I love cliche horror films. Most of them are fairly predictable. You have a group of characters in isolation, evading danger at all costs while also experiencing excruciating death all around them. But every blockbuster horror movie tends to end the same way: The character is leaned up against an ambulance as detectives investigate the carnage that took place prior to their arrival. But at the end of every corny horror film, the survivors are simply grateful to be alive.

Well, that’s exactly how I felt following the election of Joe Biden and Vice-President elect Kamala Harris. The end to our vividly real horror movie, the Trump presidency, is on the verge of its closing credits come Jan. 20.

Donald Trump’s paths to victory are now desolate. As votes continue to be counted, his path to victory has diminished completely due to mail-in votes that have been dominantly in favor of the former vice president due to Trump’s anti-mail-in-voting rhetoric. 

The current administration should not be surprised at the path this election has took. They failed to consider the ramifications of rallying their base against mail-in voting; much of Trump’s base lives in rural areas, often lacking adequate means to vote in-person. Trump’s denouncement of mail-in voting demonstrated an incredible lack of awareness to his base. 

But his outright denial of the election results has plagued his base with delusion, as they attempt to  pray, rally and sue their way into the White House. 

While some counties began counting mail-in ballots prior to in-person ones, areas like Philadelphia began Tuesday night, causing a false sense of security for Trump’s base and panic for Biden’s. But once they began counting mail-in ballots, they noticed that the results disproportionately leaned left, diminishing the red mirage on election maps. But this isn’t some conspiracy by Democrats to overthrow the election, and if it was— damn are they terrible at it.

If Democrats really attempted to steal this election, do you think they would rig it to lose House seats and maintain what is looking to be an even split in the Senate? Democrats took cataclysmic losses in both the Senate and House, inherently crippling Biden’s ability to pass legislation with ease. Biden has an uphill battle beginning Jan. 20, and regardless of a Georgia Senate recount swinging in his favor, senate Majority Mitch McConnell and his Republican colleagues will surely push back with everything he has to ensure Biden’s plans do not come to fruition.

The outright fabrication of evidence of voter fraud by Trump’s legal team within key battleground states like Pennsylvania only hinders the strength of our democratic processes, harming the credibility of what has been impartial, fair and transparent elections throughout our history. Since Election Day, judges have dismissed over a dozen suits by the Trump Campaign, due to their utterly unsubstantiated claims. The fraud claims made by Trump and his team are purely speculative. National and local elections are not, and have yet to be vulnerable to cases of widespread voter fraud, and any claim stating otherwise, is completely meritless.

But Trump’s handling of his first public defeat probably ever, should not surprise us. Every episodic moment of this turbulent administration has demonstrated that Trump has no clear method of conceptualizing the truth, and his legal team led by Rudy Giuliani clearly have no idea how they are going to provide tangible evidence to courts across America in the fight to prove Trump victor.

So far, there have been zero signs of wide scale voter fraud, and we should anticipate that moving forward. Joe Biden will be our 46th POTUS, and Trump’s efforts to discredit the Democratic Party will prove catastrophic to Conservatives as we’ve already seen various Republican representatives separating themselves from the President, urging him to accept the results of our democratic processes and concede. Their fearless leader has been defeated, and the top focus of the Republican Party needs to be rebuilding their identity, starting with replacing Trump as the party’s spokesperson. Removing Donald Trump’s rhetoric from the equation, will aide in the long healing process our country is preparing to endure following Biden’s inauguration. 

Republicans need a far less polarizing figure leading them, one who has the ability to think rationally in the context of our democracy, while fighting tooth and nail to preserve it. That begins with knowing the difference between a truth and a lie, something Donald Trump and his team have struggled with these last four years. Republicans will not see longevity or continuity in their party, so long as they continue to vouch for POTUS #45. It’s time for a change, more specifically— it’s time to wipe the Trump name out of politics.

Trump is not going to concede, and he is not legally obligated to speak to his constituents regarding his defeat. But alas, Trump’s defeat has arrived, and Biden’s transition team has already assembled the first members of their COVID-19 task force, an assembly of doctors and public health experts. The first peek of a Biden/Harris presidency was a direct order to the American people urging them to wear masks and for everyone to unite under one nation, not two parties. Biden has demonstrated to the American people that he wants unity, urging both political parties to cooperate. As soon as Biden and Harris are sworn in, they will need to hit the ground running. Having a delirious President who refuses to begin the transition process due to endless temper tantrums is only going to hurt the American people, the most marginalized American people. Refusing to leave office will only cost lives due to the rapid upward trend in COVID-19 cases. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are prepared to utilize resources that could finally have America “rounding the corner,” as the President has been saying for the last five months. Trump and his team are responsible for the digression in public perception of our political processes. and they continue to diminish the credibility of our democracy, and regardless of what you think about the President-elect, The United States will no longer be a laughing stock to the World under his leadership. So when people ask: Are you happy Joe won or happy Donald lost? I can only say that I’m grateful I made it through these last four years, and America finally has the opportunity for a reset.