‘Oh, the democracy’s gone’

Lichtman has correctly predicted the outcome of nine of the 10 elections since 1984. In a livestream, he was captured repeatedly saying “I don’t get it” as it began to become evident that Donald Trump would win.

Lichtman, 77, and his son Sam Lichtman, reacted in real time as the results began coming in. “This is the first moment of the night where I’ve lost hope a little bit,” Sam said as media outlets called Pennsylvania for Trump.

Lichtman, visibly frustrated by the narrow possibility of his prediction coming true, rubbed his eyes and said, “Good thing I have nothing to do tomorrow. And I’m not doing any interviews.”

The American University professor had put his money on Harris this year. Both Lichtmans grew visibly flustered as the livestream neared its end with Trump moving ahead in the swing states. At one point, Lichtman said there was “nothing positive” for Harris in the data.

“Oh, the democracy’s gone,” he said. “Once democracy’s gone, it’s almost impossible to recover. The way to recover is by the dictators losing wars.”

Sam, on the other hand, said he hopes Trump serves his term and “we never have to deal with him again.” “I’ve said it a hundred times,” his father replied. “Democracy is precious, but like all precious things, it can be destroyed. And typically destroyed from within. And throughout the 21st century, democracy has been in decline everywhere around the world, and America has now fallen in step. But never give up hope.”