As I write this, the news is not good. Not-good news seems to be the norm these days, whether the surging pandemic numbers or the cratering economy, or the rippling social effects of those two. The President-In-Name-Only is on a tear.
Current headlines read like a dystopian Godzilla movie script: trump threatens to withhold school funding. trump trashes CDC reopening guidelines as too tough and expensive. trump pulls US out of WHO. trump bullies, then re-friends Presidential Medal of Honor winner Anthony Fauci. trump threatens Obamacare as millions contract disease. trump may block funding for increased Covid testing and tracing. trump sends anonymous armies to American cities to arrest protesters. trump refuses to promise peaceful transition if he loses election.
With all the recent news about voter polls – nationwide and in swing states won by Obama in 2012 but taken by trump in 2016 – the electoral handwriting is beginning to be visible on the wall. Not to get overconfident, but…
- The polling trends are clearer than in 2016 and pollsters are wary of making another embarrassing blunder.
- Any re-election is always a referendum on the incumbent.
- The 2016 result was almost entirely unexpected and against the odds; opinions have hardened and a repeat fluke seems unlikely.
- An incumbent’s strong suit is often the economy, currently tanked for the medium- or long-term.
- Barnstorm campaigning, a trump favorite (and one he’s admittedly good at) seems fraught in 2020, either truly as a source of Covid contagion, or theoretically as a feared source of contagion.
- trump’s lack of leadership and stubborn ignorance about science has resulted nationally in nearly four million Covid cases and 150 thousand deaths; that’s a lot of individuals getting a science lesson, family circles impacted, and voters pissed off.
- His personal style and long-obvious character flaws are coming into clearer focus from family and associate sources, just as voter opinions are being formed.
No one can ever know what’s going on in a madman’s head. We can all be equally wrong, or right, with our guesses. Here are mine.
There’s an increasingly unfocused destructiveness in trump’s actions and words. He’s reinstituting the daily coronavirus briefings in an attempt to “control the agenda,” as he explained to confidants. This could be the beginning of a flailing scorched-earth approach to the final months of his one-term presidency. Or to rescue it.
He’s rushing to do as much as possible, by whatever means, to burn things down and salt the earth for whomever comes next. If he’s correct – and the polls have it right – this will truly be a historic single-term presidency for all the wrong reasons. The most worrisome concern may be PINO’s unwillingness to abide by the election results. Keep watching for evermore outrageous pronouncements and maneuvers.
Voters need to repudiate that man in overwhelming terms. Nothing is safe. Vote like your (way of) life depends on it.
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On the August calendar for Indivisible Santa Barbara will be a general members virtual meeting with featured speaker, Congressman Salud Carbajal. This will NOT be a stump speech opportunity but, rather, a chance to learn the “sense of Congress” on current issues. For more information on date and time, check our website, www.indivisiblesb.org.