Leaving aside the question of how many might be fraudulent - there's no way ALL of them are - the number of Biden-only ballots combined with huge GOP success downballot makes it pretty clear this election was a thumbs-down referendum on Trump, just as the Democrats wanted.

There's no other way to interpret such a clear signal from voters, and it's not terribly surprising. The coronavirus was a crisis that could take down even the strongest incumbent. It's remarkable Trump did as well as he did - another signal that should not be overlooked.

Mail-in balloting made it incredibly easy for people to take out their anger against the incumbent by filling in a bubble and dropping an envelope in the mail. They were coached and harvested to do so. The outcome is only surprising in that Trump came as close as he did.

We're probably stuck with this mail-in balloting garbage forever now, which means every election will be heavily influenced by whoever can round up enough people who don't give enough of a damn to study issues or comply with normal voting procedures. The GOP had better adapt.

In this particular election, it's not terribly surprising that the apathy vote was easily persuaded to lift one finger to express displeasure with the incumbent and take a gamble on someone else. It was easy for big-city Dem machines to herd them and harvest their votes.

We heard a lot about Trump's great ground game in battleground states and saw the huge rallies, and it all really DID mean something - but meanwhile the Dems were focused on harvesting ballots, not reaching out to persuade engaged voters.

Biden's basement campaign was very effective at keeping the focus solely on Trump, with the help of the press, which effectively BECAME the Biden campaign. They squelched everything that would have taken the focus off Trump, and he didn't exactly object to being the focus.

Trump happily stayed in the spotlight even as it turned into a crosshair. His combative style helped Dems make the election all about him. He missed some chances to make the Return to Normal appeal, and while he did better in the homestretch, it was probably too late by then.

Throughout his term, Trump picked a lot of fights that didn't have any great payoff for him. The media gleefully helped create an image of constant chaos around him. That makes it hard to run as the Return to Normal candidate after a massive and emotional crisis.

An election that becomes an up-or-down referendum on a combative incumbent after a once-in-a-century crisis that upends every corner of national life, with the opponent allowed to hide from tough questions throughout? That's about the worst position you could be in.

And yet, Trump very nearly won. He probably would have, in any scenario without the coronavirus, and that largely sank him because of the way he TALKED about it. People were telling pollsters they were better off after Trump and gave him solid approval for everything else.

The voters REWARDED Trump's party handsomely, rather than voting against them. The apathetic voters harvested by Dems with mail-in ballots couldn't care less about Congress. However the investigation of fraud shakes out, it's absolutely amazing Trump came as close as he did.

And Trump fought that campaign to the final bell after years of sustained attack from every quarter of the political system, from the media to the permanent bureaucracy. Dems spared no effort to attack him, wasted millions of dollars and America's time on constant theater.

Dems held coronavirus relief hostage and got their media to blame Trump and the GOP caucus for it. Every quarter of popular culture waged total war against Trump for years on end. Members of his own party, even his own administration, turned against him.

Trump never stopped shooting from the hip, even when he was talking to people like Bob Woodward. He couldn't get out of his own way during the worst crisis to hit America in generations. But he almost won in spite of all that, and his party flourished in this huge election.

There will be tons of post-election analysis of Trump's mistakes, but there should be even deeper analysis of what he did well. How did this brash, undisciplined outsider get within such a close margin of winning after the worst turn of fortune imaginable for an incumbent?

There is more to learn from Trump's successes. It's a much deeper subject to dive into. His campaign errors, and the tactics used against him by the Dems, are fairly obvious. The means by which he rallied such incredible support during the worst of times should be studied hard.

This would be true even if the fondest dreams of Trump's ardent supporters come true and the election is overturned due to vote fraud. The battle for truth, justice, and the American way is never-ending. There's ALWAYS another election. You have to keep improving your game.

Any coach will tell you there's no way to improve your game without studying your plays and turning a critical eye to everything both teams did. That's even true when you scored the most touchdowns in history... but the other team eked out a 1-point win with a dubious ref call.

Emotions are running high and nobody wants to think about this stuff right now, but it's important to take stock while the impressions are still fresh, before months of spin wars have been fought, and the "next election" is pretty darn close in Georgia.

I guess it's heresy for some to discuss any of this while all the vote fraud investigations are pending. If that's how you feel, then you probably didn't make it past the first tweet and you're not reading this - but if you are, I respect your feelings. Let me just say this:

I'd be asking the same questions if Trump was narrowly in the official lead right now, and I'd be asking them on Monday if the election were overturned on Friday and people were led away in cuffs for vote fraud. Any way you slice it, it's still a fascinating outcome.

Passion is vitally important, but so is reflection. You want to be an effective warrior for what you believe in - that's why so many turned away from bloodless establishment Republican candidates to Trump. A good warrior is fierce in battle, calm when studying the battlefield.

I don't see any point in being unrealistic about what has occurred, in either direction. I'd prefer to let Democrats make that mistake from deep inside their media bubble. /end