Look, I get it. You're concerned over the recent bump in Trump's approval numbers. Two polls - one by ABC/Washington Post on 3/25, the other by Fox News on 3/24 - show a majority of Americans actually approve of his handling of the Coronavirus outbreak. Yes, I know it's hard to believe. This president wasted two whole months playing golf and calling the worst pandemic since the 1918 influenza outbreak a hoax and now he's enjoying his highest approval since he was sworn in. What can I say, shit happens.
But panic not, people. Things are not as bleak as they seem. Yes, Trump is having a moment. But he's had them before. Remember the bump he got after his acquittal in the Senate? That lasted about as long as a thunder shower in Florida. We're still early in this crisis. Just wait until the death totals in the heartland start mounting, which they will. His base may tolerate him lying about restoring balance to the force, but I guarantee you when they see dear old grandma and grandpa keel over from this virus, their patience, along with their loyalty, will start to wane. Not all of them, mind you, but enough so it'll make a difference. Two weeks from now, that bump will be a distant memory. Hell, it's already starting to recede.
Still not assuaged? Consider this: even with his recent bump in the polls, according to RCP, Trump is still trailing Joe Biden in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina and Arizona. And he's within the margin of error in Florida. How many retirement communities and assisted living facilities you suppose there are in the Sunshine State? If you thought Kirkland, Washington was a clusterfuck, you ain't seen nothing yet. Of all the southern states out there, Florida is ripe to become the next New York. Trust me, Trump and his dumbass minions will rue the day they didn't take this pandemic seriously.
Already the attack ads are out. Picture Nero fiddling while Rome burned. Every single misstep this president took will become fodder for the fall election. From his firing of the pandemic response team in 2018, to his sending 18 tons of PPE to China, to his ignoring the warnings of the intelligence community about the risk the virus posed, to his bold pronouncement that the virus would "disappear like magic," to his bragging that he's number one on Facebook while people were literally dying, Trump's own actions and words will come back to haunt him.
And his campaign will be unable to silence those ads; nor will they be able to erase the image of hundreds of sailors on board the Aircraft Carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt who gave their captain a standing ovation after Trump fired him for having the gall to give a shit about their lives. Whatever else you may think about those who wear the uniform, know this: they understand the concept of honor more than Trump can ever imagine, and they won't easily forget what he did to one of their own. The elderly needlessly dying, the military turning on him, suburban women voting blue. You see what I'm getting at?
So chill, people. Take a deep breath. We're talking about a man who can't get out of his own way; a man with all the discipline of a toddler and the attention span of a gnat. All Biden has to do is lay low for a now, pick a competent running mate who can unite the party - more on that later - and let Trump be Trump. With or without a convention - and it's looking more and more like the latter - Democrats will rally behind him, and with the help of Never Trump Republicans, he will become the 46th president of the United States.
Indeed, the only thing that keeps me up nights - apart from being unemployed and having way too much free time on my hands - is the very real possibility that we could see a second wave of the virus in the fall, or even worse, the virus might not even subside, which could drastically reduce voter turnout. It's well established that Democrats fare much better in elections where there is greater voter turnout. If enough people stay home for fear of contracting the virus, Trump could not only win a second term, his party could flip the House. Imagine a scenario in which this president profits from a pandemic he helped bring about. That would be the ultimate irony, wouldn't it?
But all that notwithstanding, I'm pretty optimistic about Democrats' chances this November. Trump had only one card to play - the economy - and now that's gone. Like Jimmy Carter before him, he's the victim of a crisis that quickly enveloped his administration. Only in this case, Trump's own incompetence and arrogance made a bad situation considerably worse.
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