Trump and the 2020 Election

Thoughts on the current American political drama:

This is about the third rewrite of this article, and it will likely need to be rewritten or revised several more times. About all we know for sure at this point in time concerning the US elections is a lot of legal challenges and lawsuits will be initiated by both Republicans and Democrats, with various voter recounts along the way.

What we don’t know: the White House

We know that dangers of voter fraud and irregularities are always possible, especially on the Democrat side of politics, and enough problems have already seemingly emerged that such challenges and recounts may well be necessary. So it could be days, and even weeks, before we finally learn who is America’s next president.

I have not been alone in fluctuating opinions on the results. While I did pop a cheap bottle of bubbly last night when it seemed clear that Trump had won, plenty of other commentators felt the same way. Indeed, it has been a roller coaster all along.

Most folks had predicted a blue wave with a big Biden win. Then by last night (Australia time) it seemed clear that this was just not happening. But by the early hours of this morning things radically shifted again, with seemingly safe states for Trump (eg., Wisconsin, Michigan) doing a last-minute flip for Biden.

It was especially these late, radical shifts in the vote that have many – especially Trump and the Republicans – quite concerned about real irregularities and possible fraud. While we cannot be certain of various charges already being levelled, some have claimed that Wisconsin appears to have 100,000 more votes counted than those who are actually registered voters!

And many problems with mail-in votes seem to need to be closely looked at. Some states like Pennsylvania are allowing them to still come in through to Friday, with no clear postal marks as to when they were actually sent. Thus people could be voting after the polls have closed.

The lie of the land is this: Trump needs to win the three remaining undecided eastern states: Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia, and one of the two still iffy Western states, either Nevada or Arizona. If he were to pull this off, we can be sure of Democrat court challenges. If Trump fails in this, we can be sure of Republican court challenges.

It is because of all this political drama that things are now really up in the air, and we do not know how long it will be before any certainty emerges as to who actually wins the White House. Those wanting a quick answer to all this are doomed to be disappointed.

What we do know: pollsters and Congress

The first thing we do know is this: Once again the mainstream media, the experts and the pollsters got it wrong – big time. Just like the corona “experts,” these guys need to find a new day job. They were all saying Biden would win by eight or nine points, which would have been around nine or ten million votes. This did not happen.

They certainly got Florida wrong. Trump won more non-white votes there than he did four years ago. Leftists kept playing the race card on Trump, but he did very well with non-Whites there and elsewhere. These pollsters really do need to give it a rest.

Sure, the silent voter phenomenon was a part of this. Many Republicans feared to tell pollsters and the media their true voting intentions. With the left so willing to hate on and attack those who differed, they had every reason to keep their voting intentions hidden. But the well-paid pollsters should have been able to take all that into account.

Another thing we know is that this was a huge voter turnout. Around 67% of the eligible electorate voted – even in the midst of a pandemic – maybe 160 million voters all up. That is the largest turnout thus far. Trump for example won more votes than he did last time (68 million compared to 63 million).

As to Congress, all 435 seats in the US House of Representatives were up for grabs yesterday with a majority of 218 seats needed to take control. In the Senate 33 out of the 100 seats were determined. Also, 11 of the 50 US states were up for grabs in the gubernatorial races. And various ballot measures were also decided. The results so far seem to be these:

-In the House of Reps 17 seats were needed by the Republicans to take back the majority. The Republicans picked up some extra seats – at least seven – but the Democrats still have a slight majority.

-The Dems needed to win four new seats to win back the Senate. They seem to have gotten just one.

-In the governor races, eight of the eleven states are red, a gain of one for the Republicans.

-Various referendums were also voted on. Oregon legalised ‘magic mushrooms’ for “health” reasons. States such as Montana, New Jersey, Arizona and South Dakota legalised either medical or recreational pot use. Other states voted on less controversial measures.

A few other things we know pretty clearly. Some US states are still counting, and doing it very slowly. Things remain to be sorted out, and along with court challenges, it may be even weeks to come before clear results emerge – much like Florida in 2000. Today however Florida is a model of counting efficiency. Some of these other states need to learn from it.

One last thing which is becoming rather clear: the Democrats used to claim to be for the small guy, the worker, etc. Republicans were said to be for the rich and big business. In many ways this is turning around. Workers who heard the socialist rhetoric of Biden and Harris, who feared their coal and oil jobs, etc, turned against the Dems.

The Dems are where the trendy city-dwelling hipsters and radicals belong, whereas the GOP is becoming the home of the blue-collar worker. Much like here in Australia, the Dems (like Labor) are now the party of the elites, while the GOP (like the Libs) are now the party of the common man.

