Today? You don't have to be Nostradamus to see what's coming. Joe Biden is going to win by a wide majority, the Democrats might even take the Senate too. Whether or not it's "official" by midnight will be a matter of state-by-state logistics. Besides, we'll have the sideshow beginning at 7:01 p.m. EST Donald Trump will throw the mother of all tantrums and dispatch his lawyers all over to, oh, I don't know, sue the United States people for not re-electing him.
That's what Trump does. Sue and threaten to sue. It won't work this time, but it'll kick up dust.
Yes, my prediction isn't a 100 percent certainty. All those Americans jamming the polls could be people who simply love what the Donald has done with the coronavirus, all the denial and bumbling, and want four more years just like this. I mean, it's possible. I like to fancy my fellow Americans aren't capable of that. I try, like Anne Frank, to think that people are good at heart.
Of course look what happened to her.
I'm most interested in Trump's exit. I keep seeing, in my mind's eye, something like the end of "Angels With Dirty Faces." You might not remember, the 1938 movie where Jimmy Cagney plays Rocky, a tough guy gang leader condemned to die, and the local priest, played by Pat O'Brien, convinces him that, instead of going haughtily to his doom, to fake cowardice, so the kids won't look up to him anymore and follow him into his life of crime. So he trashes his reputation, groveling and begging—"I don't want to die, oh please!!!"— and clinging to a radiator. (At about 3:34 into this clip, if you want to see it).
It isn't a perfect metaphor, since Cagney is doing something noble, and for Trump nobility is almost a physical impossibility. It'll be the opposite, something venal, genuine groveling and begging and clinging to the radiator of power.
I can't imagine it otherwise. Trump never for a second considered what is good for the country, and won't start now. The odd thing is, once defeated, leaving with a shred of dignity would ultimately help him. But it's too late for that now.