As stressful as the week that saw Americans wait for the results of the 2020 presidential election was, the nation’s post-election period hasn’t proved any less tumultuous.
Between President Donald Trump’s long-running refusal to concede the election, a period of uncertainty that had the country wondering whether Michigan’s board of canvassers would certify the state’s election results, and a lawsuit filed by the Texas attorney general that sought to overturn results in four states, it’s clear that the post-election season left us with much to doomscroll about.
With all of these distractions in the air, it was easy to lose track of how long citizens had to wait before President-Elect Joe Biden takes office. But now that the dust has largely settled on the country’s election uncertainty, people have found an opportunity to take stock of the remaining timeline.
And reactions to what seems like a simple update were clearly cathartic.
On the morning of December 17, senior producer of MSNBC’s *The Last Word* Kyle Griffin posted a simple tweet.
As we can see, it confirmed that, after all the tumult we’ve seen, Biden’s inauguration will take place in 34 days’ time.
But while this isn’t a grand statement on its own, it revealed how intensely some people have been counting down the days until the end of Trump’s administration.
That was certainly the case for one user who created this image of Trump’s portrait being hauled away and replaced.
And as we can see, she’s been counting down how long she’d have to wait to the minute. It’s not hard to see what’s she’s tired of.
For others, the prospect of Biden taking office wasn’t as much of a cause for excitement.
As far as this person is concerned, Biden has to follow-through on his rhetoric about doing what’s right for Americans left vulnerable by the COVID-19 pandemic before his skepticism eases.
While this wasn’t the case for most of the folks who replied to Griffin’s tweet, a few users rejected the idea of Biden taking office outright.
These people are apparently under the impression that Republicans in Congress will go against Senator Mitch McConnell’s warning not to dispute the election results when they reach Congress on January 6.
Others with this opinion tended to make vague statements about a coming revelation.
Presumably, these are suggestions that there’s something we have yet to see that confirms the Trump campaign’s claims that the election was influenced by widespread voter fraud.
This apparently despite the fact that no legal challenge to that effect has presented any substantial evidence or seen much success.
But considering what’s taken place since the election was called, it seems that some users are still on high alert.
As this person expressed, they’re getting the feeling that something disastrous will occur before Biden can take office.
Whether that’s just an after-effect of the tumult we’ve experienced up to this point remains to be seen.
Others were much more celebratory and looking forward to Biden’s inauguration as a triumph for democracy.
Considering that the recent Texas lawsuit sought to discount millions of votes in states their attorney general has no legal influence over, it’s not difficult to understand where this person is coming from.
Others simply took this time to reflect on how exhausting this transition period has been for them.
That’s especially true for those who thought they would feel an enduring sense of relief once the election was decided.
As we’ve seen, things aren’t always so simple.
But of course, there’s always a lighter way of looking at things.
If 34 days seems too long, you can always look at the remaining time left as just over three mooches.
As the Reddit community dedicated to this new unit of measurement explains , this is in reference to the fact that Anthony Scaramucci was a member of Trump’s staff for only 10 days.
However you feel about Biden’s inauguration, you now have multiple ways to measure how soon it will happen.
