Entertainment

The Election Week Fandom Surrounding MSNBC's Steve Kornacki Is Giving Us Life

by Cassandra Stone
MSNBC and Chrissy Teigen/Twitter

MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki is the real Electoral College Map MVP of this godforsaken election and the internet agrees

During a week where everything feels overwhelming AF, we’re all clinging to the bright lights of this Election From Suspense Hell. One of those lights is, indisputably, MSNBC‘s Steve Kornacki. He’s the electoral map math wizard who has not taken so much as one hour off from constantly nerding out over that damn touch-screen map. And the entire internet is 100% here for it, bless him.

The bespectacled, khaki-loving Kornacki has taken the country by storm because while we’re all endlessly waiting for the fascist dictator to be unseated from his orange-stained throne, Kornacki’s expert finesse of the ever-updating touch-screen is a charming delight. And viewers everywhere are in agreement: Steve is DA MAN.

Also? He must be part superhero based on sheer stamina alone. That man has not stopped for A MOMENT in his election week delivery, barely leaving our television screens since dawn on Tuesday.

Kornacki is all about clear, concise information. Which is why, shortly after Donald Trump, in a fit of delusion, declared victory based on absolutely nothing valid, Kornacki addressed viewers by reminding them that there were literally millions of ballots that still needed to be counted and that the President is a lying liar who lies (my words, not Kornacki’s):

“The first and most important thing to say about these numbers though is that there are counties, there are a number of counties in Pennsylvania that announced before tonight that they were not even going to open the mail-in ballots that they received, before tomorrow,” he explained. “There are many other counties in Pennsylvania that have only counted a small fraction of their mail-in ballots.”

Basically, Steve Kornacki is the Charlie from It’s Always Sunny meme come to life.

Kornacki, who came out as gay in a moving, brilliant essay back in 2011, has been the subject of many a fawning, admiring tweet this week — basically, because we all think what he’s doing is important as hell, the way he’s doing it is informative and adorable, and we all need something GOOD to keep us going during this never-ending process.

There’s even a hashtag that emerged from the fandom: #TrackingKornacki. And it’s great.

There are plenty of people putting in the work, both behind the scenes and publicly, to ensure that we all make it through this election intact. Steve Kornacki is just one of them, of course, but it’s just been nice to see everyone collectively come together to like something for once.

When it’s all over, let’s hope he catches a decent nap.