President Trump’s performance as president will now inevitably be judged by the outcome of the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States, both on our people and on the economy. Some people will die—we don’t know how many—and he will be blamed for that. Even worse from his standpoint he won’t get much credit if we weather the outbreak quickly whether that’s because of the changing weather or something else and the economy “comes roaring back”. Politics isn’t fair.
During his presidency Donald Trump has done little to cultivate confidence outside his supporters. He lives in a reality of his own, manifest in his many exaggerations, misstatements, or flat out lies. I won’t bother to document or catalogue them. There are thousands of examples. That alternative reality is a barrier to trust. Although it’s a factor in the ceiling of his support, partisanship isn’t its only cause. The casual relationship of what he says with the verifiable truth is a big factor. But again politics isn’t fair.
Blaming all of the deaths on Trump isn’t fair. Even if we had good leadership we would still have a bunch of people die. He took a couple of good measures for which he should get credit. Shutting down foreign people from China coming here was a good idea. I would have been better if we didnt let Americans go over there and come back.
That said, as I say on a daily basis, we still dont have tests in any significant numbers. That lies at Trump’s feet. Trump is responsible for his messaging. He downplayed the significance of this outbreak. If we become another Italy, that is significantly on his shoulders.
Finally, you are correct about the trust issue. Besides his long time history of lying, in this particular case we have heard him say for the last 2 weeks that anyone who wants a test can have one. There were millions of tests that would show up by the end of last week. He shuts down flights from everywhere in Europe, except the UK not based on any epidemiology.
Steve
A cautionary tale.
A couple of months ago the CCP and Xi looked seriously damaged for Hubei/Wuhan. They still are, but they have an equally offsetting credit for getting the coronavirus in control and keeping the rest of China safe.
We really won’t know what people think about everything until the crisis ends, or Nov, which ever occurs first.
The CCP also controls the media which is an advantage Trump does not have. Trump’s alternative is to go around the media but that’s only really effective in reaching his supporters.
Since his inauguration Trump’s support has never gone over 50%. The 50% or more who don’t trust him hear about every misstep, every prevarication but never hear about anything he’s done right. Politics isn’t fair.
It is a fact Trump has never gone over 50% during the Republican Primary, the general election, the transition phase, during his Presidency. And yet he is still here.
Its not inconceivable he could have an even higher approval rating post-outbreak then before it (which was his highest approval rating of the Presidency).
I should point out I think it is unlikely (that Trump will become more popular after the outbreak then before).
But the data does not rule out the US does substantially better then Europe / China through and coming out of the crisis.
The UK is no longer part of the EU, and so far has not been significantly affected by the Pandemic. Unfortunately IMO foreign and economic policy did play a part in not including the UK in the travel ban since US and UK are in the midst of trade negotiations. We will see if that causes problems down the road.
POTUS owns the downside of the pandemic. Unfortunately the MSM will never give him credit for the upside. But then I don’t think he particularly cares.
Whatever reality Trump lives in, I suspect it’s a lot closer to the truth than that of the pundits running acting as if this is worse than Justinian’s Plague or even Stephen King’s Tubeneck from ‘The Stand’. Right now in politics one has to pick your poison.
The Han Empire was doing some sabre-rattling recently, claiming the US military introduced Kung Flu TO China and threatening to embargo needed medical supplies. Brilliant move if you want to alienate friends. However I suspect the threats are more for domestic consumption than foreign. A lot of unrest simmering over there for the handling of the pandemic, gotta distract the people by blaming the Capitalist Running Pig-Dogs for their problems.
When Trump first entered the political arena he faced a barrage of unprecedented negative pushback from party elites on both sides of the aisle. The traditional 100-day “honeymoon†was replaced by “spy gate†maneuvers, investigations, fear-mongering media misinformation tactics, culminating in articles of impeachment proceedings taking up precious time during January’s start-up of COVID-19. Early on many did not believe Trump would even survive his first term in office under such an intense assault. He managed, though, to defy the odds by going around MSM “bushwhackers,†directly communicating messages through tweeting, developing a protective shield by sharpening his words, focusing on blue collar needs rather than establishment/celebrity criticisms, and staying in constant contact with the people via ongoing rallies, private sector round tables, sometimes daily pressers. And, even though Trump’s language is perceived by many as coarse, with facts loosely woven together in an unconventional style of governance, for others he conveys a theme of US loyalty streamed with optimism for the future, no matter the present circumstances. Some call this a glass half full perspective, while his opponents take 24/7 shots at him with glass half empty tactics.
Relating all the above to our present crisis, I see Trump’s initial reaction, criticized for not being serious enough, as attempts to allay premature fears before an adequate assessment of this virus could be made. Of course the media and Dems would have none of that, ramping up, instead, efforts to derail trust in the efficacy of this administration’s competence to handle this virus. In the meantime, a January task force was formed, travel restrictions evolved, FDA testing rules loosened, early quarantines established, private/public partnerships fostered, daily public updates were coordinated along with information provided online, and the Staffort Act enacted. Nonetheless, what is flooding news reports are primarily testing delays/flaws or verbal missteps observed. Even China propaganda, suggesting the flu originated in the US rather than Wuhan China, is being seized upon by the media, having reporters chastise the president as “racist†for calling this the Wuhan flu, in order to provide yet another negative spin to this flu saga.
Unfair politics at play? Yeah, I would say so.
Should go without saying. But whatever, Trump will be fine. Question is, will we be OK with whatever diversity hire replaces him. Biden won’t last long.
” FDA testing rules loosened”
Not in time. We still dont have tests.
“private/public partnerships fostered”
Way too late. We still dont have tests. (Notice a theme here?)
“, daily public updates were coordinated along with information provided online”
While Trump fu8king lied about stuff. It is still not true that everyone who wants a test can get one. We still dont have tests. Also, Trump was minimizing this claiming it was politically driven. Yup, those patients we put in the ICU got sick just to hurt Trump’s election chances.
Steve
It’s not only that we don’t have tests, it’s also that they are taking too long. One of my best friends here in CO got tested last Thursday and still doesn’t have the results. I think results from the Colorado lab are still only “presumptive” so there will be an even longer wait for confirmation.
It’s a total shit show.
We can get tests in 24 hours most of the time, but some have taken 4 days to come back.