Somehow, the president keeps misreading the politics of the pandemic

[regnaD kciN]

4. "Misreading the politics"...?

Not sure I agree. He’s misreading the basic scientific facts, not to mention simple common sense, but politics? If that were the case, you’d have seen his approval rating tank – when, in fact, it’s stayed in pretty much the same narrow band as it was in before the pandemic. And what he’s doing, like it or not, taps very deeply into a strong current of yearning for “normalcy.” People want the pandemic to be over (look at how many balk at wearing masks, for example), and will give their devotion to those who assure them that, essentially, it is over in terms of being a direct threat to them, and that “the only thing we have to fear is liberal fearmongering.”

The fact is, I think everyone’s opinion of Trump was “baked in” long ago. Those who love him continue to do so, and will adjust their view of reality to fit their idealization of him. Those who hate him will continue to hate him…and there’s really very little middle ground. What Trump is counting on right now is that the large minority in his camp will be more strongly motivated to turn out in November than the small majority that oppose him (aided by a heapin’ helpin’ of voter suppression, of course). And we really won’t know for almost three months whether that bet pays off.