The Calm before the Dawn

Late Friday night I awoke to the sound of silence. It was partially the absence of the jet engine white noise wafting its way from nearby Dulles International Airport – a reminder of diminished economic activity in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was also the realization from deep inside my lizard brain that the President of the United States had himself been silent for nearly 36 hours – no interviews, no speeches, no tweets.

The cacophony of a raucous election and the silent fall of a global pandemic had combined to blanket my slumber with a calming stillness. This silent night was soon succeeded by a silent morning with electoral college vote counts frozen across all news platforms, broadcasts, podcasts, and Websites. No winner of a hotly contested election to be found.

Was this serenity to be, would this be the new normal? Or was this merely a cleansing mental wafer between the appetizer and the main course?

The answer to this question came shortly before noon, Saturday. Nearly four days after the final votes in the U.S. presidential election were cast, the cable news networks and broadcast news divisions called Joe Biden the winner over President Trump in rapid fire fashion within a 16-minute window that began at 11:24 a.m. Eastern.

CNN was the first with the call, followed by NBC and MSNBC 55 seconds later. CBS came in at 45 seconds after 11:25, followed by ABC at 30 seconds after 11:26. All four organizations use the same vote count and exit polling data to make their determinations on the outcome of the race. (Compliments to Edison Research.)

By noon, the election fever had broken and a new form of serenity in the form of euphoria swept the U.S. and, in fact, the world as citizens flooded into streets to express their jubilation. The news bore reports of spontaneous celebrations across the U.S. and in foreign cities including church bells ringing in Paris and world leaders congratulating the President elect.

The quiet from the White House persisted through the weekend though – magnified by a deafening silence from Republicans. The former is welcome. The latter is troubling. One thing is clear. The country and the world are ready for some new voices in the new year. For now, the current silence from the White House is golden.