With 2020 being a circus of a year in itself, it is only fitting the election was a disaster of Shakespearean proportions.

Act I- The Debates

The two presidential debates and one vice presidential debate rivaled Tybalt and Mercutio’s battle in “Romeo and Juliet.” Trump was arguably petty and Biden’s responses were weak. Not to mention the lack of manners. Pence spoke over Harris so many times that she eventually just countered with “Mr. Vice President, I’m speaking.”

Oh, and did I forget to mention the second debate was canceled and the final debate was postponed because Trump got COVID-19? A plot twist that many of us saw coming.

Act II- The Polls

The polls caused disasters that rival Shakespeare’s tragedies. Despite the option to vote by mail, many Americans still chose to vote in-person, leading to an increase in COVID-19 cases in 26 states in the days following, according to CBS news. If that wasn’t bad enough, Trump used republican poll watchers’ allegations, that voter fraud was occurring in Michigan, in a legal case to stop the results from being certified, according to the Washington Post. To make matters worse, our own president tweeted: “STOP THE COUNT!”

I say this because I believe voting is one of the freedoms our nation was founded on, and I think the president should want the citizens of America to be able to use their freedom.

Act III- The Results

I could have read the entirety of “Hamlet” faster than Nevada counted the votes. The many memes that came out of Nevada taking so long to count were amusing, but did not sooth my anxiety. What made my anxiety worse is Trump and his Republican allies are taking six states to court to block or delay the certification of election results, according to Associated Press. While experts say he is not likely to succeed in these efforts, the entanglement of court cases is a tragedy in its own.

If Shakespeare were still around, I’d like to see him try to come up with a play more epic than this.