We Are Watching the Probable Demise of Trump’s Reelection in Real Time

[HoeHummer]

Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

https://apple.news/AGVz_kO2uTH2Gf7q0aXBzbg

THE NATIONAL INTEREST

We Are Watching the Probable Demise of Trump’s Reelection in Real Time

President Trump’s political career has consisted of a series of self-generated crises that he has improbably survived, from insinuating that John McCain was a coward for having been captured during the war that Trump himself dodged to the three-year-long high-crime (and misdemeanor) spree. Throughout these disasters, Trump has maintained a floor of support that is apparently immutable and just high enough to give him a plausible chance of reelection. Yet the pair of crises now enveloping the administration appear to be of a completely different political magnitude than anything that has faced Trump to date. It may now really, finally, truly be over for him.

The obvious factor distinguishing the coronavirus and the probable recession from the Access Hollywood tape, firing James Comey, and all the rest is that they have a tangible impact on the lives of Americans. (Or, to put it more precisely, Americans who have voting representation, unlike Puerto Ricans.) Trump’s continuous din of scandals and gaffes is unintelligible to many Americans who either do not follow the news closely, or follow Trump-controlled news organs, and who have instead judged his presidency by the direct experience of peace and prosperity. Trump has done one very big thing very well: He rebranded the economic expansion he inherited as his own creation, like the licensing deals he makes to splash the Trump name over hotels and resorts other people built. Trump’s handling of the coronavirus turns his greatest strength into perhaps his greatest liability.

A somewhat less obvious factor is that Trump’s own mismanagement has demonstrably contributed to these disasters. The entire crisis has grown out of Trump’s constitutional aversion to long-term planning. In his autobiography, Trump boasted that he does not even plan his days, but simply reacts to events as they happen. That process is now dominated by cable news, and especially the stock market, which is Trump’s narrow and highly distorted prism for understanding the entire economy. He dissolved the skilled team of pandemic experts he inherited from Obama on the overt calculation that it wasn’t a priority. “Who would have thought … we’d be having this subject?” he mused.

At some point Trump may retreat to the defense that the coronavirus is an external disaster for which he can’t be blamed. But a series of leaks have documented his direct responsibility.

In January, the Washington Post reports, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar “was having trouble focusing Trump’s full attention on his coronavirus briefing … Why did you push me to insert myself into a controversial political issue? Trump demanded.” Another Post story notes that, while health officials warned not to say the virus had been “contained,” people like Lawrence Kudlow insisted on saying this anyway.

Politico’s reporting implicates Trump’s aides, who apparently shared the broad right-wing belief that the virus was overblown, in trying to keep the issue off the president’s agenda. “It always ladders to the top,” a person involved in the administration’s response says, “Trump’s created an atmosphere where the judgment of his staff is that he shouldn’t need to know these things.”

“Trump is simply not on the same wavelength as the rest of his team, but they said there isn’t much they can do to change his public tone,” reports NBC. “Trump has been advised by some close to him to let public health officials, rather than the politicians, take a more forward-facing role, according to a person familiar with the conversation. But a person close to the White House said Trump thinks it helps him politically to keep doing what he has been doing.”

White House health experts wanted to advise old and vulnerable people to avoid commercial flights, but were overruled by Trump, who feared the impact on the economy. Trump even resisted the mild and extremely obvious advice that old people should avoid booking cruises, for fear of the impact to the cruise industry, before eventually relenting. Even sycophantic sources like the Federalist are begging Trump to keep his mouth shut.

But Trump is incapable of such patience. He keeps repeating that the coronavirus will blow over without much hassle. He believes the conspiracy theories that it’s a hoax designed to bring him down, and he also believes any messaging problem he has can be solved by more messaging from Trump.
Trump seemed totally oblivious to the danger of hardening his public image as the national-level equivalent of the mayor in Jaws, blithely ignoring reports of a gigantic shark because he didn’t want to hurt the tourism season.

Enough of the debacle has played out in public to supply Democrats with a campaign’s worth of damning video clips. Trump appeared in public insisting that the virus was “contained,” and that the number of cases “within a couple of days, is going to be down to close to zero.” Trump and his surrogates kept advising people to buy stocks after every dip. The strategy made no sense except as a desperation gambit to prop up the stock market on an hour-to-hour basis with dumb money from Trump’s marks.

For all the apparent durability of Trump’s personality cult, it is worth recalling that George W. Bush was once a figure of nearly equal stature on the right. He was the swaggering, flight-suit-wearing alpha male who had conquered Afghanistan and Iraq. The conservative media slathered over him in almost erotic terms. When things went south for Bush, after his failed attempt to privatize Social Security was followed by Hurricane Katrina and the unraveling of the Iraq occupation, they went south very fast.

