Our country has just gone through a Presidential election along with races for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Joe Biden will be the next President of our country having secured over 6,000,000 more votes than Donald Trump. The Senate will be controlled by Mitch McConnell and the Republicans, unless the Democrats can run the table in the January 5 runoff election in Georgia. The House will stay in Democrats’ control, but their majority is significantly reduced from 2018.
The country is in the midst of a pandemic like we have not experienced for over 100 years. It has taken over 267,000 lives and counting, with almost 2,000 people dying every day this month. The country’s caseload and number of deaths are the highest in the world. In many cities and towns across America, cars are lined up for miles at food banks so they could just feed their families – that’s right, food lines in the USA. While Congress dithers over an aid package to ease the country’s pain, unemployment stands at over 11,000,000 people as of the end of October. With coronavirus cases exploding, more shutdowns and the accompanying loss of jobs is inevitable. Yet in our recent election, Donald Trump received over 73,000,000 votes and the election has given the Republicans significant gains. I don’t get it.
Has the devastation of this virus had no impact on people’s view of the Republican Party? According to a recent article in the Washington Post, both Iowa and North Dakota saw electoral gains by Republicans who have downplayed the seriousness of the virus. Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds stated that the election results validated their approach to the pandemic. Republicans in North Dakota were also rewarded by voters, with the party increasing its dominance even as coronavirus cases jumped tenfold in the three months before the election. I don’t get it.
OK, some people support Donald Trump’s policies such as reducing taxes for corporations (and exploding our federal debt); improved performance of their retirement accounts; appointing conservative judges; and consistently sticking his finger in the eye of our institutions. Conversely, you could point to his many failures – indictments of his close associates; separating children from their parents at the border; a total lack of concern for the environment; and the incessant lying to the public.
I am not so naïve to underestimate his sway over the base of the Republican party. His blunt talk, twitter feeds and stand-up comic routines at his rallies appeal to a core of the electorate. I also understand that many people are lifelong Republicans, and I respect their decision to believe in conservative principles. But this is different. People are dying. More than necessary at least in part due to his and his Republican enablers incompetent and callous reaction to the virus. Making fun of people who wear masks, refusing to rally the country to follow CDC recommendations, and not using all the power of the federal government to enable our hospitals and health care workers to have the protective gear they require is inexcusable. Yet almost 10 million more people voted for Donald Trump in 2020 than in 2016. I don’t get it.
I am 72 years old and have lived through the Vietnam protests, the Civil Rights marches, and two impeachments, all of which divided our country terribly. However, never have I been so disheartened and shaken by the choices made by 73 million voters as I am after this election.
I just don’t get it.
Dennis Glackin
St. Michaels
William Burton MD says
Not so fast. This election is not over. I am 71 years old and cannot believe millions did not see Biden’s frailty and dementia not to mention the ultra liberal persuasion of his running mate who will complete his first term should his election come to pass.
Megan says
MD, as in doctor? It baffles me that doctors can support Trump after how he handled the pandemic and treated Fauci and other brilliant minds. And also that a doctor would diagnose someone with dementia after not having properly evaluated them.
William Burton says
MD as in Board Certified physician and member of Alpha Omega Alpha, the medical school Phi Beta Kappa. The pandemic has been a disaster but it is not Trump’s fault. Joe would have suffered far more fatalities by not shutting down travel from China as quickly. The speed of development of the vaccine under Trump is a true medical miracle and has no parallel in history.
William Burton, MD
St Michaels MD
Laura Zagon says
Really? And what did he do for almost a year inbetween those two things? ZERO!!!
