One thing that everyone can agree on is that 2020 has been the most unconventional presidential election in generations. And that can be attributed exclusively to Donald Trump and his brand of twisted reality TV governing and campaigning. He has driven the public discourse into an abyss of hostility, ignorance, and flagrant lies.

What we once regarded as “Election Day” is now more accurately described as “Election Season.” It extends for several weeks prior to the designated end of in-person voting, to potentially several weeks after, as mail-in ballots are received and counted. This is the process that has been in effect for many years throughout most of the country, But Trump has made it controversial, at least to his glassy-eyed disciples who believe his nonsensical ravings.

However, that controversy isn’t really as significant as many people think. That’s because Trump, in addition to inventing it, has also defused it by preemptively declaring that he has already won. This is not merely his recent statement that he plans to declare victory on Tuesday night, whether or not sufficient vote totals show that or there has been a credible projection. Pennsylvania won’t even start counting their mail-in ballots until the next day.

Nope. This is Trump spiking the ball in celebration while he’s still on the 20 yard line. On many occasions Trump has said that the only way he could lose is if there is fraud. Therefore, he believes that absent any fraud, he is already the winner. And if that’s the case, then Republicans don’t even have to show up at the polls to vote. Their guy has claimed victory, so where’s the need?

Republicans can now spend election day partying in large groups without face masks or social distancing. They can contribute to Trump’s goal of “herd mentality” (aka immunity) by infecting themselves and their loved ones. They can get in their Trump-flagged pickup trucks and block traffic so that law enforcement and first responders are unable to do their jobs. Or they can just lay back and let Fox News fill them with more Trump-fluffing propaganda and fantasies about a dystopian world where all of their crackpot conspiracy theories come true.

Trump firmly believes that the race is over and that he has emerged victorious. He is convinced that the “Real Polls have us winning everywhere!” In his diseased mind they all show him beating Joe Biden by huge margins. That’s likely a defense mechanism that is triggered by his fear of defeat and malignant narcissism. His economic record is a disaster. His bizarre allegations against Biden have fallen apart. His donors abandoned him weeks ago. Even his Fox News sugar daddy, Rupert Murdoch, predicts Biden will beat him in a landslide.

But all is not well in Trumpville. As evidence of the desperation consuming the Trump camp, a photo went viral on Twitter Sunday that showed Biden not wearing a face mask on his plane. The Trumpists were aghast at what they charged was brazen hypocrisy. The only problem was that the photo was actually taken in November of 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. Note that this flagrantly false tweet was posted by Trump’s former Acting Director of National Intelligence, Richard Grenell. If that’s an indication of his intelligence, he should really crawl back under his rock and languish there in shame. It’s also notable that Grenell’s tweet was retweeted by Fox News host Mark Levin, another icon of imagined intellect.

In the meantime, Trump continues to assert that the race is essentially over and his reelection is a foregone conclusion. So let him think that. Don’t spoil it for him. Let him be surprised when the actual results show that he didn’t even come close. Let him suffer through the actual counting of the votes until it’s abundantly clear that America despises him. And let his supporters relax at home since he’s assured them that his reelection is a certainty. That’ll show them uppity libs.

How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock:
Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.
Available now at Amazon.