The results of the 2020 election are in and like everything else about this year confusion is being sown by the losing side. There are those who believe that “liberal radical Democrats” conspired to “steal” an election from President Trump in multiple states across the country and yet didn’t bother to steal votes to control both houses of Congress. They refuse to believe that one campaign told its voters in August to vote using absentee ballots, early voting and the U.S Postal System. The other campaign said vote in person on election day. Some states were required by state law to count in-person voting first and process and count mail-in ballots second (like Alaska). Per state laws, other states were permitted to count mail-in ballots first, then count day of election ballots (like Arizona). Counting had been slow because state legislatures mandated that it be so.
So were there voting irregularities? Probably. For both parties, voter turnout was record breaking with more than 66% of eligible voters voting in the 2020 election. As I write this, President-Elect Biden has 81.3 million votes, President Trump got 74.8 million votes. President-Elect Biden collected 306 electoral college votes while President Trump got 232 electoral votes. Thus, President Trump lost both the popular vote and the electoral college vote. While concession is not necessary from President Trump, the election is over and in other times, America would move on. However, these are not other times because President Trump has refused to move on.
In the first game of the 1966 World Series, Baltimore Orioles ace, Dave McNally struggled with the command of his fast ball against the Los Angeles Dodgers. In the third inning, with his team leading, McNally walked the bases loaded with one out. Baltimore Orioles manager, Hank Bauer, went to the mound to remove McNally from the game. McNally argued that he could get the other two outs, but Bauer said no. McNally gave Bauer the ball and walked off the field dejected, but urging his team to get the win. Bauer had removed his ace, his number one starter, from the game and surprised many by replacing him with the journeyman reliever, Moe Drabowsky. Drabowsky would strike out the first batter he faced, walk the next man, Jim Gilliam, forcing in a run and then get John Roseboro to pop out to end the inning. Over the remaining six innings, Drabowsky would strike out 10 Dodgers and not give up another run the entire game. In fact, the Dodgers would not score another run during the remainder of the series and would be swept by Baltimore in four games; with McNally returning in game four and pitching a complete game 4 hit shutout.
In 2020, 81 million Americans decided taking the ball away from President Trump would give our nation its best chance to win. President Trump can certainly argue that he deserves a chance to continue, but he can not ask us to ignore the results of the popular or electoral college vote. Like a starting pitcher, he has been relieved. He can leave the field gracefully or he can leave the field kicking and screaming. But he will leave the field. That is no longer up for discussion. How he leaves – the way he leaves – will determine his legacy.
As for Dave McNally, he is in the top five of every Baltimore Oriole pitching statistic. He is in the Baltimore Orioles Hall of Fame and in 1999 was named to the Orioles’ All-Century team. The lesson for President Trump here? How you leave the game is just as important as what you do in the game. Leaving gracefully now will give history a more favorable chance to judge Trump’s accomplishments without shining a harsher (than necessary) light on his personality. President Trump could take a lesson from Dave McNally on how to leave the game.
