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The scene outside the counting room in Philadelphia is a microcosm of a divided America.
On one side you have Joe biden supporters celebrating and organizing a party: a DJ on the sidewalk surrounded by people dancing.
For the other you have dedicated Donald trump supporters who feel angry and robbed by what they consider a stolen election.
Between the two sides there is a line of police officers forming a barrier with their bicycles.
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As Joe Biden’s leadership grew Pennsylvania, so did the crowd and tension outside the convention center in Philadelphia.
The police have been prepared for this and shops and businesses in the area are boarded up in anticipation of any disturbances.
There is such a large police presence here that things are unlikely to get started.
The National Guard is also in the city protecting the City Hall.
But it’s a sad moment to see American politics so polarized that people with opposing views they need to be separated by the police.
This is not a time for Democrats to rejoice.
America is in desperate need of healing.
But it’s hard to see how unity will be achieved when Donald Trump supporters believe all of his claims that illegal votes are the reason he is losing the election.
Walt was surrounded by signs that said “stop the theft” when I met him and I asked him if he could accept the result if the courts offered assurances that there had not been widespread fraud.
He said: “Absolutely. We live in a democracy, but the key fact is that there is corruption here. There is.
“So if we had the guarantee that it would be fair. I don’t know how you’re going to do that with everything that’s going on.”
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As long as the president claims otherwise, it’s hard to see how there will be a resolution here.
We could have known the outcome in Pennsylvania sooner if mail ballots had been allowed to be counted before Election Day.
Instead, the day’s ballots had to be calculated first under state election rules that revealed a Trump advantage.
That margin has evaporated in Pennsylvania as mail-in ballots have been tabulated.
Democrats were more likely to vote by mail, but Donald Trump has used his early leadership as an opportunity to cry faith and fraud.
Requests by the Trump campaign to discount mail-in votes by filing legal challenges in battlefield states seem like desperate attempts to delay the inevitable.
Donald Trump lost court rulings in three states yesterday.
A small number of votes are being challenged and unlikely to make a substantial difference to Joe Biden’s current trajectory.
The most determining consequence of these legal disputes is an erosion of confidence in American democracy.
Donald trump repeated calls to “Stop The Count” It may well have inspired a gunman to drive to Pennsylvania last night, allegedly plotting to stop the vote counters at the convention center, the suspect now in police custody.
Donald Trump’s time in the White House it may soon be over – but until the end it is sewing a dangerous distrust and division.
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There will be no funny concession speech.
No unifying message.
Alleging that the elections have been stolen, a parting gift in a country battered and bruised after a traumatic year.
