Will the politics hurt Donald Trump come the national election vote in November?
Will Democrats come together for Biden with Bernie Sanders still making noise?
Or?
Will it help Joe Biden defeat a President who has a health and economic problem in the time before he needs the American approval to get a job extension?
For many Democrats, the prospect of a stalled but protracted nominating contest is unsettling. Moderates are laboring to unify the party’s ranks behind Biden, and the politics of the coronavirus crisis is heightening their anxiety.
The conventional wisdom for weeks has been that President Donald Trump’s uneven, and at times chaotic, handling of this crisis is deeply problematic for his reelection chances. But it may not be that simple.
So far, Trump has taken a beating over his handling of the pandemic. The economy is tanking, and just 46 percent of Americans believe the federal government is doing enough to confront the coronavirus, down from 61 percent last month, according to an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll. Few people trust what Trump is saying about the pandemic, according to the same poll.
But Trump has time on his side, with the coronavirus spreading early in the election cycle. This week, the Republican president adopted a more somber tone, and some Democrats are beginning to worry that he could mold the narrative to his benefit. A massive stimulus, including direct payments to Americans, could help him in November.
“The initial mishandling of the coronavirus by the government doesn’t mean voters will penalize Trump in November,” said Michael Ceraso, who worked for Sanders in 2016 and was Pete Buttigieg’s New Hampshire director before leaving his campaign last year. “We know we have two candidates who can pivot this generation’s largest health crisis to their policy strengths. But history tells us that an incumbent who steers us through a challenging time, a la Bush and 9/11 and Obama and the Great Recession, are rewarded with a second term.”
In a normal year, the presidential primary would be shutting down by now, with Biden piling up delegates and Sanders running out of states to win. Biden easily defeated Sanders in the three states that voted Tuesday, including landslides in Florida and Illinois.
And unlike in 2016, when California’s massive haul of delegates came later in the process, Sanders has little to look forward to. Sanders was widely expected to lose in delegate-rich Ohio on Tuesday before the state postponed its primary at the last minute. Georgia, which also just pushed back its primary that had been scheduled for next week, looked similarly grim for the Vermont senator.
But the coronavirus has temporarily forestalled those outcomes. And if Puerto Rico reschedules its March 29 primary as expected, it will be more than two weeks before the next regularly scheduled primaries….
image…westernjournal.com
Hi, James, I couldn’t find that extract you posted from the public health expert who doubts that these measures are sustainble in the long run (without driving everyone mad). Where is it, or could you post it (or the link) here?
Thanks, Dave
James has continuously put his own “spin” on statements by various “experts” in this crisis.
Often, the “expert” never said anything remotely similiar to his interpretation thereof.
The expert is in the piece down toward’s the end…
… end of what, James?
DSD…
I saw it…
But right now can’t find it….
Try these two links….
NYTimes…
NY Times…
I win try to find what i saw later…
If i can’t find it i will say so…
U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 2 p.m. ET: 10,755 — Total deaths: 154 — Total recoveries: 106
World latest: Italy’s coronavirus death toll reaches nearly 3,500 — the highest in the world. Wuhan, where the virus was first discovered, reported no new cases in the last 24 hours.
Axios…
Dylan Byers
@DylanByers
Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Richard Burr Dumped Up to $1.6 Million of Stock After Reassuring Public About Coronavirus Preparedness, per
@propublica
>>
Tim Mak
@timkmak
A listener writes in:
In 2008, Sen. Burr told his wife to pull family’s cash out of ATM at at the height of the financial crisis while putting out a statement advising North Carolinians not to panic
…The vast majority of voters, 84 percent, support Trump’s decision last Friday to proclaim a national emergency, the poll shows. Just 7 percent oppose it.
But amid the fast-moving developments, Trump earns lower marks for his response. A combined 41 percent rate Trump as “excellent” or “good” for his response to the coronavirus — only barely more than the 39 percent who rate Trump’s handling of the outbreak as “poor.” Twelve percent rate Trump’s handling of the virus as “only fair.”
Voters split sharply along party lines: Only 10 percent of Democratic voters rate Trump’s handling of the situation as “excellent” or “good,” compared with 80 percent of Republicans who give Trump those ratings.
Asked about the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus outbreak, voters split again: Forty-three percent say the administration isn’t doing enough, while 39 percent say it is doing the right amount and 5 percent say it is doing too much….
More…
Federal authorities are warning consumers about fake home-testing kits for the coronavirus after customs agents intercepted a package at Los Angeles International Airport filled with vials labeled as COVID-19 test kits..
More…
A yes Jack….
What i said WAS said ,..
Trump NOW gone fully political on this…
LEADERSHIP…..
And YES this shit IS SCARY
But the truth is the blue collar people ARE still going to work to keep the country working…
They stop?
The place will get crazy….
I don’t want anything worst more then anyone else…..
But my point is that somethings HAVE TO keep going….
the blue colar’s, the doctors, the nurses, the bus driver’s , the supermarkets , bzanks…etc..
I’m talking about a majority of America…
20% jobless WILL be a hard thing for this country…
Trump is being particularly unstomachable in this morning’s briefing.
I didn’t see the beginning of Trump’s briefing, but much of it seemed OK to me. Then a female Asian-American troll from OAN egged him on about the Chinese Flu nomenclature debate to accuse the real media of having become mouthpieces for Chinese propaganda canard that Covid-19 (Novel Corinavirus) was caused by members of the American armed-forces.
Trump needed little needling and went on about his usual Fake Media rant about the NY Times, Wash. Post and, surprisingly, Wall St. J. (Rupert Murdoch prop.) In fact nearly the opposite is true: their reporters were almost certainly expelled from China precisely for exposing the Chinese mistakes and cover-up.