Katherine E Gallagher says
With all due respect Dr. Burton, you have no evidence for Biden having dementia and his debate performance and town halls clearly suggests otherwise, as does his selection of knowledgeable and experienced people for cabinet positions. To state that anyone has dementia when you have no grounds is profoundly irresponsible, especially given your medical training. (What some people interpret as Biden’s word-finding struggles can be readily explained by his stutter — and by the way, I don’t agree with claims that Trump has dementia either; I worked in the dementia field for several years and I know what an accurate diagnose requires.) You also cannot assume what Biden would or would not have done at the onset of this pandemic or what push he would have given to vaccine development, as you have no more way of knowing that than the rest of us. Worst, you ignore Trump’s many clearly erroneous claims that the virus would just go away as he held rally after rally that have been documented to be super-spreader events causing more sickness, hospitalizations and deaths — including more more than 1,000 of your fellow health care providers nationwide who have lost their lives to COVID after trying to save others. “First, do no harm.”
Deirdre LaMotte says
It is called being a Chamber of Commerce Republican. A tribe that only cares about their own
$$$. I’ve always felt these are the sleazy ones…not the rubes at rallies wearing MAGA hats.
They’d support Charles Manson as POTUS if he was a Republican. Same cult like behavior, different followers.
Kate LaMotte says
One factor: Fox, OANN, Newsmax, Sinclair Broadcasting (which owns and operated hundreds of local news stations), Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones and Facebook. In other words, vast swaths of people across the nation (especially in rural “flyover” regions) are seeing, reading and hearing little or no accurate information while being deluged with conspiracy theories, lies and distortions, often delivered in high-volume, hysteria-inducing rants. Until/unless we can figure out a way to teach media literacy, the vast low-and middle-income segments of our electorate will continue to be easily fooled into voting against their own interests. Again, this is just one factor among many.
Laura Zagon says
Dementia?? Really? I think people, including professionals like yourself, misinterpret Biden’s constant need to keep a handle on his stuttering as dementia. Even if it is dementia… I’ll take THAT over dictator any day. As far as Harris, this country has been run by too many old politicians with the same garbage going on over and over… get used to the fact that younger people need to take this country by the reins and steer it in a different direction.
Beth McQuade says
Agreed! I am stunned by my Republican friends who continue to support Trump and his paranoid, egomaniacal style of governing.
Gerry Early says
I completely agree with Dennis Glackin. I simply cannot understand why any rational and educated person would vote for Trump, other than that maybe they are brainwashed by Fox News and similar outlets.
Suggestion: It would be helpful if Talbot Spy to write a letter on why they voted for Trump instead of Biden. And do they believe the Democrats stole the election, and if so why?
Charles Barranco says
Excellent Suggestion.!
I second your request to the Talbot Spy!
Mike Huffstetler says
When you remove the fraudulent votes for VP Biden, more people voted for President Trump than for Corrupt Joe Biden.
So, Dennis, you are actually in the minority.
How can anyone with a scintilla of intelligence look at the irregularities and anomalies and obvious fraud in this election and honestly conclude that Corrupt Sleepy Joe Biden actually won this election?
Do you truly think Biden received 80 million votes despite record African American & Hispanic turnout for Trump?
Do you truly think Biden won despite losing most Bellwether Counties?
Do you truly think that Biden trailed Hillary Clinton in all but a select few known corrupt (from a voting perspective) cities in key battleground states?
Do you truly believe that Biden won despite Democratic losses everywhere else?
Do you truly believe that Biden overcame Trump’s commanding election day lead without fraudulent ballot stuffing in those known to be corrupt Democratic cities? Trucks and Vans were witnessed pulling into the polling centers in the wee hours on November 4th with thousands and thousands of fraudulent ballots!
Be honest with yourselves Democrats!
As William Burton points out this election is far from over! If the Supreme Court doesn’t have the courage and willingness to step up and defend the US Constitution, the State Legislatures in GA, PA, AZ, NV, MI & WI hopefully will step up and put the actual winner of this election, President Donald J. Trump in the White House to continue to make America Great, and not succumb to the Globalist Socialist desires of the Democratic Party, Main Stream Media, Communist China, and Big Tech!
Our country deserves far better than what corrupt VP Joe Biden has to offer us!
Editor says
This claim about election fraud is disputed
Dennis Francis Glackin says
Attorney General Barr Says Justice Dept. “Has Not Seen Evidence of Fraud That Would Undo Biden’s Win”
Maybe you should share your misgivings with the Attorney General.
