14 days
Two weeks.
Three hundred and thirty six hours.
And really, that's no longer true. That's how long we have to wait for official results. But people have been voting for days. Thirty million Americans have already voted. They've turned in mail ballots. They've stood in line for hours.
Donald Trump and his Republicans are still hoping for a last-minute miracle, without realizing that it's too late. The ground has already begun to shift.
Trump's Hail Mary was the Hunter Biden laptop. Never in the history of skullduggery has there been a more inept stitch-up job. Emails where a Ukrainian claims Hunter wanted a meeting, which then never took place. Texts where Joe Biden expresses his unconditional love for his son as he battles the demons of addiction. This was more anodyne than even risotto recipes.
History is replete with a people having their mettle tested. And, in the historical scheme of things, what we've gone through for the past four years doesn't compare to, say, what Syrians are going through right now. But that's neither here nor there. Comparing troubles never does anyone any good. Objectively, someone else's troubles may seem worse. But your troubles are plenty bad enough. Fourteen days, and we can begin to right the ship. Fourteen days, and we can begin to heal the world. Fourteen days, and Trump may be on a plane to a Moscow dacha.
This is the challenge we've had to face as a people. An aspiring autocrat. A fascist political party. A plague. An economic collapse. All to a backdrop of an uprising against endemic racism. And I may be speaking too soon, but I'm well pleased at how we've reacted. Yes, too many of our fellow citizens are on the other side. They'd vote for Reinhard Heydrich if he had an (R) next to his name. But the calamities of the past four years have awakened people who were asleep. The calamities of the past four years have reminded people that freedom isn't free, and that democracy only works when everyone participates. And the calamities of the past four years should put paid to any notion that "both parties are the same". Many have now awakened to that fallacy, and to the fallacy that they have no power. If we had no power, Republicans wouldn't spend so much time, effort, and money to suppress us. Our power is what they fear. Once we eat from the Tree of Knowledge, we see the world for what it is: a world where we hold the keys, where we are the gatekeepers. Those we send to represent us are our servants, not our masters. The GOP playbook has always been to turn that around. And now, we've torn up that playbook.
Fourteen days. Ignore the doomsayers. Stay vigilant. Work. This is our moment.