“A Harris victory on November 5th will spell the end of America as we know it.” Well yes, the America we’ve known has never had a female president. “A Trump victory on November 5th will spell the end of America as we know it.” Well yes, the America we’ve known has never had a convicted felon as president. Neither of these would be trivial changes, but neither is either momentous enough to warrant the phrase “as we know it”. People who talk this way are clearly intending to awfulise the prospects of a Harris or Trump victory respectively. But how awful would a Harris or Trump victory have to be by their lights? Enough to emigrate? Not going to happen. Enough to take up arms? Not going to happen. So what exactly is the typical November 4th awfuliser going to say on November 6th? She’s not going to say anything. She’s going to shrug and move on with her life.

That this is so – and that we all know it’s so – speaks volumes about the meaning of this rhetoric. It’s an expression of the speaker’s druthers, not a whole lot different from “I hope the Chiefs make it to the Superbowl again this year!” An equivalence to keep in mind when watching the results next Tuesday evening.

Categories: Everything You Wanted to Know About What's Going On in the World But Were Afraid to Ask, Social and Political Philosophy

Tags: election, Harris, Trump