Mike Huffstetler says
Dennis:
The FBI has not even bothered to investigate any of the voting fraud allegations.
It is clear that neither the FBI nor CIA Directors can be trusted, and now AG Barr appears to be joining them.
Why did CIA Director Gina Haspel fail to follow President Trump’s order to declassify all documents related to the Russian Hoax, whose origins go back to President Obama & VP Biden in a White House meeting in early January, 2016.
Why did FBI Director Chris Wray sit on Hunter Biden’s laptop for nearly a year, including during its direct relevance to refute the phony impeachment allegations against President Trump based on his call to the newly elected Ukranian President?
And now, with incredible amounts of voter fraud allegations on hundreds of sworn affidavits in multiple states, why would AG Barr say there was no evidence of fraud when there are witnesses stating they have contacted the FBI regarding fraud and have not even received a response?
To protect the Democratic establishment, that’s why! So many DOJ, FBI & CIA “Deep State”employees who cannot be fired have as their principal goal the protection of the Democratic establishment.
I bet you haven’t even bothered to watch the Pennsylvania (last Wednesday), Arizona (yesterday) or Michigan (today) ballot fraud hearings. If so you would know that fraud has occurred and there is an attempt to steal this election.
With all due respect, if you watched any of those hearings and believe there were no significant fraudulent votes included in the counts for VP Joe Biden you are either stupid, dishonest, or both!
In multiple battleground states (PA, MI & GA) more mail in ballots were miraculously counted than were mailed out or requested! Dead people voted in multiple states, with some of those dead people actually requesting mail in ballots. AG Barr is investigating individuals who voted in multiple states. Ballots were requested for people who actually showed up to vote in person and were told they had already voted. The instances of fraud go on and on and on! Ballots were shipped from NY to PA to be counted. And in Georgia, while the Court was completing an Order to impound Dominion voting machines in Fulton County (among others) to prevent the removal of data from those machines the Fulton County machines were purportedly wiped clean “by user error” as part of the Georgia recount!
Wake up!
The facts can be hidden by the MSM, the Talbot Spy, and Big Tech censorship for only so long!
President Trump will win the electoral vote in January, and, if not, he will be re-elected President by a Congressional vote in January (one vote per State). The framers of the US Constitution were prepared for this attempt to steal the Presidency, and it will be unsuccessful just like the last attempt to steal the Presidency in the 1800’s!
Read the 12th Amendment to the US Constitution, as well as Article II, Section 1, Paragragh 3 of the US Constitution, which was modified by the 12th Amendment.
Lastly, neither the media, Big Tech, nor the Attorney Generals of individual States or the United States determine the President of the US. That is determined by the Electors of each State, whose appointment is controlled by the various State legislatures. Those same State Legislatures control the various State voting procedures, including the procedures for accepting mail in ballots, which procedures cannot be unconstitutionally modified by a Governor, Court, a State Attorney General, or individual polling representatives, as was attempted i multiple battleground states (GA, NC, PA, MI, WI, NV, AZ, etc.)!
Editor says
Claims about election fraud are disputed.
Bruce Jones says
To the question raised, the answer lies among these facts: millions of Americans for years have felt dis-enfranchised; our federal government has not produced many great durable solutions for what has been ailing America over recent decades; and multiple informal media services make “everyone a commentator” — not an activist, just a commentator. When speaking about dis-enfranchised, it refers to those who have been passed over — on several but not all occasions — when protections or entitlements were handed out; it refers to those who have felt left-behind and threatened by immigration and the Information Age. With this as fertile ground, the Republican party, desiring increased following and relevance, got behind Trump as their leader. Trump delivered new party members. Further, I believe 10 choices out of 100 will be winners, and 10 will be losers, whether we are talking about presidents or persons of congress. Long-term success depends on a steady flow of new talent that is representative of the people. I therefore favor turnover, term-limits, a mixture of ideologies. Let’s move on.
