I’m turning 40 at the end of October, but it’s the date one week after that I’m really dreading. Here’s how it’s marked on my calendar:
Yes, Election Day is coming, and I don’t know what comes after that.
I’ve read speculation. A Washington Post article titled “What’s the worst that could happen?” lays out many horrible possibilities.
With the exception of the “big Biden win” scenario, each of our exercises reached the brink of catastrophe, with massive disinformation campaigns, violence in the streets and a constitutional impasse.
A war game designer wrote an article at Medium detailing four different ways a civil war could play out in the modern day. Best case, some right-wing militias and radicalized police forces rise up, but Biden has the military on his side, so they’re put down easily. The worst case scenario is basically the Rwandan genocide.
I feel like I’m flipping through a Choose Your Own Adventure book, desperately searching for the path to the good ending but only finding the ones where people get shot in the streets. There are so many ways this election could go wrong that it’s hard to predict exactly which way it will go wrong. For instance, just after I started writing this entry at the end of September, Trump got diagnosed with COVID-19, which opened up a whole slew of new ways for things to go horribly wrong!
What happens when a significant percentage of a country thinks an election was illegitimate? If Trump loses, he’s laid the groundwork so his core believers will think the other side cheated; Biden is so far ahead in the polls that his followers will see a Trump win as election fraud too. Everyone is angry and fed-up because of the pandemic and record unemployment and ongoing racial injustice. The US is ready to pop.
I was hoping I was being paranoid about all this, but then a plot to kidnap the governor of Michigan and start a civil war was stopped by the FBI in early October. It’s not paranoia if people really are plotting to overthrow the government. I fear someone’s going to get killed soon. I’m not sure who or when, but it feels like it’s coming and the election might set it off.
I don’t know what happens after November 3, 2020, but I’m curious what people are doing to prepare for the unknowable void ahead of us. Here are the things that I’ve considered or am already doing:
Vote
Obviously, you should vote. I mailed my absentee ballot at the end of September. I even drove to the post office to mail it, so it would be more likely to get where it’s supposed to go. I checked my ballot status at IndianaVoters.in.gov which confirmed it was received on October 1. However, if Indiana thinks my signature doesn’t match what I scrawled with an electronic pen at the BMV four years ago, they can throw out my ballot, so I don’t know if it will get counted.
If I lived in a swing state, I would have risked early voting to better ensure my vote counted, but Indiana is a solid red state and neither of our Senators are up for reelection, so I have little control over the fate of our country. The most important thing I’m voting for is governor, and I don’t he’ll be tipping the apocalypse one way or the other.
Settling in for a long fight
I don’t expect the election to be called on election night. I am old enough to remember Bush vs. Gore, and that will look like a game of pat-a-cake compared to what’s coming. My best fantasy scenario is that Biden wins Texas on election night and a Trump loss is undeniable no matter how many law suits are filed. My best realistic scenario is that Biden is declared the definitive winner within 7-10 days (after the mail-in ballots get counted) and violence is kept to a minimum. Worst case…the nation descends into chaos amidst a pandemic, economic collapse, and undecided presidency. Which is why some people are…
Armoring up. (But not me.)
Between the protests and the pandemic, background checks for guns set a record high. Two of my mother’s friends have bought guns this year, which they kept in their handbags when they visited on the other side of the screened-in porch. Watch out for grannies packing heat, y’all!
Personally, I have no desire to own a gun, and even if I did, I would want to be properly trained to use one, otherwise I’m 99% certain I would end up shooting myself by accident. I also think that if more people own guns, more people are going to get shot, particularly when everyone is running around scared of everything. So, no guns for me.
Stocking up on supplies
I won’t need ammo, but I will probably stock up on canned foods and dry goods in the middle of October. There’s still a pandemic happening and there should be a surge of cases in the fall, so the less I have to go out the better, whether I’m avoiding a killer virus or a mad militia. I live in a diverse neighborhood, so it’s not unthinkable that someone might commit a hate crime around here, or burn down my apartment when they set fire to someone else’s unit. Thankfully, my 90-day supply of prescriptions just got renewed, so I’m good on those for the rest of the year. I renewed my cat’s insulin prescription a bit early than usual too, just to be safe.
Staying in shape
When Trump go elected, I made a list of things I needed to do to survive his term and one of them was to get in shape. Past Jennette really knew what she was talking about, but Present Jennette didn’t get the message until COVID hit, at which point I took up healthy living like it was my new religion. It’s a lot harder to binge eat when you’re afraid of the grocery store! I know everyone else has gained weight this year, but I’ve lost fifty pounds and I’ve tripled the amount of distance I can walk. I’m a much stronger competitor for American Apocalypse Warrior now!
