Things to do today: 1. Count votes. 2. Ignore Trump.

I know this is heresy, but I must say it anyway: In the Big Picture, the outcome of the race for the White House is really unimportant. Even if Trump wins again.

What's really important is the legitimacy and accuracy of the vote count. Whoever wins. Period.

Late last night, Mr. Biden sounded an optimistic note about his prospects in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina -- all the states he needs to vanquish Trump. He sounded---dare I say it?---presidential. At the very least, the tone and content of his message were basically appropriate to the occasion.

The TV Talking Heads predicted that Mr. Trump would respond with something inflammatory. And, sure enough, the Arsonist-in-Chief did not disappoint. He promised, via Twitter of course, a victory statement. Then, later, he issued one. Among other things, he said that the votes cannot be cast after the polls close. Only he spelled polls wrong:

A new tweet was soon issued with "Polls" substituted for "Poles."

The heads of several Twitter users apparently exploded. I am surprised that no one's head actually exploded on live TV. The first sentence in the above tweet is wholly outrageous and inappropriate and dangerous. Because it expresses doubt about the legitimacy of the outcome, before the outcome is known -- before the outcome can be known.

Irresponsible partisans on both sides have been sowing seeds of doubt about the legitimacy of the outcome, whatever it might be, just in case the result might be unfavorable to their side. It is terrifying that the President of the United States would join in with these irresponsible people... but, given his track record lo these past four years, hardly surprising.

That said, however, Mr. Trump is correct to say that votes cannot be cast after the polls close. That is about as uncontroversial a statement as saying the Sun rises in the east and sets in the west -- but it was delivered in a way that at least implied that votes not yet counted when Trump pressed "send" were cast after the polls closed.

So. Here's the first thing we need to do. What we must do to preserve the legitimacy of this election.

• Do not say "count all the votes."


• Instead, say "count only those votes that were timely made and sent to the local election authorities in accordance with the applicable laws."

I know the second statement won't fit neatly on a placard. But we don't need or want placards now. We want the half of the country that will be disappointed in the outcome -- whatever the outcome is -- to accept, as graciously as possible, the legitimacy of the outcome and accuracy of the vote tally.

Mr. Trump has legions of lawyers to hover over the shoulders of the election authorities in the battleground states as they continue to count the votes. Mr. Biden has a great many lawyers, too, and we may be confident they are standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Mr. Trump's lawyers, watching the election authorities just as carefully. And the lawyers on both sides are watching each other.

Inevitably, there will be disputes. But they can and should and will be resolved in the courts in accordance with the laws in those jurisdictions. Let's not get hysterical about what might happen or what could happen. There is a process in place in each of the places where results are still in doubt. Different processess, perhaps, processes that vary from state to state, but processes. Let these work out. Go about your business in the meantime.

Which brings me to the second thing we must do to preserve the legitimacy of this election: Stop listening to Trump. Mr. Trump may think he's a stable genius, but most of his lawyers are probably smarter than he is. Not the ones who suggested it was a good idea to try and invalidate 100,000 drive-in votes in Harris County, Texas after the procedure had been approved by all the local authorities and after the votes were cast. If these kinds of lawyers predominate on Mr. Trump's legal team, Mr. Biden can begin assembling his cabinet. But the point is that we can, and should, ignore Mr. Trump until the actual results are known.

And if Mr. Trump's lease on the White House should be renewed, I strongly suggest we continue to ignore him. Which we should have done, and could have done, for the last four years anyway. If we had a viable, functioning Congress in this country. Which we don't.

But that's another story.