# A coronavirus pandemic provides a HUGE opportunity for Democrats **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [February 28, 2020, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630 "2020-02-28T02:49:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2020, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/41 "2020-02-28T20:10:16Z")
Nobody here is wishing for an honest-to-goodness pandemic and/or recession. But the Democrats should hammer Trump and the GOP with extreme prejudice over their handling of this. The fact that this is even up for discussion really points to one of the core weaknesses of the Democratic Party these days. Do you think the Republicans would hesitate for even a second to exploit this potential crisis for all it was worth if it were happening under a Democratic president’s watch? Fuck no. Instead of always worrying about taking the high road, the Democrats need to learn how to play dirty, because that’s what it’s going to take to defeat Trump. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2020, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/42 "2020-02-28T20:11:24Z")
Double post ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2020, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/43 "2020-02-28T20:29:30Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Wow - Trump Jr. reads the SDMB. Whodathunk? > > Regards, > Shodan Hell, he probably posts here… under the name…[COLOR=“Silver”]xxx _b l u r_ xxx[/COLOR] ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2020, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/44 "2020-02-28T20:38:01Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > If you get shitfaced drunk and drive home, and manage not to kill anyone, does that validate your decision to drive drunk? No. If you drive home and don’t kill anyone, does that prove you were shitfaced drunk? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2020, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/45 "2020-02-28T20:40:53Z")
Such a pandemic would likely only carry political clout if most of the rest of the world were doing just fine and America had it bad. But if, a few months from now, Italy has many thousands ill, Germany has many thousands ill, Mexico has many thousands ill, Brazil has many thousands ill, etc., then for America to have many people ill is likely to be perceived as “The whole world’s having it and it’s impossible for America not to.” ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2020, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/46 "2020-02-28T20:57:52Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Such a pandemic would likely only carry political clout if most of the rest of the world were doing just fine and America had it bad. But if, a few months from now, Italy has many thousands ill, Germany has many thousands ill, Mexico has many thousands ill, Brazil has many thousands ill, etc., then for America to have many people ill is likely to be perceived as “The whole world’s having it and it’s impossible for America not to.” I dunno… that’s a pretty logical way of looking at things. Probably not going to work. Isn’t trump supposed to be protecting us from Bad Foreign Things like Mexicans and other brown people (especially children), Mooslims, pregnant women, foreign PhDs who are here to steal jobs from qualified Americans. Foreign diseases are the baddest of foreign things – trump HATES germs! He’s supposed to throw a canopy of protection up over the USofA. Or maybe just throw…up. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2020, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/47 "2020-02-28T21:07:42Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Wow - Trump Jr. reads the SDMB. Whodathunk? > > Regards, > Shodan Not I. I’m convinced he _can’t_ read. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2020, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/48 "2020-02-28T21:09:20Z")
The Trump administration did not create the virus, and its spread to the US was probably inevitable. Cutting funding to the CDC, false assurances, putting Pence in charge, and all other stupid decisions: not inevitable. But the notion that this disease will at least and at last break the populace out of its myopic haze and alert it to White House idiocy is unrealistic. Too many people have drunk too much of the Kool-Aid, and they’ll grasp any crackpot theory–The Dems are behind it!–rather than accept the painful reality they’ve been wrong. You can be sure Fox, Breitbart, et al will cast it that way. Furthermore, anyone trying to alert the masses will be accused of making political hay at a time _when people are dying_. I’d love to be proven wrong. Please. Give it your best shot. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2020, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/49 "2020-02-28T21:14:01Z")
I don’t want a recession, nor do I want a pandemic. The definite human costs of those are worse than any hypothetical political gains. But, if those things do happen (as seems increasingly likely), the Democrats absolutely should bring it up frequently. They should have been talking about Trump’s reckless cuts to the CDC anyway, but all the more so now that those chickens may be coming home to roost. What’s more, Trump has made political hay for years touting economic gains for which he bore little responsibility. If he gets burned politically by an ill-timed recession, that’s squarely on him. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2020, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/50 "2020-02-28T21:36:21Z")
