The week Donald
Trump lost the election
Published
8 hours ago
on
October 10, 2020
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After the debate, he
couldn’t hide what an asshole he is. After he got sick, he couldn’t hide how
weak he is.
Trump was already down in the polls, both
nationally and in many swing states, and after his unhinged performance in the
debate with Joe Biden last week, his people knew he would lose more ground.
Sure enough, two days later, an NBC/Wall Street Journal
national poll had Biden up by 14 points, 53% to 39%, among
registered voters. Biden’s margin among women was 20 points last month; in the
new poll, he led by 27, 60% to 33%.
A CNN poll conducted at the same time,
and largely after Trump first tested positive for the COVID virus, had Biden up
over Trump by 16 points, 57% to 41%. Women in the CNN poll, who a month ago
favored Biden by 20 points, now favored him by 34 points, 66% to 32%.
By last weekend, Trump
was tanking in the polls, he was sick with COVID and he was in the hospital. So
what did he do? Almost immediately after leaving Walter Reed Medical Center and
making his mock-Mussolini triumphant return to the White House, he tweeted an
end to any possible new stimulus package for COVID relief, calling off
negotiations with Democrats.
There are more than 213,000 dead from the virus,
new coronavirus cases are averaging 45,000 a day over the last week, and there
were 53,000 new cases on Thursday alone. According to National
Geographic, “the virus is spreading uncontrollably” in the Midwest,
new cases are up in 15 states, and “deaths are still hovering around 900 to
1000 a day.”
Schools are shutting
down in some places after reopening in August and September, some cities are
closing bars and restaurants, and there were 840,000 new claims for
unemployment last week.
This is the COVID
election, folks.
But Trump has treated the virus with disdain and
“played it down” from the beginning. First, he denied it was a problem at all
and tried to wish it away. On Feb. 26, he said, “When you have 15 people, and
the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a
pretty good job we’ve done.” Thirty-four times, Trump has said the virus was
going to “go away” or “disappear.” He and members of his
administration, including Vice President Mike Pence, outright refused to wear
masks to protect themselves and others around them, most recently at the
infamous “super-spreader” Rose Garden announcement of Amy Coney Barrett’s
nomination to the Supreme Court. His own family flouted the mask rule at the
debate with Joe Biden.
Now, with more than 30 people in his own
White House testing positive for COVID, including himself,
Trump is trying to play down the virus’s ability to kill.
In a bizarre video made
at the White House just after his release from Walter Reed, Trump told people
“don’t be afraid” of the virus, and “don’t let it dominate you.” It was pure,
unadulterated macho posturing and angry denialism, an obsession with appearance
over reality, a version of “strength” in quotes that he seems to have absorbed
from Cold War era dictators and Lone Ranger-style go-your-own-way westerns. You
have the feeling that every day he wakes up and sees himself as George C. Scott
in “Patton,” standing alone in front of a gigantic American flag, growling a
bunch of macho nonsense.
But think about it: He had a perfect opportunity
to pivot and put himself on a course to win this election going away. Instead
of standing on the balcony of the White House and saluting God-only-knows-what,
Trump could have used the occasion of his COVID infection to change his tone.
and, He could have kept his mask on and made a short video in which he told his
fellow Americans, OK.
I get it. I caught the virus, and it’s a really bad thing, and here’s what we
can do together to put this thing away for good.
Instead of goading his
base to follow him over a cliff, he could have sought out and doubtlessly
received their sympathy and support. He could have looked into the eye of the
camera and said that getting sick with the virus has made him understand how
tough it’s been on everyone. I realize that I’ve had the privilege of the best
health care in America at Walter Reed, treatments that are not normally
available. And for that reason, from now on, we’re going to cover COVID for
everyone. All testing for the virus will be free, and the federal government
will cover 100 percent of the cost of treating everyone who comes down with the
virus. Vaccines, when available, will be given for free, and every new drug
developed to treat the virus will be provided to patients for free.
Then he could have
announced that he was going to pick up the phone and make a deal for $3
trillion to help his fellow Americans cope with the fallout from the virus. He
could have agreed to restart supplemental unemployment payments, provide help
to state and local governments to make up for reduced tax revenues, send out
new checks to every taxpayer for another $1,200, include help for the airlines,
provide tax relief and send cash to small business owners to get them through
the next few months until a vaccine can begin to reopen normal business for
everyone. He could even have included a couple hundred billion specifically
ear-marked for child care to make a direct appeal to the women whose support he
has sand-blasted away from himself every time he opens his mouth.
Sure, it would have
blown up the deficit, but it’s not his money, and the deficit has already been
exploded not once but twice, with his only-for-the zillionaires tax cut and the
last stimulus bill. Republicans facing re-election battles at least as tough as
Trump’s, or worse, would have embraced his Big Giveaway with open arms. It
would have been like dropping trillions of dollars into the campaign chest of
the Republican Party. Democrats, who have already passed a $2.2 trillion bill
in the House, would have been forced to go along with it. Trump could have put
his name on the whole thing, and Biden would have been left to endorse a plan
he knew would benefit his opponent far more than himself and his fellow
Democrats.
That’s the way Trump
could have turned his illness into his October surprise. Instead of running
from reality, he could have embraced it. He could have confronted the virus he
has lied about for nine months and transformed a hit on himself into help for
everyone else.
Instead, he’s troweling
on the pancake makeup and telling lies about how long he’s had the virus and
how many more White House staffers have tested positive, and now he’s refusing
to debate Joe Biden in front of 80 million voters he absolutely needs to pull
himself out of the hole he’s dug. With only three weeks to go, this is the one
we’ll look back on as the week Donald Trump lost the election.
