The headline quote has been popping up here and there in the election’s aftermath, and is attributed to Lincoln’s Secretary of State, William Seward. Ron Chernow’s biography of Grant describes a scene towards the end of the Civil War, in which Lincoln is visiting troops while the Federal army lays siege to Petersburg, Virginia. The Confederacy is outnumbered and outgunned, cut in half by Sherman’s March to the Sea, and there is no doubt about the outcome. A soldier asks Lincoln if he ever doubted Union victory, and the President quotes Seward, saying he agrees.
Just enough. And none to spare. After several days of roller-coaster emotional agonizing (Biden is behind in Pennsylvania! But wait, there are enough mail ballots for him to pull ahead! But wait, how many are actually left to count? And will Biden have enough votes to stay ahead and Arizona? And...) and of burn-it-all-down threats from Trump and his campaign (Stop all vote counting! Counting the mail ballots is cheating! I’m going to get my judges to make you stop!), finally rewarded by the sense of finality from all credible observers calling the election and the powerful and eloquent victory speeches of Biden and Harris, I suspect many of us feel the same way. After everything we’ve all seen from Trump in the last 4 years, after everything he and his crew of zealots and bigots and liars and grifters has done, it should never have been this close, never in doubt. So many of us hoped for so much more in the election. But as it turned out...just enough.
At the time of writing, Biden has a huge lead in the popular vote (more than 74.5 million, to Trump’s 70.4 million) ) and has won the most votes ever received by any candidate for President. And yet — Trump has won the second most. More than the 62.9 million he got in 2016. More than the 69.5 million won by Barack Obama in the 2008 election. After the torrent of lies and deceit, after the destruction of governmental norms and values, after the endless stream of incompetence and cruelty and divisiveness and narcissism and corruption, not only did Trump find just as many voters as before — he found 7 million more, who looked on all that he had done and decided it was good.
Just enough. And none to spare.
In the electoral vote, just as flipping a few tens of thousands of votes in Michigan and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin would have given Clinton an electoral as well as popular vote victory in 2016, Biden’s win has been decided by the narrowest of margins. If his leads hold in Georgia and Arizona, Biden will have 306 electoral votes. Biden leads by about 41,000 votes in Pennsylvania (although there are some tens of thousands still to count). If he wins by 60 or 70 thousand, flip 35 or 40 thousand votes the other way, and Trump gets those 20 electoral votes. Biden’s lead in Georgia is 10,000 votes. Flip 5,000 the other way, and Trump gets those 16 electoral votes. Biden’s win in Wisconsin is by 20,000 votes. Flip 10,000 the other way...and Trump is the President for four more years, with 278 electoral votes to 260 for Biden. Perhaps 55,000 votes in total, going the other way...out of 146 million counted so far. Less than 1/10 of 1%. That is how narrowly we escaped disaster.
Just enough, and none to spare.
And this tells us something very troubling about tens of millions of our fellow citizens — more than 70 million, in fact — maybe more than 47% of them, if we extrapolate from voters to the total population. 47% of them who, for whatever reasons, were okay with the prospect of more of the same. 47% propagandized and brainwashed by the right-wing media bubble into hating anyone and everything ‘liberal’; or who openly or covertly approve of white supremacy, suffering delusions of persecution or unfairness towards whites or evangelical Christians; or seduced into believing witless Q-anon conspiracy theories; or just wanting more of those sweet, sweet GOP tax cuts, and f**k the nation and everyone else (No, I’m not willing to give any of them the benefit of the doubt about “economic anxiety.” Not anymore). This the reality we must face, no matter what Biden and Harris are able to accomplish in the years to come. We have shown we can win, but it will be a long and hard battle indeed to overcome that level of hate and fear and rage and selfishness and delusion.
Just enough virtue, and none to spare.