H Batters says
I share the comments of Dennis. How anyone could want the self centered and corrupt paranoia of the Trump administration for 4 more years is beyond my comprehension
His complete lack of decency has been a cancer in our society.
Michael Estrella says
Doctor, you forgot to inform us of one of your other accomplishments…that of clairvoyance. How else would you be able to tell us all exactly what would have happened last year if President Elect Biden were in charge. Oh, by any chance can you tell me who will win in the 5th race at Churchill Downs? I’ll split my winnings with you!
Sue says
I wholeheartedly agree! I can not understand how people could vote for Trump. He has made a mockery of the presidency and the US’s reputation around the world. He has not helped the middle or lower class. He makes fun of people with disabilities, puts children in cages separated from their parents, and bullies everyone who disagrees with him. He is a disgrace and yet people voted for him. I don’t get it either!
Ronya J. Driscoll says
I had the same shock that I could be so wrong about how people would vote.
Each day, I ponder the election results and wonder how to have a better understanding of others and their needs.
Laura Zagon says
Me either. Tells us the mentality of the people in this country and I am beyond disbelief.
Joyce Stambaugh says
I agree 100 %.
Brice Gamber says
What boggles my mind is that so many Democrats cannot respect that another party may have valid reasons for voting for President that have nothing to do with the candidate To show that respect might mean that there was something wrong with their message and agenda, and forced 74 million voters to vote Republican.
It might mean that 74 million voters ( more than Obama received in either of his victories) saw the Liberal agenda wanting and evolving towards socialism. I would suggest a naivety if you didn’t think the Republicans would retain the Senate and probably take the House in two years. Many people did not love Trump, but found the Democratic Agenda flawed.
To quote that great philosopher Satchell Paige, “ don’t look behind you, someone may be gaining”
Robert Foley says
Well said Dennis, it is perplexing. In many ways the inability of his core supporters to see the existential threat that he, his approach and disregard to good governance, poses to this country is in many ways more dangerous in the long run than him and his demise
Anne Stalfort says
Dennis: I agree with everything you said.
Charles Barranco says
Well written Dennis! I don’t get it either. People I know who have moral compass, intelligence, scruples and who don’t tolerate people who are liars, support this evil, vindictive, whiny little fingered, vicious liar.
I don’t get it either?
Notwithstanding the tax reform bill which benefited the 1% and significantly increased the National Deficit, why else would you support this Carnie Con Man?
The man has surrounded himself with evil, Steven Miller, Jared Kushner, Steve Bannon to name a few and incompetence, Tillerson, Pompeo, who have destroyed The State Department and the likes of Dr Navarro, pseudo economist!
Sorry, but I can’t understand how 89% of Republicans can support dividing the Country for the likes of the Orange Waste?
Kristen Greenaway says
I wish we as Americans better understood the word “socialism.” Thought this may help, from Heather Cox Richardson (Oct, 27, 2020):
During her interview with the vice-presidential candidate on CBS’s 60 Minutes on Sunday, journalist Norah O’Donnell asked Senator Kamala Harris if she would bring a “socialist or progressive perspective” to the White House. Harris burst out laughing before she said “no.”
Harris’s response has been viewed more than a million times on social media. One person responded “she doesn’t even know she’s into Marxism = socialism = communism.”
Trump and his campaign surrogates, as well as Republican lawmakers, continue to refer to Democrats as “socialists.” In Florida on Friday, Trump said: “We’re not supposed to have a socialist—look we’re not going to be a socialist nation. We’re not going to have a socialist president, especially a female socialist president, we’re not gonna have it, we’re not gonna put up with it.”
Today, in Lansing, Michigan, Trump warned about the elevation of Harris to the presidency, saying that “Joe’s shot; Kamala, you ready?… She makes Bernie Sanders look like a serious conservative.” Trump seems to be using the term “shot” as the old slang word for “worn out,” but there is no doubt he understands the dual meaning in that word, and is warning that Harris, should she be required to succeed Biden, will be a left-wing radical.
