Editing 2383: Electoral Precedent 2020
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
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This comic is an update to [[1122: Electoral Precedent]], adding "broken precedents" for the US presidential elections in 2016 and 2020. It was published six days after the 2020 election took place, and two days after {{w|Four Seasons Total Landscaping press conference|most news networks "called" the election}}, projecting Biden as the winner. The majority of the comic's panels are duplicates from 1122, with the exception of the 2012 panel (modified to show that Obama did in fact break the streak), the 2016 panel (added to reflect the election of Donald Trump), and the two 2020 panels. It continues the theme of pointing out that an arbitrary 'precedent' can always be invoked to predict the outcome of an election. Presidential elections happen rarely enough that each is a unique event, and ''something'' is always happening for the first time. Like with the other examples, the precedents mentioned here mix factors that could plausibly impact the election (such as one candidate having been impeached), with precedents that are just a product of time and chance (like a successful challenger having a website). | This comic is an update to [[1122: Electoral Precedent]], adding "broken precedents" for the US presidential elections in 2016 and 2020. It was published six days after the 2020 election took place, and two days after {{w|Four Seasons Total Landscaping press conference|most news networks "called" the election}}, projecting Biden as the winner. The majority of the comic's panels are duplicates from 1122, with the exception of the 2012 panel (modified to show that Obama did in fact break the streak), the 2016 panel (added to reflect the election of Donald Trump), and the two 2020 panels. It continues the theme of pointing out that an arbitrary 'precedent' can always be invoked to predict the outcome of an election. Presidential elections happen rarely enough that each is a unique event, and ''something'' is always happening for the first time. Like with the other examples, the precedents mentioned here mix factors that could plausibly impact the election (such as one candidate having been impeached), with precedents that are just a product of time and chance (like a successful challenger having a website). | ||
The final two panels again show how, no matter which candidate won in 2020, it would be a 'first' in some way. | The final two panels again show how, no matter which candidate won in 2020, it would be a 'first' in some way. | ||
| − | * No sitting president who was impeached was even nominated for the office again until Donald Trump. (Only two other US presidents have been impeached. Bill Clinton couldn't run again afterward due to term limits, Andrew Johnson failed to be nominated at the 1868 Democratic Convention.) After the election, it remains true that no impeached president has ever been re-elected. (As of | + | * No sitting president who was impeached was even nominated for the office again until Donald Trump. (Only two other US presidents have been impeached. Bill Clinton couldn't run again afterward due to term limits, Andrew Johnson failed to be nominated at the 1868 Democratic Convention.) After the election, it remains true that no impeached president has ever been re-elected. (As of February 2021, Trump is considered a potential candidate for the 2024 election; should he be nominated and win that election, this statement could become false, depending on how exactly one interprets it.) |
* Prior to the 2020 election, no challenger with a website ever won. This, however, is easily explained by the fact that incumbent presidents usually win, and websites are a fairly new technology. The last time a challenger beat an incumbent was in 1992 before Internet use was widespread. By 1996 that had changed and both the incumbent [http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/websites/cg96/ Bill Clinton campaign] and the challenger [http://www.dolekemp96.org/main.htm Bob Dole campaign] had websites that look very simple by today's standards. The title text points out that one could just as easily say that incumbents with websites are unbeatable, until that precedent was broken in 2020. | * Prior to the 2020 election, no challenger with a website ever won. This, however, is easily explained by the fact that incumbent presidents usually win, and websites are a fairly new technology. The last time a challenger beat an incumbent was in 1992 before Internet use was widespread. By 1996 that had changed and both the incumbent [http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/websites/cg96/ Bill Clinton campaign] and the challenger [http://www.dolekemp96.org/main.htm Bob Dole campaign] had websites that look very simple by today's standards. The title text points out that one could just as easily say that incumbents with websites are unbeatable, until that precedent was broken in 2020. | ||