Going on a news diet
Over the past few years, I’ve been dialing back my news consumption, forcing myself to only check the news once or twice a day. I no longer read social media feeds, except for checking in on a few friends and family on Facebook.
After Ruth Bader Ginsburg died, I didn’t read any news for a week. None. I just couldn’t handle the anxiety it would induce.
I eventually got tempted back to read the story about Trump’s taxes on the New York Times, and to check on the Breonna Taylor verdict since I grew up in Louisville. Then I went on another blackout after Trump got sick and started acting even crazier than normal, possibly because of the steroids he’s on.
The amount of news I consume waxes and wanes depending how awful things get. I figure if anything earth-shattering happens, someone will text me. Like Buffy said:
Fuel up the car
I haven’t done this yet, but I think it would be best if we all have full gas tanks at the beginning of November.
Mentally prepare for the existential death of my country
Even though the odds are in Biden’s favor, Trump could still win (by cheating). And if he does, America is over. It will never be the country it was. The courts will become so slanted and districts so gerrymandered that we will never be able to come back. Corporations will run rampant over our lives. Climate change will accelerate. Our rights will be taken away. Minority rule will be law. I have prepared for this possibility mentally. It would be devastating, but it wouldn’t blindside me like I did four years ago. And if it does happen, that’s when we start…
Seriously considering emigration
Sometimes people joke that they’ll leave the country if someone wins an election, but this time I don’t think it’s a joke. If Trump wins, it might be time to get the hell out of here while we still can. I don’t know how to get citizenship in another country, but I would start researching it if Biden doesn’t win. I’ve also made a mental list of people I know in other countries who might let me seek refuge in their garages or she-sheds.
My passport expires at the beginning of April, and it makes me nervous to send it in and wait three months for the new one because of the pandemic backlog. (The only thing making me more nervous is figuring out how to get a standards compliant, properly sized, maskless photo, without risking my life.) There’s something unsettling about knowing I won’t be able to leave the country, even if it’s just for a few months. The only thing that comforts me is knowing the Canadian and Mexican borders are closed anyway, most of Europe isn’t accepting anyone from my diseased country, and until there’s a vaccine I don’t intend to fly anywhere unless it’s an emergency.
Withdraw cash
Do I need to do this? I’m not sure. I’ve paid with cash exactly once since the pandemic began, and the downturn in cash transactions has caused a coin shortage, so is paper money still relevant in 2020? Even if chaos breaks out, I don’t think the banking system is going to collapse. I suppose there could be cyberattacks that lock me out of my accounts though. I’m not going to convert my money into gold bars just yet, but maybe I should withdraw a few hundred bucks for safety’s sake?
Those are the things I’ve been planning or contemplating. What about you guys? How are you preparing for the election i.e. the disastrous end to a disastrous year?
“Vote” photo by Theresa Thompson / CC BY 2.0
Happy early birthday to you – I, too am hitting a milestone towards the end of October – 50. Forty didn’t mean much to me, but fifty? Now I feel old.
My husband and I only half-joke about emigrating to Canada. He works for a company headquartered in Colorado, but the division he works for is in Canada. It would be an easy transition for us.
I remember the Bush v. Gore debacle well – I was nursing a newborn throughout the night and I kept the radio on low on NPR the whole night and kept getting updates on what was happening. And yet THAT was civilized.
I think the other part that no one is talking about is the two and a half months between the election and the inauguration. If Biden wins…. We think the administration is off the rails now – I can’t even imagine how catastrophic the time in between will be. The current commander-in-chief is not only a bridge burner – he will bomb everything in his sights just to watch it burn.
WTF has happened to our country?
@SEH – Yeah, I have no idea what insanity might ensue if Trump loses, but I suppose it’s better than what would happen if he wins, right? *crosses fingers* I’ve also wondered how the hell they’re going to disinfect the White House if he loses. I think they’d need one of those robots hospitals use to spray down the whole building. I doubt Biden would move in immediately because it just wouldn’t be safe.
This has been pretty exactly my thought progression over the course of this hell-year too, except the getting in shape part has sadly stayed more of a goal than a reality.
I’ve been building a fledgling prepper-pantry ever since March, and it’s been helpful to my peace of mind. Except for when I consider the possibility of the power grid going down for more than a day or two. That’s gonna make cooking more interesting, and my packed refrigerator and freezer will be toast. But, much like the banking system failing, I’m hoping that’s not too likely. I do wish I had a valid passport, but I don’t really have the means (or the friends in sane places) to go anywhere anyway.
Thank you for writing about all this! It helps a lot just to know that I’m not the only one out here trying to stay calm and think of the practical things I can do, while quietly freaking out about what the future holds. (And yes, I voted already. Alas, I’m not in a swing state either.) I’ll just be over here, sending good thoughts out into the universe for the best case scenario!
