This election has been unbelievably hard and unbelievably long. It all ended tonight in a way few pundits and pollsters predicted, with Donald Trump as the presumptive president-elect. Americans were left in a state of abject horror and confusion, and news anchors in New York and Washington seem to be equally baffled. Tonight, one MSNBC anchor proved that be true without uttering a single word. Brian Williams audible on-air sigh during election night is a must-see because it perfectly describes how we're all feeling about this monumental presidential campaign. Sadly, it may also perfectly describe the next four years of our lives. The fight has only just begun.
The sigh heard 'round the world came directly after Williams' announced that Donald Trump was the projected winner of Iowa. That win added six electoral votes to Trump's total, raising it to 228. After announcing this news live on MSNBC, Brian Williams reacted in a very human way: he sighed... loudly. You can read as much or as little into that sigh as you want, but to me, it sounded like pure despair wrapped up in frustration, discontent, exhaustion, and confusion. Watch the video below, and judge for yourself:
According to the kind folks at Twitter, that wasn't even Brian Williams's final sigh of the night! He was apparently unable to mask his humanity a second time, when he discovered that it could take up to three days to count provisional ballots in Pennsylvania. Three days!
Yikes.