The American obsession with socialism has virtually nothing to do with actual international socialism, which developed in the early twentieth century. International socialism is based on the ideas of political theorist Karl Marx, who believed that, as the working class was crushed under the wealthy during late stage capitalism, it would rise up to take control of the factories, farms, utilities, and so on, taking over the means of production.
That theory has never been popular in America. While we have had a few socialist mayors, the best a socialist candidate has ever done in an election was when Eugene V. Debs won about 6% of the popular vote in 1912. Even then, while Debs called himself a socialist, it is not clear he was advocating the national takeover of industry so much as calling for the government to work for ordinary Americans, rather than the very wealthy, in a time that looked much like our own.
American “socialism” is a very different thing than what Marx was describing in his theoretical works. Fear of it erupted in the 1870s, long before the rise of international socialism, and it grew out of the peculiar American context of the years after the Civil War. During the war, Republicans had both invented national taxation—including the income tax—and welcomed African American men to the ballot box. This meant that, after the Civil War, for the first time in American history, voting had a direct impact on people’s pocketbooks.
After the war, southern Democrats organized as the Ku Klux Klan to try to stop Black Americans from taking their rightful place in society. They assaulted, raped, and murdered their Black neighbors to keep them from voting. But President Ulysses S. Grant met domestic terrorism with federal authority, established the Department of Justice, and arrested Klan members, driving their movement underground.
So reactionary whites took a different tack. The same people who had bitterly and publicly complained about Black Americans participating in society as equal to whites began to argue that their problem with Black voting was not about race, but rather about class. They said that they objected to poor voters being able to elect leaders who promised to deliver services or public improvements, like schools and roads, that could be paid for only by taxes, levied on property holders.
In the South of the post-Civil War years, almost all property holders were white. They argued that Black voting amounted to a redistribution of wealth from hardworking white men to poor Black people. It was, they insisted, “socialism,” or, after workers in Paris created a Commune in 1871, “communism.”
This is the origin of the American obsession with “socialism,” more than 40 years before Russia’s Bolshevik Revolution.
Since that time, Americans have cried “socialism” whenever ordinary Americans try to use the government to level the economic playing field by calling for business regulation—which will cost tax dollars by requiring bureaucrats—or for schools and roads, or by asking for a basic social safety net. But the public funding of roads and education and health care is not the same thing as government taking over the means of production. Rather, it is an attempt to prevent a small oligarchy from using the government to gather power to themselves, cutting off the access of ordinary Americans to resources, a chance to rise, and, ultimately, to equality before the law.
Julie Imirie says
Well, we do get it. And, we feel the same about liberals who want to destroy everything the founding fathers were so passionately protecting us from. Democrats are corrupt – proven fact. And, Trump had absolutely nothing to do with the current state of the virus. He did what the founding fathers wanted done … given authority to the states. Everything you claim he failed at is a complete lie ( facts will prove that which you don’t seem to read) and because you are a puppet of the liberal media, you will never be open to listening to the truth. Thank GOD for the 73 million who do get it.
Michael Estrella says
I’m sorry, but I can not help but to reread the comment you made about the OTHER party…”Democrats are corrupt – proven fact,”. So, while we are on that proven fact track, here’s one or two for you. During thev4 year Trump administration there were over 200 criminal charges brought against members of Donnies gang and other associates. During President Obama’s 8 years in office there were ZERO.
One other fact, a good portion of those voting for Biden weren’t Democrats and some of those were actually Republicans. The 80 million of us really GET IT. We refused to case our ballot for someone who let more than 260,000 Americans die and who stole babies from parents. We GET IT and we are done wit it too!
Deirdre LaMotte says
We cannot help people who refuse to see facts. Trump is an extension of their culture, values, id and
greed. He is their savior, their blunt instrument and their top drug of choice.
Let us focus instead on the over 80 million who supported the candidate who cares about this nation and world.
