As a Canadian, it is devastating to see that a senate majority looks improbable. The Republican Senate has disregarded the basic foundations of democracy and representational rule. They have broken norms they themselves have established and signalled to an unhinged and inexperienced president that he is free to be a king than the president of a democracy.

However, the more shocking result is the 69 million+ votes (as of 3 P.M. EST Friday) that the incumbent minority president received, the impeached incumbent who continues to call for a stop to the tabulations of legally cast votes and a long line of sycophants and bad-faith advisors who are fanning the flames of his increasing falsities and whining simply because he is not as popular as he believes himself to be. I am not an American, but her northern neighbour, and a large number of events in my neighbour’s house, their rules and policies, affect my beloved country. The incumbent minority president has lied tens of thousands of times, has committed numerous crimes while holding one of the most powerful offices in the world, and perhaps more tellingly, ignored a global pandemic by making xenophobic claims to its origin, and downplaying its threat despite knowing how dangerous it is to the population. The COVID19 pandemic has left 241,000 Americans dead. Projections show this number may reach 300,000. 241,000 largely unavoidable deaths seemed not to sway the “conservative” Latino in Florida, nor the white uneducated male from casting a vote for the outgoing minority president. A vote for the impeached 45th president demarcates to a world watching in horror that the avoidable death of your brethren is of no consequence to the GOP voter as long as some abstract or real motivation and aspiration is met, whatever it may be.

As of right now, Vice President Biden looks on track to become the 46th POTUS, but I would be remiss if I didn’t express my humble opinion, that armed Republican supporters in PA and AZ, who are gathering to intimidate counters and stop the tallying of votes, is the start of another dark chapter in America’s history. This anger will not fade with a Biden victory. This anger will not fade if Trump egresses the White House peacefully — which is unlikely. I can only hope that America can do her best to repair her reputation, left mangled by threats to the PM of Canada by the impeached 45th president’s adviser Larry Kudlow, or by labelling her oldest allies “threats to national security,” of undermining NATO and the EU, of his ties to a pedophile, and of his uncanny ability to cozy up to the world’s worst dictators many times over, even if it will be under another hostile and obstructive senate.

Nevertheless, this will undoubtedly be a new day in America, and there is reason to hope, but I ask all Americans to remain vigilant. The popular vote, the will of the people, has rejected this authoritarian figure twice now. The race to the White House is always close, but our desires for a better tomorrow can reach further towards the horizon to a brighter dawn, together.