Failing to acknowledge realities

From Pennsylvania In Spotlight As Trump Files Suit And RCP Uncalls it by Toni Williams, published yesterday, the 10th.

Let’s start with the RCP (Real Clear Politics) and their flip on calling the state of Pennsylvania for Joe Biden. That’s 20 big Electoral College votes deducted from Amtrak Joe. Biden is pulling an Obama and showing himself pictured with “Office of the President Elect” signs. As we said of Obama, there is no such thing as the “Office of the President Elect”. Plus, no states have certified their election results. Alaska (3), North Carolina (15) and Georgia (16) have not been called. Arizona (11) has been called for Biden, but there are less than 15,000 votes separating Biden and Trump. Nevada (6) has some sketchy tactics and that vote is very close too. They could turn easily. Automatic recount, baby. That could take Trump to 285 electoral votes. Cross your fingers, toes and eyes, and pray to the flying spaghetti monster.

There's a lot of grasping at straws in there.  It could still go Trump but I think the balance of probabilities is Biden.

What was notable to me is that Victory Girls, a minor blog in the scheme of things, gave a factually useful summary of the state of play which I have not seen anywhere else.  They are clearer and more accurate than most their prestige competition.  In addition, Williams displays how sloppy or mendacious are the mainstream media in their writing and wording, the very core of their business.

There are five critical steps to the election:

The voting

The initial count

The recount, if required 

The certified count

The Electoral College vote

The MSM have been referring to Biden as the President-elect based solely on the initial count.  That is flat-out wrong.  Only once the Electoral College votes do we have a President-elect.  And we are at least a month from that.  There is more than a reasonable chance that Biden will be the President-elect, but that is not what he is currently.  At best, he is the President-presumptive (at least by the MSM).  

The MSM eagerness to skip the legal steps is both an affront to due process and respect for our laws and it is a major signal that they are functioning as propagandists rather than news organizations.  President-elect before the Electoral College vote smacks of pre-news.  Or, more broadly, Fake News.  And getting facts just plain wrong?  Facts which can be checked with a phone call or an easy search?  Shame.

So where do we stand with regard to the steps?

The voting - All fifty states have voted.

The initial count - Two states, North Carolina and Georgia have not completed their counting (Alaska was called today.)

The recount, if required - North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada are probably all close enough to generate an automatic recount or a demand for a recount.  Georgia, Michigan,  Pennsylvania and possibly Wisconsin also seem to have sufficient evidence of deviance from election norms to sustain either a recount or an investigation.  At least seven states with 81 electoral votes are still in play.  Trump needs 54 more to win.  Plausible but probably lower than 50:50 odds.

The certified count - No states have certified their counts yet.

The Electoral College vote - The Electoral College is supposed to vote on December 14th.

But the point is not the election process.  The issue is that most the mainstream media are declaring victory and misleading with statements to the effect that the election has been called and Biden is the president-elect.  All nonsense.  We know what the process is, we are executing that process, and it is still possible that the election will turn out differently than expected.  

It would seem that the MSM would learn some humility after 2016's surprise outcome.  After promising reforms, they ended up acting even worse.  Then the MSM were surprised once again about the absence of a Blue Wave in 2020.  Being consistently wrong about most of what you forecast, at the least, ought to foster a small modicum of humility.