And one bit of good news, as this headline indicates: “Number of Pro-Life Women in the House of Representatives DOUBLES in Blow to Pelosi”. https://pjmedia.com/election/tyler-o-neil/2020/11/04/number-of-pro-life-women-in-the-house-of-representatives-doubles-in-blow-to-pelosi-n1125552

If this in the end does become a Trump win, it will have been nothing short of miraculous. With almost all of the mainstream media fully opposed to him, and most of the tech giants, he was up against it. It will be even a better win than last time.

When Trump won in 2016 I finished my article on that victory with these words:

In sum, it is fantastic that Hillary did not win. Whether Trump will prove to be an effective, principled and wise leader however remains to be seen. But in the meantime, we do have this as a very real plus: all these lefty celebs, Hollyweird types and lefty politicians who promised to leave the country if Trump wins. I trust you are now packing your bags Lena Dunham, Al Sharpton, Miley Cyrus, Whoopi Goldberg, Cher, Barbara Streisand, and Amy Schumer, among others.

Final important truths

Having just reread about the death and resurrection of Jesus today, I am reminded of a crucial election held 2000 years ago. The crowds overwhelmingly went with Barabbas and rejected Jesus. But Jesus is the one who rose from the dead and is victorious forevermore.

Politics cannot save us. No human can make a nation great again – only God can. Paul Washer was quite right to remind us that “The judgment of God against this nation will not be turned by a more conservative President, but by the repentance of its people”. Or as Michael Brown recently put it:

“The bottom line is that the solution to our many problems will not be found in the White House and we must turn the passion and focus and attention we have put on the elections back to where it belongs: on the Lord and on our responsibilities as God’s people. After all, Jesus never said that the president or the Congress or the Supreme Court were the salt of the earth or the light of the world. Instead, He said that to us, His followers (Matthew 5:13-16), and if there is to be a positive, nationwide, moral and cultural revolution in America, it must begin with us.” https://billmuehlenberg.com/2016/11/09/trump-wins/

Those last words are still true today. Elections will sometimes go our way, and sometimes they will go against us. But the God we serve is eternally the same, and will never disappoint or let us down. So whether we celebrate a big victory, or grieve over a crushing loss, we still must realise as Christians that politics is not everything, and there is a greater King that we all will bow down to.

Postscript – on the Electoral College

The left usually complains about the electoral college – especially when they lose – claiming it is unfair, archaic, and corrupt. But there are very good reasons for why it is there. See this piece for more on it: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2019/03/22/on-the-american-electoral-college-and-why-we-should-not-abolish-it/

As I say in that article:

The Electoral College consists of 538 electors, so a majority of 270 electoral votes is needed to elect the President. Each state’s entitled allotment of electors equals the number of members in its Congressional delegation: one for each member in the House of Representatives plus two for its Senators. All this was done to ensure that states with smaller populations would not be ignored or swamped by areas with large populations. America was never thought to be just a pure democracy. It was always conceived of as a republic. The Founding Fathers were quite clear on this.

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14 Replies to “Trump and the 2020 Election”

  1. The way things have worked out at the moment does not come as are surprise. This has never really been about Trump who is merely an instrument that the Lord has chosen to use, it has always been about the churches called by our Lord’s name. Over these past few months what we have seen is our Lord’s true churches unite and work together to overthrow the enemy. This has always been are war between good and evil, it is are spiritual battle. If Trump had won easily, the church’s would have just gone back to the way they were in the false knowledge that Trump has it all under control. Wrong! The church needs to take back control, as do we over here in Australia. For far too long now the churches have been too busy bickering among each other over doctrine, and in some cases even watering it down, whilst the enemy has been having free reign. Time for the true churches of Christ to stand up and be counted. What the churches have witnessed over there in this election is the corruption in it truest form, and it was always there, now through Trump with the backing of the churches through spiritual warfare it will be exposed. This had to happen, as Trump has always said, the swamp needs to be cleaned once and for all, and in order for that to happen the dirt needs to come to the surface, and we are now witnessing this through our very own eyes. All we need to do now is wait, watch and be patience. We have much to learn over here in Australia from our brothers and sister in the Lord over in America, because it will be our turn next to take back our nation for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

  2. Bill, how inclusive is Jacinda Ardern’s Government in NZ? Not many Christians in the front bench alongside the LBTQIRST…. Do you have anything to say about this?

  3. You said it Christine – her government is now filled with rainbow folks – but her “inclusion” does not go far at all for biblical Christians.

  4. Yes, our Lord God is always in control. But that doesn’t negate the demonstrated history that misery and oppression are the reality in every instance in history under socialist marxist governments, as proposed in the Biden/Sanders 110 page Democrat ‘manifesto’, where ‘everyone will be equal – but some will be more equal than others’!

    Clearly most have no idea what they have cast their vote for – thinking rather that they are voting for the Democrat party that was – without realizing that they will have no choice in the surrendering of their freedoms, together with the very many millions who voted to stay free, but who will be innocently swept under with them.

