Rumors of War
America Is a Powder Keg
A collection of stories about one of the most uncertain, anxious moments in our nation’s history
Election Day 2020 will be either a short night or a long month. We’ll know right away if there’s a Biden blowout—look to Florida, Arizona, and the way things are trending in the upper Midwest — but anything narrower could wind up in the courts or in recounts. Absentee and mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin won’t be counted until polls open, adding to the potential for a lengthy period of uncertainty about who will preside over the United States come 2021.
No matter who wins, though, when America finally gets an answer, only part of the country will be in the mood to celebrate. If the president manages to pull off a late comeback, a left whose members are already stocking up on protective gear will surely take to the streets. If Biden prevails, Trump’s base will do the same, but they’ll be mostly maskless — and, in many cases, toting the weapons they’ve been stockpiling for months.
The signs and portents of trouble are all around us. We all know and feel like something unusual has been happening in the country these past years, that the divisions have the potential to intensify into something even more extreme. The stories in “Rumors of…