It is possible that the public-health and economic catastrophes that loom so large at the moment will be gone by autumn. It is even possible that they will remain and Trump will somehow survive anyway. (After all, the mayor in Jaws had somehow retained his position in Jaws 2. And he was still minimizing shark risks!)

But it seems more likely that Trump has finally made his unfitness for office so blatant that even his own supporters will notice. The American economy, its health infrastructure, and perhaps more are plunging into foreseeable crisis. And every step Trump has taken along the way seems almost calculated to expose him to maximal blame. Trump is now quite likely to lose his reelection, and we will look back at the last few weeks as the time when he sealed his own fate.

[nevergaveitathought]

one word

laughable

more than one word

laughable in all of its aspects

[WTF]

Originally Posted by nevergaveitathought

one word

laughable

more than one word

laughable in all of its aspects

If the market has not recovered come November....you won't be laughing.

[oeb11]

ftw is jumping in glee over the coronavirus epidemic and thinks it will cause Trump downfall.

Americans are not so Stupid - ftw. Trump is far more likely to lead a recovery than Bernie/Biden and the Socialist politicies you Leftists are in love with.

Fall in love with a real woman just right for leftists!!!
Example_

[Jackie S]

To answer the OP’s initial question in the thread’s title........No.

[Redhot1960]

0bineybros by the 10's...
https://twitter.com/JazzShaw/status/1237452540859633664



Oracle😼 Cat Bot BizChuck™ • 15 minutes ago

Yup- 1,167.14(+4.89%).

I guess that Obama's economy is resilient (/////)

[Redhot1960]

https://comicallyincorrect.com/

[friendly fred]

Originally Posted by WTF

If the market has not recovered come November....you won't be laughing.

That's true and the Democrats are rooting for people to die from the corona virus and the stock market to crash so they can have the power back.

[oeb11]

Americans are not so stupid as to vote for Bernie after this epidemic - it has happened before with other viruses - and will come under control with both public health measures - and with natural progression of the disease process.

Coronavirus is not nerly as lethal as the influenza virus in the America experience so far - yet the Fascist DPST's are all about protecting those who do not believe in their vaccinations.


"Satan dancing with delight"- from don MacLean. Appropriate for the DPST's grasping at this as their life saver to beat Trump in nov 2020.

Reality - the coronavirus will be long over by then.



Unless ftw, 9500, and hh all want to take a field trip to the Congo- and try to bring back some Ebola - and there is only one way - to bring it in before the infection is noted in customs.

Let the idea percolate in their minds - if they are as smart as Pelosi/Schumer they will find a way to import it.

[SpeedRacerXXX]

Originally Posted by oeb11

Coronavirus is not nerly as lethal as the influenza virus in the America experience so far - yet the Fascist DPST's are all about protecting those who do not believe in their vaccinations.

Actually that is incorrect. I was just watching FOX News and the lead doctor on Trump's team was on with Hannity. He said the death rate from the coronavirus is currently about 2.5% which he believes is high, but even if it is only 1% that is 10 times the death rate from the flu.

The death rate from seasonal flu is typically around 0.1% in the U.S., according to The New York Times.
The death rate for COVID-19 appears to be higher than that of the flu.

In the study published Feb. 18 in the China CDC Weekly, researchers found a death rate from COVID-19 to be around 2.3% in mainland China. Another study of about 1,100 hospitalized patients in China, published Feb. 28 in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that the overall death rate was slightly lower, around 1.4%.

https://www.livescience.com/new-coro...-with-flu.html

Also stated in the article:


So far, the new coronavirus has led to more than 100,000 illnesses and more than 3,000 deaths worldwide. But that's nothing compared with the flu, also called influenza. In the U.S. alone, the flu has caused an estimated 34 million illnesses, 350,000 hospitalizations and 20,000 deaths this season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

That said, scientists have studied seasonal flu for decades. So, despite the danger of it, we know a lot about flu viruses and what to expect each season. In contrast, very little is known about the new coronavirus and the disease it causes, dubbed COVID-19, because it's so new. This means COVID-19 is something of a wild card in terms of how far it will spread and how many deaths it will cause.

The problem is no one knows what will happen as the coronavirus spreads. Will it die out? Or will it continue it's rapid increase in cases? I say let's pull out all the stops to contain it, assuming it is a very dangerous threat.

I am in the high-risk age group for contracting the virus. I am also getting on a plane tomorrow heading to Rio, getting on a cruise ship on Sunday for a very long cruise ending up in Cape Town SA. Despite the advice of Trump's medical team. As Alfred E Newman says "What, me worry?".

