Copyright © Françoise Herrmann
The 2020 US Presidential Elections subsume at least
three significant firsts in US history.
- Kamala Harris is the first female Vice President-elect, and the first female of East Asian and African descent ever nominated on a presidential ticket. Considering that 2020 is the year commemorating 100 years of US women’s right to vote, these firsts are a bit overdue. What is perhaps more important, as Harris put it in her victory speech, on Nov. 7, 2020, is the real possibility of female leadership, on a par with males, as no doubt envisioned by the suffragettes, during their long struggle to secure the right to vote. In Harris’ own terms:
“But while I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last, because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities.”
Addressing women and little girls, in particular, Harris further stated:
"Dream with ambition, lead with conviction, and see yourselves in a way that others may not, simply because they’ve never seen it before." (Staff, Global News, Nov. 7, 2020)
- The most unsettling first of the 2020 presidential elections has been the incumbent’s refusal to concede, even claiming victory after 270 Electoral College votes had already been secured, and the Associated Press had called the election. Not to mention now, since 290 Electoral College votes are on record for the opposing party. A first that also appears overdue, although for reasons that differ from those that have prevented women from accessing the highest positions of decision-making.
True, that
all votes must be counted before an election can be certified, and that this
year the counting took much longer, due to the record number of mail-in
votes, topped with a recounting of votes in Georgia, all of which might conceivably explain the delay in conceding. True also, that the US Attorney General
William Barr authorized US Attorneys to pursue “substantial allegations of
voting irregularities” before the
election results were certified, thereby reversing the US Department of Justice
protocol not to pursue allegations of
fraud until after an election is
certified. An authorization that served to fully legitimize the incumbent’s right to immediately challenge the Election
Results (Hymes, Nov. 10, 2020).
However, it also appears that all of the
lawsuits filed by the incumbent in six states, claiming
irregularities in the counting process on Elections Day, were dismissed. Indeed, Judges, dismissed the lawsuits on the grounds of “insufficient evidence – just speculation, rumors or
hearsay.” (Fahrenthold, et.al, Nov. 10, 2020). Finally,
the incumbent’s own Law Offices across the country have also begun dropping their
representation of the incumbent’s voting fraud cases,
leaving little time for the election results to be overturned, before they are
certified by the Secretaries of State of individual States, on November 23 (Gerstein,
Nov. 13, 2020).
Meanwhile also, as early as November 7th, international Heads of States from Germany, Great Britain, France, Ireland, Greece, Belgium, and most recently China and the Vatican, have been offering “Welcome! and "Welcome back!” congratulations for the projected winners of the November 3rd Elections, thereby recognizing the Biden-Harris projected victory called by the AP (Quinn, Nov. 7 2020). A situation, which the incumbent's opponent has warned could “reflect poorly on his legacy” (Greenwood, Nov 11, 2020), and that has led various critics to wonder whether, at the end of the day, the incumbent might not be tarnishing his own reputation (Bendix, Nov. 12, 2020).
- A third significant first is the unfolding of the 2020 elections in a background of relentless hardship, arising with the first and now second waves of COVID-19 infections. A background, that prevents much of the joyful mass celebrations that usually accompany a peaceful transition of power. With European countries on a second major lockdown (Buchholz, Nov 5, 2020), a new mutation of the coronavirus found on mink farms in Denmark (Gorman, Nov. 8, 2020), the US is not alone in registering a second wave of record-high increases in the number of COVID-19 cases. During the past week, an average of approximately 150,000 cases were recorded, representing a 76% increase in cases, compared to the two previous weeks. A long hard winter already looms with a total number of cases, in the US, approaching 11 million, and almost a quarter-million deaths. (Coronavirus Outbreak, Live Update, NY Times).
References
Bendix, T. (Nov. 12, 2020) Trump’s Legacy Is Already Tarnished, Stephen Colbert Says: Best of Late Night. The NY Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/12/arts/television/stephen-colbert-trump-legacy.html
Buchholz, K. (Nov 5, 2020) Europe back on lockdown. Statista.com. https://www.statista.com/chart/23330/coronavirus-restrictions-europe-map/
Coronavirus Outbreak – Live updates – The NY Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html
Fahrenthold, D. A. et. al (Nov 10, 2020) Here are the GOP and Trump campaign’s allegations of election irregularities. So far, none has been proved. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-election-irregularities-claims/2020/11/08/8f704e6c-2141-11eb-ba21-f2f001f0554b_story.html
Gerstein, J. (Nov. 13, 2020) - Another law firm bails out on Trump campaign. Politico. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/13/law-firm-drops-trump-campaign-436418
Gorman, J. (Nov. 8, 2020) Covid Infections in Animals Prompt Scientific Concern. The NY Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/08/science/Covid-virus-transmission-mink.html?searchResultPosition=2
Greenwood, M. (Nov. 11, 2020) Biden says Trump's failure to concede is an 'embarrassment’. The Hill. https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/525351-biden-trump-failing-to-concede-is-embarrassment
Hymes, C. (Nov 10, 2020) Barr authorizes U.S. attorneys to "pursue substantial allegations" of voter fraud. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/barr-attorney-general-authorizes-attorneys-pursue-allegations-voter-fraud-election/
Lockerd Maragakis, L. M.D., M.P.H (Aug 14, 2020) First and Second Waves of Coronavirus. John Hopkins School of Medicine. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/first-and-second-waves-of-coronavirus
Quinn, M. (Nov. 7, 2020) Foreign leaders offer well wishes to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris after projected win. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/foreign-leaders-offer-well-wishes-to-joe-biden-and-kamala-harris-after-projected-win/
Staff (Nov. 7, 2020) U.S. election: Full text of Kamala Harris and Joe Biden’s victory speeches. Global News. https://globalnews.ca/news/7449739/us-election-joe-biden-kamala-harris-speeches/
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