EU Referendum


US elections: open thread


04/11/2020




There's a fair bit going on with Brexit and on the TransEnd front, but nothing that can't wait. And while Covid is still high on the agenda, it has been temporarily displaced by the US presidential elections, some results of which are due in today – although not necessarily all the results.

I'm with Pete, though, in thinking that the elections are not that important, certainly not to the extent that warrants the UK media's obsessive (and often partisan) coverage.

Nevertheless, the result is of interest, and whoever is the next president could have an impact on UK prosperity, especially if there is an adverse reaction to the Johnson administration's handling of the Irish border question, on the grounds that it affects the Good Friday Agreement.

Since the United States, rather inconveniently, insists on working in different time zones, we're not going to get any real indication of who will take the crown until sometime in the morning.

This is especially the case given that, at the time of writing, the New York Times was giving Trump a 95 percent chance of winning Florida (with some saying he has won it), prompting the DC bureau chief of the LA Times to observe that "we" could be in for a long election night.

That "we" does not include me. I'm certainly not staying up though the night to watch the results come in, especially as it may take a week formally to declare a winner if the result is close.

However, I can't think that, for the moment, there will be much interest in any other news, so it seems logical for me to dedicate this post as an "open thread", specifically for comment on the elections. I'll watch developments through the day, and maybe add to the post.

As it stands, I can firmly predict that someone will win – eventually.

Enjoy!

Also published on Turbulent Times.