The American Dream

On a regular Tuesday evening back in 2016, I came home from school and turned on the TV. I switched the channel to CNN, my go-to source for America news. A regular Tuesday evening in Jamaica was election night in the United States. A heated election period was culminating with Hillary Clinton facing off against Donald Trump for the presidency of the ‘free world’. I, like many locally and internationally, was glued to my television screen as the results started to come in. I would have had school that day which made me tired, and I had school the following day as well. So, before a winner was declared, I had decided to call it a night and head to bed. I remember going to bed with Hillary comfortably ahead. I woke up to pee, and to my surprise, the presidency was declared for Donald Trump. A moment I am confident shocked many people.

I still have not recovered from it. So, four years later, I decided not to make the same mistake. This time my cable was down, so I tuned in to an NBC News live stream online. But different candidates and different things at stake made this a different election. This time around the businessman from New York who won the hearts of conservative Americans in 2016 was squaring up against one of the most seasoned politicians in modern US history. The Donald Trump and Joe Biden showdown has been one of the more competitive and exciting elections in recent times. As a result, I have gone to bed and woken up about three times since election night, and the US still does not have a new president-elect.

The current count stands at 253 – 214 in favour of Biden, with the potential winner needing 270 electoral college votes to be declared president-elect. But I must admit that while I had a working knowledge of the electoral college, this election has given me a more in-depth understanding. I see how counties and population density factor significantly into the overall results on a state by state basis. Although Joe Biden leads in the electoral college votes and the popular vote Trump trails not far behind in the popular vote by around three to four million. That shows me that people are voting and that they are also voting for Trump. This has made the election incredibly close. Biden has managed to flip Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin; states Donald Trump won in 2016. Currently, Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Alaska, and Georgia remain in play. With the vote counting continuing in earnest.

But what has made this election so different? Well, as it relates to the procedure, there has been a surge in mail-in voting. The system of voting has existed for a few years in the US. However, it was primarily used by active military overseas. It was also used by US citizens located in foreign countries and a few citizens who would have preferred that method of voting. However, with a pandemic that has demanded of us to be physically distant, millions of people decided to vote by mail this year. This created a backlog of votes that many states were not prepared to handle. Consequently, this has noticeably delayed voting, vote counting and the release of election results.

But even so, the issues of this election underpin the record-high voter turnout being witnessed amid a pandemic. Joe Biden’s more moderate liberal approach to tackling America’s problems has seemed to resonate considerably with Americans across the political spectrum. Whereas Donald Trump seemed to have just depended on making sure his base of core supporters was secure. The American people also for the last four years have witnessed a president who has separated immigrant families and has mismanaged a pandemic. A commander in chief who has led a very unstable administration and has refused to adequately tackle the issue of race. A leader who has lost the respect of the international community and fuelled division. He was met on the campaign trail by a Biden-Harris ticket that promoted a united America and the restoration of what they believe has been lost. So, it should come as no surprise that Trump is now struggling to hold on to his presidency.

And in true Donald Trump-style, he is doing what is expected of him. He is casting doubt on the electoral process. He is saying that the election has been rigged; he is demanding re-counts and making claims of election fraud. Nevertheless, we continue to await the official results of this election. We also hope that the nightmare that has been the last four years will be replaced with something that at least resembles the American dream.