You ask some good questions, Michael.
So close? One is that Donald is one hell of a talented confidence man. He is incompetent as a President but he has a nose for other people's hate. I have said in my op-ed's and articles here that Donald is not the problem -- he just occupies it. The problem is us and we have to change.
"Donald's ship needs sinking", "Donald and Corona -- let's make them work for us" and Happiness and wealth -- it takes two to tango" are articles I invite you to comment on.
As far as the Presidential race is concerned, we always had the wrong person in Joe -- nice enough guy and valuable but a proven lousy candidate. Compare it to tennis -- relying on your opponent to continually duble fault is a dreadful and dangerous strategy for winning. This is what we had in Joe -- he was never making the shots and so Donald did not lose by as much as we expected.
Always look forward to your fresh takes!