monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

Apparently, the reactionary meme is a "relief package."

Ya know , Every day on the Covid updates by our beloved leader, he seems to spend more time campaigning than making me feel good about what aPainful smothering death Im going to have to endure so that my stocks come back undiminished.

When is a dole no longer socialism?? Is it when the beneficiaries are Fortune 300 and 500 companies??

Josh Marshall
@joshtpm
9h
Today is an example of the grip this deranged man has on this country. No one can quite say how insane and criminal it is that as we stand on the brink of the storm he wants to consign countless Americans to their death because he wants to pretend it’s not happening.

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
· 1h
This is really great news! I am so happy I can barely speak. He [Romney] may have been a terrible presidential candidate and an even worse U.S. Senator, but he is a RINO, and I like him a lot! https://twitter.com/breitbartnews/status/1242544640953405446

Our editorial last week on the costs of our government-mandated national economic shutdown struck a chord with readers, including perhaps at the White House. President Trump is now saying he wants the country back to normal by mid-April. While this is right as a direction, the shift to a sustainable health and economic strategy will require a transition and a credible explanation to the public...

Dennis Prager: "That attitude that the only value is saving a life, that attitude leads to appeasement...No one can die? Then it's not a war"

The release on Friday of an ABC News/Ipsos poll indicating that 55 percent of Americans approved of Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus—12 points higher than the previous week—prompted another round of fatalistic chatter in certain quarters of the political establishment. Shocked by Trump’s victory in 2016, some left-leaning commentators and rank-and-file Democrats alike have been steeling themselves for his reelection in 2020, noting that most presidents win second terms; that, at least before the pandemic, the economy was humming along; and more recently that, during moments of national disaster, Americans tend to rally around the leader they have.

But these nuggets of conventional political wisdom obscure something fundamental—something that even Democrats have trouble seeing: The United States is in revolt against Donald Trump, and the likely Democratic nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, already holds a daunting lead over Trump in the battleground states that will decide the 2020 election. By way of disclosure, I am a Democratic pollster; for professional and personal reasons alike, I want Democratic candidates to succeed. But no matter what, I also want candidates and party operatives to base decisions—such as where and how to campaign—on an accurate view of the political landscape. At the moment, Democrats are underestimating their own strength and misperceiving the sources of it.

(...)

For a time, each week’s voting made Trump’s position look stronger. Bernie Sanders took a commanding delegate lead after the Nevada caucus, and Democratic leaders and many others in the anti-Trump world panicked. Sanders was widely viewed as Trump’s preferred opponent, and he looked unstoppable in the nomination battle. Republicans were rubbing their hands together, eager to spend millions “educating” the country about Sanders’s long-ago honeymoon in Moscow and his socialist plans to destroy American health care. Even after Joe Biden stunned himself and all the political analysts by winning the South Carolina primary by nearly 30 points, much of the subsequent commentary dwelled on the nearly 30 percent of Sanders voters who were not certain they would vote for the eventual nominee. The New York Times soon published a front-page story on the socialist podcast Chapo Trap House and a broader movement calling itself the “Dirtbag Left,” which embraced Sanders and attacked his Democratic opponents. The alienation of people like these would reelect Trump, supporters of other Democratic candidates feared.

But Democratic voters took over the nominating process and changed everything. No group of voters felt more threatened by Donald Trump than African Americans, and no group was more determined to see him defeated. When a stunning 61 percent of black voters in South Carolina chose Joe Biden, other Democrats got the message. Turnout surged on Super Tuesday, led by Texas with a 45 percent increase over 2016 and Virginia with a 70 percent increase, for the highest turnout in state history. The increase was led by African Americans and voters in the suburbs. Two weeks later in Michigan, Tim Alberta declared in Politico, “Democratic turnout exploded,” led by a 45 percent increase in the state’s richest county.

(...)

Perhaps sensing the danger to the incumbent, Republican leaders in Congress appear willing to approve a massive stimulus plan in response to the coronavirus—a stimulus significantly larger than the one they ravaged Obama for pushing through. That could raise Trump’s prospects—but the potentially catastrophic human consequences of COVID-19 could also work against him. Trump, one can safely assume, will do almost anything to get reelected, and my fellow Democrats will do all they can to defeat him. But they also need to take into account this basic fact: Large portions of the electorate, knowing what the stakes are, have been rebelling against Trump for three years and are eager to finish off his vision of America.

The government will send direct payments to taxpayers.

Unemployment benefits will grow substantially, and go to many more Americans.

Small businesses will receive emergency loans if they keep their workers.

Distressed companies can receive government bailouts — but with strings attached.

Hospitals staggering under the burden of the coronavirus would receive aid.

The Sacred anti-abortion pro-life position; now with the powerful ingredient - Relativositum!

Quote:

Dennis Prager: "That attitude that the only value is saving a life, that attitude leads to appeasement...No one can die? Then it's not a war"

People should familiarize themselves with how this process works and learn to distinguish a wish list from a negotiating tactic.

People should also realize that a pandemic (national emergency) is no time to use any sort of tactics.

Josh Marshall

I guess that is an acknowledgment that this "Pandemic" is more than a cold?