    Note the support for the President from those Americans who have fled marxist governed countries.

    We are witnessing a spiritual battle of epic proportions. The ‘long march through the institutions’ has victory in its sights.

    Fellow believers: do not grow weary in praying without ceasing. If America slides into socialism, the world will follow and significant instability across our world will result.

    Lord God, we humbly and earnestly beseech You for the miracle Bill speaks of in this post and for revival across the land, in the powerful Name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.

  5. Bill – very well written.

    The statistical anomaly is crazy, particular in Wisconsin and Michigan, considering the data attempting to explain its spike, very much so. It’s a question of pure mathematics, and yes even considering the nature of the predictions of where the votes would swing, at the very least it should have been a “crooked” spike upwards, but it very much isn’t. Pretty much none of the stats I’ve seen on Trump’s surges were even close in “rigidity” or length to these Biden surges, and earlier votes have significantly more likelihood to surge upwards, so earlier Trump surges are not comparable to “later” Biden surges due to how the votes naturally drop off.

    The fact that these surges happened “later” in the counting is again, very odd. The time these spikes too place is almost more important than the amount at this stage, because the “drop off” of votes was significant at this point in the counting pretty much universally, making the spike upwards (and even the predictions of it) even more errie. Maybe the counters suddenly developed superpowers and could count at an unbelievable 10x the speed at 5am all of a sudden. Doesn’t mean I like where these stats are going tho, and my belief in hoping this isn’t true and probably isn’t happens to be a separate issue to the sheer absurdity of how these stats are acting.

    In summary, I feel what is happening . . .

    Counting unsealed, unsigned ballots that arrive in mystery vans at 4.00 a.m. is – literally – stealing an election.

    Counting late, unsigned, improperly postmarked absentee ballots is not an election, it is fraud.

    The idea that the US election could be decided on the basis of fraudulent votes is despicable.

    In effect, it’s a coup d’etat.

    The United States has to do better about the logistics and mechanics of federal elections. States should be able to set their rules for statewide and local polls but there should be a lot more uniformity across the board nationwide. Otherwise each vote is not equal. Veracity of the vote should be beyond reproach. The fact that the five Democrat-controlled states where Trump was leading the vote comfortably are playing silly games with the count is an indictment of the system. If you don’t want people suspecting that you’re stopping the count to give yourself time to magically find boxes of Biden votes behind the cupboard at a polling station, don’t behave as you are doing exactly that.

    Sorry for the long reply . . .

  6. Thanks Bill. I believe the tide will turn as evil is exposed and the demons flee. What a lesson in politics and spiritual warfare. Hopefully this will unite christians to face our common enemy rather than fight amongst ourselves.

  7. Dear Bill.
    Again, thanks for your prayerful insight on all this. While we must continue to pray for our national leaders, there is a helpful reminder in Isaiah 31:1…where is our trust?
    Respectfully,
    Ron Adams

  8. Fair article, though there is videos surfacing over social media and the Internet of poll workers burning Trump ballots, throwing them in the garbage and not acting at all as nonpartisan officials.
    It is a joke to think this is in any sense a true democratic system – it has allowed to become a tyranny after decades some argue since Obama, Bush Jr, Clinton, the 60s, the 30s, the Civil War.
    Ultimately, the issue has been the ruling class in America who have betrayed the everyday men and women of Americana who work as farmers, factory workers, housewives etc. They seek to have power over Middle Americans and have largely succeeded. This is what is happening as well in Europe with the European Union and as a Victorian, is certainly what is happening with Dictator Dan and this ridiculous lockdown and mask mandates, despite 0 cases for the last 5 days and an extremely low risk of lethality, which slightly increases if your older.
    Americans need to back in the President who has been under attack from the most ridiculous allegations, coming from people as junior as teenagers who get enraged at ‘racism’ and ‘sexism’, despite not even knowing what true racism and sexism even are, and people as senior as the intelligence community, the mainstream media, former politicians and Presidents (Clinton, Bush Jr and Obama) etc. This shows how this latter elite control the former to ensure no true revival of Americana freedom, as reflected in the Constitution and rooted in Protestant Biblical morality, will come about, until this corrupt elite are at the very least removed from power.

  9. A republic madam IF you can keep it. (emphasis added)

    “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a MORAL and RELIGIOUS people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.” (emphasis added)

  10. There are no borders or boundaries when it comes to the so-called human rights of abortionists, queers, militant feminists and black racists.
    No nationality, no culture, no belief system can stand in the way of the historic quest for their freedom to dominate the rest of the world.
    Their battle cry is smash the Church, marriage, the family and heteronormativity in the home, the school and the community just as as a whale drives through a net.

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