While President Trump's perverse decision to call the result of the election prematurely was to be expected given his by now famously predictable unpredictably, it was short sighted, rash, and potentially very dangerous.
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Given the fears of civil unrest, which fortunately has yet to materialise on a large scale, ahead of the poll, the President's claim he had won, and that if he didn't win then the election had been stolen from him, was the political equivalent of pouring petrol on a fire.
The tone and content of his late-election night press conference strongly suggests that even though he was claiming victory he and his team were far from confident they would secure enough electoral college votes to remain in the White House after January 20.
It was actually consistent with the Republican's long standing strategy of trying to undermine the legitimacy of the electoral process in order to lay the groundwork for legal challenges in the event of a narrow Biden victory.
And, as for the claim itself, while the final outcome had not been declared late yesterday, the steady drift of postal and pre-poll ballots towards the Democrats in crucial "swing states" meant that as the afternoon wore on into the evening a second Trump inauguration was looking less and less likely.
Or, as The New York Times rather eloquently put it: "Joe Biden is projecting confidence and President Trump is promising lawsuits as election officials rush to finish their counts".
In light of this, it is timely to consider what has been happening in elections for Congress and what this would mean in the event of a Biden presidency. As of late Wednesday, in the US, the Democrats had won two of the three seats they would need to control the Senate if Trump is ousted.
If Biden were to lose then they would need to win four. The House of Representatives, meanwhile, remained firmly in Democrat hands despite the Republicans picking up eight seats and losing two for a net gain of six.
So, in the event Biden does win what are his chances of getting a very ambitious environmental, economic, and healthcare program through a Republican dominated Senate? If the truth be told they may not be as poor as some people might think, for a number of reasons.
The big one is that if Trump is defeated it should be apparent to the Republicans that they are going to have to do a lot of work to rejuvenate their brand between now and 2024. Playing dog in the manger with a lawfully elected President who has a clear mandate to implement his program might not be the best way to achieve this.
Any possible shift towards a more bi-partisan approach on issues such as the coronavirus and the economic stimulus package would also be facilitated by the fact Biden is a famous fence mender and bridge builder with a long history of brokering compromises across the aisle.
That said, the Republicans won't be about to roll over given almost 48 per cent of the record number of voters turned out for Trump.
Even if President Trump does leave Washington, or even the US as he has previously joked he would do in the event of a Biden win, it is fair to say Trumpism will survive him. Don't rule out the possibility of a rematch between him and Kamala Harris in 2024.
All of that said, and in the midst of what looks chaos to Australian eyes, the 2020 election has had at least some silver lining. More people have voted than at any point in US history.
And, on a percentage basis, the Trump era has re-engaged people in the political process to a degree not seen in America for more than 100 years.
