I wrote in March when the COVID shit show started:

"We've all been joking that "this planet needs an enema" for years. Well, it appears the enema has arrived and pretty soon there's going to be a flood of shit coming out.  This is the paradigm shift we've all sensed coming—and perhaps silently prayed for—for the last few decades. We instinctively knew this capitalist-consumption-fuck-the-planet view of the world was unsustainable. We knew changes had to be made, yet as a people, we lacked the courage to do what needed to be done…. There's no going back to the way things were even a few weeks ago. The system was broken, and while this transition is going to be painful, ultimately we will all be better for it."

If 2020 has shown us one thing since then with each new bit of awful that's thrust upon us, "hold my beer" isn't limited to idiotic humans doing idiotic things. The Universe itself seems hell-bent on outdoing itself with each passing month to push us into that Brave New World—one way or another.

Even if Biden wins—and despite historic early voter turnout and the very comfortable lead he holds in nationwide polls and Trump accepts the results and peacefully transitions power—neither of which are guaranteed—things are not going to automatically return to the way they were prior to last March—or even prior to November 2016 after he assumes office. They can't. We're already on a totally different branch of the timeline and we can't travel back to the point where it splintered off. Orangecaligula's presidency—and 2020 in particular—are one of those events, like 9/11 or the Kennedy Assassination—that ultimately send us on a totally different path than the one we'd been on. And a lot of damage needs to be undone and fences mended before we can think about regaining any sense of normalcy.*

If The Orange Russian Wig Stand manages to steal the election, quite simply, we. are. fucked. It will be the end of our representative democracy, the complete destruction of our already-tarnished standing on the world stage and the rise of a totally fascist state. Hyperbole? Students of history may beg to differ on that.

*fans of The Fourth Turning undoubtedly saw all this coming, as the events of this year align pretty closely with the authors' 80-year cyclic view of history. And at this point even I have to agree that they may be onto something here.