Linda Baker says
Wow, a lot of haters. You have such a poor and degrading view of Trump supporters. Did you know Trump was nominated 3 times for Nobel Peace Prize, for bringing Israel and middle eastern nations together to sign peace treaty’s? Did you know he goes to Dover air base in the middle of the night to welcome fallen soldiers home and comfort their families? Has the news (as you call it) told you he is cracking down on sex trafficking, and has had many major busts recently, including the latest one of 178 people in Florida? Did you know he has made it so a vet can go to a public health facility if the VA cannot get them in to see them, instead of waiting months? Did you know he gave more to black colleges than any president before? Did you know he has pushed for prison reform for small felonies? There is so much more he has done and it is not reported. So you hate the way he talks and acts and you believe that should disqualify him for president. You would rather have someone that says they would never do something and laugh about it (like Kamala), after she has already stated many times she would. Biden has been in for 47 years, tell me something specific he has done that is so great in all that time? Just one! He couldn’t even get 20 people at his rally’s and most were reporters. Yet you really believe he got 80 million votes? Trump averaged 20,000-25,000 people at his rally’s, he has 89 million Twitter followers. So 73 million votes is low in my belief. I listened to the Michigan hearings today, with one after another poll worker spoke of discrepancies with tallying the ballots in favor of Biden (and that was just one area-Detroit). Think of hundreds of other polling places doing the same thing as Detroit. Also, one more thing, the AP news is who has said Biden won, the electoral college has not put their votes in yet. So we will see.
Kristen Greenaway says
SNOPES:
What’s True
In September 2020, two Scandinavian politicians announced separately they were nominating Trump for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize. One of them, Christian Tybring-Gjedde of Norway, also claimed to have nominated Trump in 2018.
What’s False
Contrary to a rumor circulating at the time, no Nobel Peace Prize nomination for Trump was announced in 2016.
What’s Undetermined
Given that the Nobel Foundation does not reveal the names of nominees until 50 years after the fact, we can’t say for certain whether Trump has or has not been nominated.
Dennis Glackin says
Trump’s Presidency has been unfortunate. His legacy is that he is the only President in our history to lose the popular vote twice, be a one term President and be only the third President to be impeached.
Joe Biden has spent 47 years in service to his country. So I ask you, what did Trump do in his prior 47 years for our country? I believe the answer would be nothing. It’s wonderful that Trump can pack arenas with his fans. I must admit he is entertaining, but I am not looking for an entertainer as my president, not do I care how many Twitter followers the person has, for neither of these things make for a decent and thoughtful leader for the best country in the world. I am looking for someone who will keep us safe from the many threats here and abroad, strengthen our alliances, grow the economy for all of our citizens, and not be a constant embarrassment.
As far as the Electoral College is concerned, you are right, we will see. And I hope after they vote on the 15th, that people who share your feelings will put aside their differences and work to pull this country together. The vitriol must stop if we are to be truly Americans, and not just two political tribes constantly at war with one another.
Suzanne Williams says
Thank you for putting in writing what I am asking myself every day. I don’t get it either.
Christina Fahad says
Dear Talbot!
I agree with Mr. Glackin, I don’t get it! I know racism was a big part of it and white people were scared of losing their status in this country more than ever (I’m white) Trump played the race card and people bought into it.
But I want to believe that people care about others dying, care about black men and women scared to go out at all, that poverty and sickness needs a helpful hand and that people are losing their jobs. But no they don’t, I don’t get it.
God had to be laughing at Trump when he held up that Bible at St. John’s church and knew that Biden was more of a Christian than Trump (devout Catholic) was but where were the evangelicos? They know Trump is not a Christian! I don’t get it.
Biden won but the divide will be hard.
Respectfully submitted,
Christina Fahad
Deirdre LaMotte says
It is all about power and never about faith with the evangelicals. Power is what fuels Senators like Graham and McConnell, who literally have been documented saying that Trump is dangerous. Actually, they…the “enlightened”…are
the most despicable; their constituents vote them into office and they take an oath, then ignore ethics and our Constitution.
Just don’t look for any Jesus moments with evangelicals or, perhaps conservative Catholics. Their messiah is the Federalist Society.