[dilbert firestorm]

Originally Posted by HoeHummer

Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

https://apple.news/AGVz_kO2uTH2Gf7q0aXBzbg

THE NATIONAL INTEREST

We Are Watching the Probable Demise of Trump’s Reelection in Real Time

with bernie and biden in the race? no fucking way.


the TDS is strong in this writer and apparently the OP as well.

[dilbert firestorm]

Originally Posted by SpeedRacerXXX

I am in the high-risk age group for contracting the virus. I am also getting on a plane tomorrow heading to Rio, getting on a cruise ship on Sunday for a very long cruise ending up in Cape Town SA. Despite the advice of Trump's medical team. As Alfred E Newman says "What, me worry?".

well, play it safe on your cruise. drink lots of OJ and take come vitamin C, D & zinc. have anti-bacterial stuff at the ready.

[HedonistForever]

Originally Posted by SpeedRacerXXX

I say let's pull out all the stops to contain it, assuming it is a very dangerous threat.

I am in the high-risk age group for contracting the virus.

Few people hate Trump as much as Gavin Newsom and he gives Trump high marks for his handling of the problem.


https://www.newsweek.com/californias...e-said-1491294


CALIFORNIA'S DEMOCRAT GOVERNOR PRAISES TRUMP'S RESPONSE TO CORONAVIRUS ON CRUISE SHIP: 'EVERY SINGLE THING HE SAID THEY FOLLOWED THROUGH ON'

Och! That's gotta sting a bit for the Trump haters huh?



California's Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom praised president President Donald Trump on Monday for supporting his state as it assisted with the repatriation of passengers from the coronavirus-infected Grand Princess cruise ship.


Trump and his administration have faced criticism for their response to the coronavirus. But Newsom, who declared a state of emergency in California last Wednesday, shared positive remarks about the way the president had responded and supported the West Coast state as it allowed the Grand Princess, which had 21 infected passengers aboard, to dock in Oakland.


"We had a private conversation, but he said, 'We're gonna do the right thing' and 'You have my support, all of our support, logistically and otherwise,'" Newsom told reporters at a Monday news conference.


"He said everything I could have hoped for," the governor asserted. "And we had a very long conversation and every single thing he said, they followed through on," he noted.


I think a more correct reading of the "age group" talking point is not merely the age but those in the higher age bracket with pre-exising immune problems are the ones becoming the most affected and dying. What we do not know yet, is how many 65 and over in good health, contracted the virus and managed to get better. If you have underlying health problems of any kind, I wouldn't be taking that trip.

[SpeedRacerXXX]

Originally Posted by dilbert firestorm

well, play it safe on your cruise. drink lots of OJ and take come vitamin C, D & zinc. have anti-bacterial stuff at the ready.

Thank you Dilbert.

[SpeedRacerXXX]

Originally Posted by HedonistForever

Few people hate Trump as much as Gavin Newsom and he gives Trump high marks for his handling of the problem.


https://www.newsweek.com/californias...e-said-1491294


CALIFORNIA'S DEMOCRAT GOVERNOR PRAISES TRUMP'S RESPONSE TO CORONAVIRUS ON CRUISE SHIP: 'EVERY SINGLE THING HE SAID THEY FOLLOWED THROUGH ON'

Och! That's gotta sting a bit for the Trump haters huh?



California's Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom praised president President Donald Trump on Monday for supporting his state as it assisted with the repatriation of passengers from the coronavirus-infected Grand Princess cruise ship.


Trump and his administration have faced criticism for their response to the coronavirus. But Newsom, who declared a state of emergency in California last Wednesday, shared positive remarks about the way the president had responded and supported the West Coast state as it allowed the Grand Princess, which had 21 infected passengers aboard, to dock in Oakland.


"We had a private conversation, but he said, 'We're gonna do the right thing' and 'You have my support, all of our support, logistically and otherwise,'" Newsom told reporters at a Monday news conference.


"He said everything I could have hoped for," the governor asserted. "And we had a very long conversation and every single thing he said, they followed through on," he noted.


I think a more correct reading of the "age group" talking point is not merely the age but those in the higher age bracket with pre-exising immune problems are the ones becoming the most affected and dying. What we do not know yet, is how many 65 and over in good health, contracted the virus and managed to get better. If you have underlying health problems of any kind, I wouldn't be taking that trip.

I have no major problems with Trump's handling of the crisis althoughh he has tended to downplay it at times contradicting his own medical team.

Yes, we don't know all the facts about the virus since it has come on so fast and we have limited knowledge about the long term affects of it. It has primarily negatively affected older people with existing health problems as you saud. We have no underlying health problems at all so, although several people seem to be cancelling their cruise plans, we will hop on the plane later today and hope for the best.