Canadian in New York describes ‘surreal’ presidential campaign

NEW YORK (NEWS 1130) – Canadians living in the U.S. are getting plenty of texts and calls from friends and family back home, wondering what is going on amid a fierce battle for the White House between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.

Jeremy Crittenden is a Vancouver actor in New York who tells NEWS 1130 the past day or so has been a surreal experience.

“It’s funny, because living in New York I know just as many Canadians in New York I feel as I do know Canadians living in Canada,” he says, adding he and his friends have been in constant contact to chat about the election race and results.

Currently, the race between Biden and Trump is too close to call, with the presidency now sitting in the hands of a number of key states where millions of mail-in and advance votes are still being counted.

Listen: Canadian Jeremy Crittenden speaks with NEWS 1130’s Amanda Wawryk about the presidential election

And with the results still up in the air, Crittenden says there’s a feeling of shock and dismay among the Canadians he knows, as well as himself.

“Really surprised that it’s as close as it is,” he explains. But, you know, anytime there’s anything in American politics that’s at all troubling, the first thing people say is, ‘I’m packing my bags and I’m moving to Canada.’ Although, when you’re Canadian, that’s a real option. So this morning it feels like a fantastic idea to be living back in Canada. It does make me miss home a lot.”

Crittenden says most Canadians he’s talking to in the U.S. are concerned about the possibility of “another four years of chaos.”

‘More unease’

By Wednesday morning, the picture was a little more clear in some states. However, final results are still not expected in some battlegrounds for possibly days.

The uncertainty that lies ahead, he notes, is adding to an already stressful time.

“More unease, more 2020 is what it feels like thus far,” he says.

The last time we heard from Crittenden, a former NEWS 1130 staffer, was several months ago when the COVID-19 pandemic first took hold in Canada and the U.S.

The situation, he says, has since grown more dire, with the death toll rising.

“For a lot of people, it feels like for me, anyway, the American government, the federal government never really had a plan. They’re just kind of winging this whole pandemic, which doesn’t seem to be working,” Crittenden explains.

Trump administration’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic has been criticized by many, including Biden and the Democrats. The U.S. has recorded more than 9 million cases of the coronavirus to date, and more than 230,000 deaths associated.

Premature declaration of victory

Despite the tight race, Trump took to the stage to falsely declare an election-night “win.”

Speaking from the East Wing of the White House, Trump called the voter turnout in his favour “tremendous,” adding, “We were getting ready to win this election, frankly, we did win this election.”

“That’s a pretty monumental thing to watch happen in a democracy. That’s a pretty crazy moment in our history thus far, and it’s wild because a lot of folks were saying these are the things that could happen leading up to last night,” Crittenden says of Trump’s “victory” speech.

What Trump did was something pundits and experts across the U.S. had expected, warning there was a possibility he would claim a win when a victory hadn’t been officially declared.

Crittenden says, as a self-identified news junkie, he was prepared for the possibility, too.

“It was still, watching it happen live in real time, it was still somehow completely shocking. It was completely disappointing. Really scary to see a politician take to a podium in the White House and call for an end of the counting of votes in a democracy. This is bananas,” he says.

Trump announced in his early morning speech that he would take the election to the Supreme Court, though it was unclear what legal action he might try to pursue.

There is no way to go directly to the high court with a claim of fraud, meaning Trump and his campaign would have to start their legal fight in a state or lower federal court.

In a statement sent early Wednesday, Biden’s camp called Trump’s statement that he will go to the U.S. Supreme Court to stop all voting “outrageous, unprecedented and incorrect.”