Be safe!
@Marcia – I hadn’t thought about the power grid. All those Lean Cuisines in my freezer aren’t much good without a working microwave. Hopefully the electricity will stay on!
BTW, I love the phrase “friends in sane places” 🙂
Congrats on losing when everyone else is gaining! I was gaining from February through August but I am losing again now. i also did the prepper cupboard thing in March. Voted absentee and brought my ballot to the town office and the website says they have marked it as submitted, i.e., they’re not going to throw it out for some error I made in following instructions. I am also mentally preparing for the death of democracy. I’m not super worried about violence because I figure the police and National Guard are militarized enough that TPTB will order them into the streets and the main thing will be to stay inside. No way am I buying a gun. If Trump wins, or is declared the winner, I plan to put my head under my pillow for the next four years at least.
So far we have been lucky that the food supply has not been jeopardized…yet. If Trump wins and we have a huge surge in virus cases, then food processing plants will be hit hard (some have had virus outbreaks this last few months). So, it is good that you have prepared your larder. I really can’t think of the world with four more years of trump. I cannot respect anyone who will vote for him. It will be a country of the rich and the poor with no safety net for those in distress. It is sickening to think that we will be a country full of guns, racial violence, virus and idiocy.
I have what I thought were very educated, ethical, smart women friends who have swallowed the Trump Kool-aid and spout about how the Pandemic is just a hoax, masks make the wearer sick and that only old, compromised people are dying. I just don’t understand how any woman, person of color, any one economically disadvantaged or anyone with any kind of disability or health issue can continue to support our current President. It has forever changed these friendships. The only comfort is that I live in Blue California and their votes are not going to impact the overall State outcome. I have decided I really don’t like people right now. I plan to stock up on TP and canned goods and quit watching political TV. Like that debacle of a debate. It’s head in the sand time, now that I have confirmation that my ballot has been submitted and will be counted.
I have long enjoyed reading your blog posts and am always entertained or educated when I do. I have never commented before but I couldn’t resist responding to this one. Here’s a Canadian perspective for you. First of all, Canada isn’t perfect but I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else right now – well, maybe on some tropical isolated Island but that’s for another time. It’s horrifying to watch what my American friends and family members are going through right now. Many of us can’t quite understand how your voting system works in what is suppose to be the greatest democracy in the world. It seems to me that many people are prevented from voting in multiple ways but perhaps I’m wrong on that one. I hope so. Right now we have 3 different provincial elections going on in the country and every one of them have both in-person and mail in voting with no problems, no concerns about mail in voting fraud and everyone can vote because they are automatically put on voter lists. Unless they have moved and then they have to prove that they live in the voting district by showing up at the election voting place and showing photo ID with the correct address on it. And that’s pretty much it. We are experiencing an uptick in Covid cases at the moment right across the Country but even so, our numbers pale in comparison to the US cases. Which is why we are happy that our Government has extended the restricted travel to and from the US for another month. We may love our American neighbours, but we really don’t want you all coming here anytime soon. It may seem harsh, but it’s true. Having said that, we don’t like that we feel that way and because our country is so connected to yours and dependent on free trade flowing across the border, we hope that the situation can change sooner than later. Our Canadian Government is planning for a “volatile situation” after your election. I’m not sure what that might mean but I’m glad they are thinking about it.
I am glad that you have been working on getting healthier. I have tried to do that as well by going biking every day and trying to watch what I eat – an often failing at that. But we had our first snowfall yesterday so my biking days are numbered. Take care and I’ll be thinking about you on Election Day. Good luck!
@Wendy Molnar – No, you’re right, people are definitely prevented from voting in multiple ways. And voter fraud is extremely rare, but Trump likes to lie about it so he can play the victim.
“We may love our American neighbours, but we really don’t want you all coming here anytime soon.” – LOL! I don’t blame you at all. I’d be keeping us out for now too.
As for the “volatile situation” after the election, yeah, I think they’re right about that. If Trump does lose, there’s still 77 days between election day and inauguration day for Trump to totally combust. Like, if he literally sets the White House on fire with gasoline and a match, I wouldn’t be that surprised. I don’t know what the handover of power will look like. Personally, I hope he just skips the inauguration, flees straight to Russia, and never comes back.
@Jennette Fulda – @Jennette Fulda – Well, he does have that Chinese bank account so maybe that’s where he will be heading???? And I don’t think those 77 days after the election will be very calm or quiet either. I can’t wrap my head around all the possibilities. The last debate is tonight and I am glad I don’t have to watch it since I don’t have a horse in the race. I’ll watch some nice Canadian programming instead and just wait for the highlights – which we will be watching for days. Good luck with that…. Take care. Stay safe. Keep Healthy!