Election Day at Last, Now What?

WASHINGTON (11-05) – With a sigh of relief for many and more than an ounce of anxiety, election day has finally arrived. For many Americans the usual long dragged-out presidential campaign has evoked election fatigue in years past but this year, with all the unexpected changes, challenges and choice among the two candidates, there is more anxiety than in years past.

With major television coverage being nonstop until the results are announced, every news outlet is trying to divine the results with talking heads all comparing notes and opinions wishing to be “the first to get it right.” Either way they have a fifty/fifty chance of doing so.

As the Daytona Beach News-Journal in 2000 profoundly announced in a headline, “Journalists say voters will hold key to November election.” More insight.

One irony not being discussed by the media is that today is the 420th anniversary of Guy Fawkes Day. Fawkes, the English Catholic it may be remembered, along with a small group of co-conspirators, had hoped to blow up Parliament killing King James along with his government to install a Catholic monarch in England. Once the plot became known, Fawkes was arrested and later hanged for his participation in the plot. The event became known as the Gunpowder Plot.

A Guy Fawkes incident of sorts occurred earlier this afternoon at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center when a man smelling of fuel was arrested while attempting to pass through security and it was discovered that he had two small bottles of fuel, a flare gun and a torch in his possession. The center was closed for the remainder of the day while an investigation took place to determine his motives. Initial reports indicated that he may have been protesting the war in Gaza. Evidently, he failed to appreciate that Congress is not in session due to the representatives being in their home states for the election.

Meanwhile police patrols have been increased in the downtown area of the city along with Capitol Hill and the White House to head off any incidents related to the election. Some of the patrols include Park Police mounted horse units to assist in crowd control should the need arise.

The early evening saw several protesters and one conceptual artist appear at the White House all expressing their views and sharing their statements on the election. One group of vociferous evangelic Christians with wooden crosses were on hand to save souls with few if any paying attention to their dire warnings.

Conceptual artist and ceramist, Connor Czora, presented their piece, “Make America Great Again” by dropping a red porcelain MAGA hat onto the pavement, smashing it to pieces and then kneeling in front of the broken cult headdress with the White House as a backdrop. Dressed in drag with a white powdered wig and slinky dress, the artist posed for photos with their Voodooesque work splattered across the pavement. The tableau spoke anti-Trump volumes.

Nearby a group warning of Trump’s fascist tendencies used amplified music to drown out the Christian revivalists when one of their members injected himself into the scene as photojournalists attempted to take photos.

While these early demonstrations had a carnival like atmosphere, when polls close later this evening, and as darkness descends upon the city and across the nation, with vote counting underway and results start coming in, it is likely that there may be an escalation of such incidents.

Lest we forget that the popular vote is merely a non-binding guideline, not a true plebiscite, as the ever-present Electoral College will have the final say.

Report and photos by Phil Pasquini

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