost expected to see another scene from a movie where the two big male nurses come out and take the patient by the elbows and lead them away. It was sobering to see the deterioration of the most important symbol of our democracy.

When many of us were losing hope that the country would never wake from the nightmare of the last four years, “We the people” stood up and used the most precious tool we have to demand change. We voted in record numbers. A deadly pandemic did not stop us. It spurred us on in record numbers. Millions voted by mail and millions waited on long lines for hours to say we’ve had enough. This election also proves the need to eliminate the Electoral College. I know the founders established it so big states wouldn’t overwhelm smaller states but we have had five presidential elections in which the winner of the popular vote has lost the election in the Electoral College. Joe Biden has gotten more popular votes than any presidential candidate in history and is leading Trump by about four million votes. The whole country should be a “battleground” not just a select few states which makes many voters feel their vote doesn’t really count if the majority of voters in their state vote for the other candidate.

It’s ironic that Philadelphia is the place that will decide Trump’s fate. Thirty-nine delegates met in the sweltering summer of 1787 to write one the most remarkable documents in history. The constitution sets us part from every other country and has served as an example that ordinary citizens can establish a government that gives them a say in what it means to be an American. In another of Trump’s crazed performances in the first presidential debate, he claimed that cities run by Democrats, like Philadelphia, couldn’t be trusted to run fair elections. He even said, “Bad things happen in Philadelphia.” Well, maybe bad for him.