TPM "Trump Stays Competitive After Smashing Through Democratic Guardrails"

[NRaleighLiberal]

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trump-stays-competitive-after-smashing-through-democratic-guardrails

Even a death toll 230,000 people high apparently wasn’t enough to render President Trump noncompetitive in this election.


We’re far from the final results. But those who thought that President Trump’s horrifying mismanagement of the pandemic, refusal to admit to the legitimacy of his opponents, impeachment last year, and singleminded focus on self-dealing would result in a romp for Joe Biden appear to be wrong.

This one will be a fight for the Democratic candidate.

And it’s one that suggests a large portion of the country is not prepared to repudiate President Trump for behavior that included funneling money into his own businesses, and for stoking some of the right’s most racist and extreme tendencies.

“It means that roughly one-third of all Americans (not just voters) have supported an openly far-right president, knowing what he stands for and how he governs,” wrote Cas Mudde, a political scientist at the University of Georgia in an email to TPM.

To others, its his rank self-dealing that makes the President’s competitiveness tonight surprising.

After all, he’s the first President to have a hotel down the street from the White House with his name on it, and the first to have been reported to have dodged taxes on the scale that Trump is accused of.

And still, the President’s complete lack of interest in participating in civic institutions — thinking of the military as an example of self-sacrifice, acknowledging that he’s governing the whole population — comes as the biggest shock to others.

And, to be clear, it’s early in the game. There are still an endless number of permutations in which Biden could come out ahead in states that now seem hopeless for his cause.

But the situation highlights a broader point: that none of this has been enough to damage the President’s support not only among his base, but among people who in 2016 and 2020 again, considered him fit to lead the country.

“In fact, irrespective whether [Trump] wins or loses, this is going to be a fact and should be a source of national reflection,” Mudde wrote.

[helpisontheway]

1. Those were Republican states. Nt

[AirmensMom]

2. Win or lose,

I have completely lost all faith in humanity tonight. This shouldn't be close at all.

I'm 64 years old and have seen a lot of really shitty stuff. The past 4 years have been the worst. Why half the country can't see that is deeply disturbing to me.

[NRaleighLiberal]

3. I am also 64 and have also lost faith in many aspects of humanity.

[AirmensMom]

4. I feel bad for the youngsters.

I'm almost relieved that I won't have much longer to live in this world. But for the kids starting out, they're in for a hard time being surrounded by so much evil.

[NRaleighLiberal]

5. my daughters are both very disillusioned. They see what is often valued, and how it is totally

mismatched with the values we hopefully instilled in them.

[AirmensMom]

7. I'm so sorry.

One of mine is just starting to see what's at stake and finally voted for the first time in her life this year, straight Dem.

The other, sadly, is with the "dark side." But she's too lazy to vote, so there's that.

We learned a long time ago that we are not the only influence in our children's lives.

[dchill]

6. I'm 69, and I can't imagine...

[NoMoreRepugs]

8. Wife n I are both 71and completely distraught over what

Our children and granddaughter are going to face in the years to come because of the massive numbers of nimcompoops here in the US.

[NRaleighLiberal]

9. nincompoops is such a kind - and effective - way of referring to those assholes!