Quote:Trump could have been saved by COVID. Now it'll likely end his presidency.
The narrative is that COVID is the reason Trump is likely to lose reelection but I think it's a false narrative. It's built on a few assumptions:
1. Trump was losing in head-to-head polls with Biden even before COVID. There's a reason he broke the law to get dirt on Biden.
2. The economy was moving toward a recession even before COVID hit - which means, no COVID and no economic downturn scapegoat.
But the reality is that COVID offered Trump an opportunity not often given to presidents - a chance to step up and lead the country through a generation defining crisis. The only comparable examples in the modern era, IMO, were 9/11, LBJ after the Kennedy assassination, WWII and the Great Depression.
Presidents are not inherently great. FDR was great because of the moment and his response to it.
Trump's response to COVID, though, is what will define his presidency.
He was given an opportunity to do something he had not done at any point in his presidency and that was to lead. No one was going to blame Trump for COVID. But they sure would blame him for the response if it failed.
Just like no one blamed FDR for the Great Depression.
Even Bush, who would later be blamed by a fraction of the country for his intelligence failures, was not blamed in the months after 9/11.
All Trump had to do was step up, listen to the scientists, urge Americans to wear masks, socially distance and push for a consistent message across the board - including meeting with all 50 governors to discuss shutdown orders - and he likely would have sailed to reelection.
But instead, as Biden likes to say, he panicked. He saw the potential of economic recession with the shutdowns and started to downplay the virus. The moron that he is didn't get that Americans wouldn't blame him for the economy collapsing. Especially if he became their advocate and pushed for consistent stimulus and unemployment benefits. There's a reason most governors saw a surge of support - because they stepped up and led.
Trump instead stepped up and spread disinformation. Consistently.
And because of that, his pandemic response will now be his defining legacy.
He was given his World War II. His Kennedy assassination. His 9/11.
And he failed spectacularly.
Which is all the more proof he was ill-equipped for the job.
And now he's going to lose bigly on November 3rd.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100214212574
1
