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babylonsister

babylonsister's Journal
babylonsister's Journal
May 1, 2020

For Some Reluctant Trump Voters, Coronavirus Was The Last Straw


For Some Reluctant Trump Voters, Coronavirus Was The Last Straw
By Charlotte Alter and Tessa Berenson
April 30, 2020 3:54 PM EDT


Heidi and Dennis Hodges were proud to vote for President Donald Trump in 2016. “I liked his tough stance. I liked that he wasn’t a politician,” says Dennis, who runs a window-tinting company in Erie, Penn. “I supported him for three and a half years,” says Heidi, who manages the office of an auto service shop.

Then came the coronavirus crisis. For Dennis, the last straw was seeing Trump downplay the seriousness of COVID-19, even as troubling reports about the disease emerged from China. “Before the pandemic, Trump would have gotten my vote again,” he says. “Business was booming, the economy was good, it looked like everything was turned around.”

For Heidi, the stakes were personal: In March, her uncle had to visit the ER three times before he could get tested for COVID-19, she says. By the time he was finally admitted to the hospital on March 23, he was so sick he had to be put in a medically induced coma. He was on a ventilator for 28 days before his condition improved, she says. Trump “is sitting there touting that nobody has an issue with getting a test,” says Heidi. “And that’s not true.”


One of the defining questions of the 2020 election is how many Trump voters feel in November like Heidi and Dennis Hodges do now. Over the past four years, Trump has developed a Teflon mystique: no matter what he says or does, nothing seems to stick to him. Predicting that the latest outrage will finally sever his bond with supporters has been a mug’s game. And even as the coronavirus crisis escalated in March and April, there have been few signs that this is changing: 93% of self-described Republicans said during the first half of April that they approved of Trump’s performance, according to Gallup—up two points from a month prior.

Yet there is also little question that the pandemic has transformed the election. Two months ago, Trump was an incumbent president riding a strong economy and a massive cash advantage; today, he looks like an underdog in November. The RealClearPolitics polling average has former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, leading Trump 48.3% to 42% nationally. Trump’s prospects aren’t any brighter right now when broken down by states that were key to his 2016 victory. According to Real Clear Politics polling averages, Biden leads Trump by 6.7 points in Pennsylvania, 5.5 in Michigan, and 2.7 points in Wisconsin. Biden is also leading Trump narrowly in Florida and Arizona.

“If you look at all the swing states, virtually all of them, he’s underwater,” says Douglas Schoen, a former pollster for President Bill Clinton and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “This election is a referendum on Trump,” Schoen continues. “And so far from what we see over the last month, month and a half, he’s losing that referendum.”


more...

https://time.com/5829244/trump-voters-coronavirus-2020/
May 1, 2020

Queen + Adam Lambert - 'You Are The Champions'

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Queen + Adam Lambert - 'You Are The Champions' (New Lockdown version! Recorded on mobile phones!)
May 1, 2020

The White Privilege to Terrorize

https://johnpavlovitz.com/2020/05/01/the-white-privilege-to-terrorize/

The White Privilege to Terrorize
May 1, 2020 / John Pavlovitz


As a white man watching the Michigan protests of Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s stay-at-home orders, all I could think was:

Black people don’t get to do this.
Muslims don’t get to do this.
Latinos don’t get to do this.
People who don’t look like this don’t get to do this.

They don’t get to swarm American capitol buildings in tactical gear with high-powered weapons, screaming in close proximity to police officers.
They don’t get to dress up like Call of Duty cosplayers and attempt to physically intimidate politicians into bending to their wills.
They don’t get to get to stop traffic in city streets decked out like they work at the Death Star and brazenly wield semi-automatic rifles.
They don’t get to terrorize decent people and walk away.

Only white people get to do this.

This violence is a singular privilege afforded to caucasian men in America.

snip//

This is MAGA America in its dawning renaissance of outward racism, showing us what is at stake as we approach another election. We aren’t just choosing a president or party to steward us through the coming years, we’re making a statement on what we will and will not tolerate as a people.

What we witnessed in Michigan was an act of terrorism, by the very definition of the word. We have seen many such acts this week, and if November allows this malevolence another four years, they will seem tame. The self-appointed soldiers in the army of the lord will grow more brazen and become more violent in their holy war to make America whiter—so decent white people need to resist them in the streets, on social media, and at the polls.

I fully suspect people of color will oppose this presidency in large numbers, because they see the disparity.

What I hope and pray, is that more white people, especially those who claim to be Christian, will also stand to reject the supremacy and racism that yields such willful homegrown terrorism; that we will use the unearned currency of our privilege to declare this violence un-American and inhuman and unacceptable.

White terrorists can no longer have a friend in the White House—not if we really want to make America great.
May 1, 2020

Trump urges Michigan's Whitmer to 'make a deal' with those protesting stay-at-home order

How I detest him. Make a deal??

Trump urges Michigan's Whitmer to 'make a deal' with those protesting stay-at-home order
By Morgan Chalfant - 05/01/20 09:47 AM EDT


President Trump on Friday urged Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) to negotiate and “make a deal” with those protesting her stay-at-home order in the state.

“The Governor of Michigan should give a little, and put out the fire,” Trump tweeted Friday morning. “These are very good people, but they are angry. They want their lives back again, safely! See them, talk to them, make a deal.”

Donald J. Trump

@realDonaldTrump

The Governor of Michigan should give a little, and put out the fire. These are very good people, but they are angry. They want their lives back again, safely! See them, talk to them, make a deal.
67K
8:42 AM - May 1, 2020



Whitmer extended the stay-at-home order in her state on Thursday, after hundreds of protesters, some of them armed, demonstrated outside the state Capitol. The Republican-led legislature, meanwhile, debated inside and ultimately declined to extend the state’s emergency declaration and voted to bring forth a lawsuit challenging Whitmer’s power.

Whitmer’s new executive actions, issued later Thursday, extend business closures and declare a state of emergency until May 28.

“COVID-19 is an enemy that has taken the lives of more Michiganders than we lost during the Vietnam War,” Whitmer said in a statement. “While some members of the legislature might believe this crisis is over, common sense and all of the scientific data tells us we’re not out of the woods yet.”

“By refusing to extend the emergency and disaster declaration, Republican lawmakers are putting their heads in the sand and putting more lives and livelihoods at risk. I’m not going to let that happen,” she continued.


more...

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/495629-trump-urges-michigans-whitmer-to-make-a-deal-with-those-protesting

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Gender: Female
Hometown: NY
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Current location: Florida
Member since: Mon Sep 6, 2004, 09:54 PM
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