Transition Team Troubles And Election Anxiety
Trump’s stonewalling is a deliberate attempt to disrupt the transfer of power to the duly elected POTUS, Joe Biden. I guess now there’s one more thing to worry about.
Biden Needs Transition Team Access
Joe Biden began putting together his transition team back in June, tapping longtime friend and political ally Ted Kaufman as his transition team leader. Since then, the Biden camp has reached out to over 500 experts. Of those appointed to the team, 52% are women, and nearly half are people of color. These policy wonks will midwife the transfer of power from Trump to Biden, smoothing out the rough edges this January will undoubtedly have. The White House has banned access to Biden camp representatives, and refused to release transition resources. The Biden team has been reaching out to former officials and other tangentially connected people in an attempt to cobble together some of those resources for themselves, but time is a huge factor. There’s still a deadly virus, and If Biden’s cabinet isn’t ready to hit the ground running, we’re even more screwed than we are now.
No Real Change in Election Results After Recount
Recounts are notoriously pointless. Changes in vote total are usually quite small, and no discrepancies have ever been large enough to flip a Presidential election. In the last twenty years there have only been three recounts in the whole country that changed the results of an election, and those were small, local elections running on razor thin margins. These recounts are over differences of tens of thousands of votes, a virtually impossible scale of screw up. As the Georgia Recount closes, nearly no change has been reported. About a third of counties have reported no or minor- five votes or less- changes to their tallies. On Georgia’s heels comes an even more pointless recount in Wisconsin, to follow the current recanvassing effort there. With a margin of over 20,000, Biden is expected to remain the winner there also.
Tips for Managing Election Anxiety and Stress
It’s easy to get bogged down in political coverage these days. As winter creeps in, it’s even easier to get stuck in a negative thought cycle. Try to break up both by practicing good stress-management practices. A consistent sleep schedule is an invaluable asset to the anxiety-riddled news junkie. Nobody wants to be a punchy mess while they’re freaking out about the death of political norms. Try not to drink too much, as drinking has negative long-term effects on mental health and anxiety levels. It also disrupts the brain’s ability to enter REM cycles, leaving you feel drained even after a full night’s sleep. Even light daily exercise can help boost mood and reduce anxiety levels. A decent diet never hurt anybody either, so mix in plenty of veggies and fruit.
Basically, things are in motion and the Trump administration is in its death throes. Relax, it’ll all shake out just fine.