An unprecedented number of mail-in ballots because of COVID, an incumbent who gained around a fifth of previous vote share and lost, something that has never happened before, a senile old man who ran the weakest campaign in history and somehow got the most votes in the history of the country who underperformed both Hilary and Obama in every major metro area except Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Atlanta and Detroit, which all happen to be in swing states.
Yeah an election that was as normal as any other in America's history you fucking retard.
Agree that there were a lot of extenuating circumstances, though disagree with any kind of conspiracy lean.
Biden was a pretty weak candidate, but Covid was a political game changer. In the primaries, Biden went from being the golden boy to getting creamed pretty early on. Pretty much any public appearance he made, he either goofed up pretty badly, or did nothing to improve himself. His team recognized this, and when the opportunity to keep him in a basement came up via quarantine, they pounced on it and managed to spin it where Biden was being level headed and responsible, while Trump botched the response.
Biden also benefited from people who just really hated Trump, and would vote for anyone with a D next to their name. They were also more energized to vote, and in general, Dems did a better job pushing the early/mail in vote. I admit this is speculation on my part, but I think that got people who wouldn't normally vote to participate in this election, since they didn't have to worry about getting out to a polling station and waiting in line or anything. I think, with younger voters especially, this can be an issue.
Again, not trying to imply a conspiracy or anything, and back when it was more relevant, I'd always try and do a similar breakdown of why Trump outperformed against Hillary. Though I should add Hillary's lose was arguably "worse" in a sense, since there was a lot more she could have done to improve her odds. While Trump could have done things differently, it's not like he could stop the pandemic from happening, and even with the best response possible, some people will blame him solely because he's the leader.
I genuinely think, if not for Covid, Trump would have had a relatively easy win. Hell, even in the first few weeks I expected things to die down by the summer and be forgotten about by the election. And, again, in that scenario, pretty easy win. But, that's not what happened. I'm certainly not happy Biden is president, and I have low expectations for him doing much of anything. Even with the wins in Georgia, the Democratic party isn't known for getting shit done. I'd arguably extent that to politicians in general right now. Lots of people on the left kept saying doomsday scenarios, first when Trump became president and had his own majority, then when he appointed his justices. We never got fascist death camps, or became a puppet nation to Russia or whatever the fearmongering was. Just like I don't think Biden is going to round up all our guns and defund the police or turn us into a socialist nation.