09-01-2020, 06:05 PM
(09-01-2020, 01:16 AM)Von Cichlid Wrote: OK, I'll admit defeat to you and GMDino on Trump's response to COVID. If he loses this election, it will be due to his response to COVID, and I think everyone knows this.
Two qualifiers though-
1. It would have been absurdly difficult bordering on impossible for him to handle it well with a media and opposition that looks for every opportunity to crucify him any chance they get. The media had just gotten through gleefully reporting on an impeachment farce that wasted resources and that was totally just for show. There is no way they would have given the support needed for a unified response one month after that nonsense.
2. His response will probably at absolute maximum change the vote of 5% of the independent vote, which may be enough to swing this election, unfortunately. Even if he had handled it brilliantly (which he did not and it would have been impossible anyway), then there would still be near 40% of the voters that totally despise him and would vote for him under no circumstance.
To wit, how many of the people in the poll on this page who say they are voting for Biden voted for Trump last year? I'll bet zero. I don't know a single person who voted Trump last year that is not this year, and I don't figure too many people who didn't vote Trump are going to this year (In the big city blue states that might be another story, but they are too heavily democrat for it to probably matter.).
More people voted against him than for him during the last election. The Lincoln Project was founded in part by Republican political strategists. Seventy-one Republicans who are former national security officials endorsed Biden because they view Trump as a risk to national security. Former senior military leaders including a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs if Staff have denounced Trump.
If Trump loses his response to the pandemic will only be one of many reasons why.
https://www.defendingdemocracytogether.org/national-security/
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/06/05/89-former-defense-officials-military-must-never-be-used-violate-constitutional-rights/%3foutputType=amp
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/612553/
Not to mention the very best people to include retired Generals who have denounced Trump after working for him in the White House.