| − | The 2020 election was also precedent breaking in a few ways that Randall didn't mention: | + | The 2020 election was also precedent-breaking in a few ways that Randall didn't mention: |
| − | * At 78, | + | * At 78, Joe Biden was the oldest president ever on the day of his inauguration. |
* Biden's running mate Kamala Harris is the first-ever female vice president, first Black vice president, and the first Asian vice president (her parents are from Jamaica and India). She's also the first Democratic vice president from the West. | * Biden's running mate Kamala Harris is the first-ever female vice president, first Black vice president, and the first Asian vice president (her parents are from Jamaica and India). She's also the first Democratic vice president from the West. | ||
* Biden received over 80 million votes, the highest ever, beating Obama 2008's previous record of just under 69.5 million votes. The second-highest raw vote total was for Trump, with approximately 74.2 million votes, ''also'' beating Obama 2008. Turnout as a percentage of the eligible population was the highest in over a century. Unlike the other precedents, however, this one was not an inevitable outcome of a Biden-Harris victory. | * Biden received over 80 million votes, the highest ever, beating Obama 2008's previous record of just under 69.5 million votes. The second-highest raw vote total was for Trump, with approximately 74.2 million votes, ''also'' beating Obama 2008. Turnout as a percentage of the eligible population was the highest in over a century. Unlike the other precedents, however, this one was not an inevitable outcome of a Biden-Harris victory. | ||
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|Democratic incumbents never beat taller challengers. ... Until Obama did. | |Democratic incumbents never beat taller challengers. ... Until Obama did. | ||
|Mitt Romney stood 6' 2", an inch taller than President Obama. Nonetheless, Obama was re-elected for a second term. | |Mitt Romney stood 6' 2", an inch taller than President Obama. Nonetheless, Obama was re-elected for a second term. | ||
| − | | | + | | true |
|- | |- | ||
|2016 | |2016 | ||
|No one has become president without government or military experience. ... Until Trump did. | |No one has become president without government or military experience. ... Until Trump did. | ||
|Every president prior to Trump had either been a general in the US Army, a congressman, a state governor, or a cabinet member. | |Every president prior to Trump had either been a general in the US Army, a congressman, a state governor, or a cabinet member. | ||
| − | | | + | | true |
|- | |- | ||
|2020? | |2020? | ||
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|2020? | |2020? | ||
|No challenger with a website has won. X | |No challenger with a website has won. X | ||
| − | |The ''possibility'' of having a website only arose in the | + | |The ''possibility'' of having a website only arose in the '90s and Bill Clinton seems to not have had one when he succeeded Bush Sr. Although websites became increasingly ubiquitous, no president since had ever been defeated by their respective challengers. |
|"...until Biden did." | |"...until Biden did." | ||
|} | |} | ||
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
| + | {{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} | ||
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:The problem with statements like | :The problem with statements like | ||
:"No <party> candidate has won the election without <state>" | :"No <party> candidate has won the election without <state>" | ||
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:Congratulations to President-Elect Joe Biden for breaking the website curse! | :Congratulations to President-Elect Joe Biden for breaking the website curse! | ||
| − | == | + | ==Errors== |
| − | * This comic seems to have used the same image as [[1122: Electoral Precedent]], and so the original version of this comic had a ghost image of the original 2012 2nd "streak": "No nominee whose first name contains a "K" has lost." | + | *This comic seems to have used the same image as [[1122: Electoral Precedent]], and so the original version of this comic had a ghost image of the original 2012 2nd "streak": "No nominee whose first name contains a "K" has lost." |
| − | * Also, the panels for past elections that were wrong before continue to be wrong, including 1812, 1816, 1820, 1904, and 1952. See [[1122: Electoral Precedent]], Table of Broken Precedents for details. | + | *Also, the panels for past elections that were wrong before continue to be wrong, including 1812, 1816, 1820, 1904, and 1952. See [[1122: Electoral Precedent]], Table of Broken Precedents for details. |
{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} | ||
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[[Category:Comics with color]] | [[Category:Comics with color]] | ||
[[Category:Comics featuring Donald Trump]] | [[Category:Comics featuring Donald Trump]] | ||
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