[**The growing coronavirus recession threat**](https://www.axios.com/coronavirus-recession-warnings-9eb743aa-2fd2-47ac-9e85-19ff54a07d3c.html) > [@](#): > > In just a matter of weeks, top economists and investment bank analysts have gone from expecting the coronavirus outbreak to have minimal impact on the U.S. economy to warning that an outright recession may be on the horizon. > > **What’s happening:** The spread of confirmed coronavirus cases in Europe, the Middle East and the U.S., and the speed at which they are being discovered has set the table for the outbreak to have a larger and much costlier impact. > > **Between the lines:** The outbreak threatens U.S. consumer-oriented businesses like restaurants, bars and travel, which have held up the economy as business investment has turned negative and the manufacturing sector has fallen into recession, largely as a result of the U.S.-China trade war. > … Formatting in original. Anticipating this, trump and the Pubbies start blaming the Dems, Obama, Hillary, etc., in three…two…one… ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2020, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/51 "2020-02-28T22:03:41Z")
My _hope_ is that this ends up being less than I expect, which is much less than some here appear to be thinking is going to be. But if it does become what I expect, the equal of an extra flu season added on top of a regular one, maybe even an H1N1 year in terms of timing and morbidity/mortality (but NOT excessively hitting younger individuals), then it will play into election politics. Such an outcome will stress the healthcare system and budget, even just as a consequence of the “worried well” demanding testing (which won’t be cheap) for every sore throat or sniffle. Lots of outpatient visits and a good amount of medical debt piling up on a good many Boomers. Insurers will take some costs and be quickly signaling that they will be passing that on in higher premiums. Long and short of it is, and I say this as _no fan_ of Sanders or MfA, it would be advantage to a Sanders campaign, not so much crowing about the incompetence of Trump, so much providing a sales pitch backdrop for MfA as opposed to the AHA under Trump with [his proposed](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/10/upshot/health-care-trump-budget.html) $1 trillion cuts of Medicaid and ACA premium subsidies and his half trillion cut to Medicare payments. Biden would also be advantaged as the ACA would be covering people better if not for the kneecaps that Team Trump has imposed and inadequate coverage in the face of a moderately bad influenza season sized pandemic would allow an election focus to center more on healthcare, the ACA’s success, and building on it with a real public option. Be prepared for Team Trump to make the argument that tariffs and the trade war with China encouraged many American manufacturers to move away from a dependency of Chinese suppliers and cushioned some of America’s economy from the worst of the economic impacts … ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2020, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/52 "2020-02-28T23:56:08Z")
I’m not sure how to square the information in Fortune with that from the CDC, but if Trump’s defense is going to be “I TRIED to cut the CDC, but Congress wouldn’t let me”, that will be an…interesting political strategy. Good luck with that. > [@iiandyiiii](#): > > If the Trump administration totally mismanages this (which seems likely so far, considering how few competents in the administration and how many sycophantic clowns) and millions of Americans get sick (no idea how likely this is, even with the likely mismanagement), with thousands dying, then the media will have made this massively clear and it doesn’t seem possible that this wouldn’t harm the president politically. That would totally swamp any perception of the Democrats “cheering”, IMO. This. Any suggestions to the contrary strike me as desperate, whistling past the graveyard. > [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Pointing out how the republicans cut billions in funding for disease control so they could fund tax cuts for the rich that didn’t create jobs is something democrats need to hammer home each day. > > The gross incompetence, lack of concern for the safety and well being of Americans the republicans showed on this issue is something democrats need to pound home. And this. (I liked bump’s “Baghdad Bob” crack too.) > [@BobLibDem](#): > > Am I rooting for pandemic and recession? No. But if it’s going to come anyway, it might just as well come in an election year so that we can restore democracy and the rule of law. Well said! Again, it was Axelrod who advised Democrats not to waste a crisis. > [@joebuck20](#): > > Nobody here is wishing for an honest-to-goodness pandemic and/or recession. But the Democrats should hammer Trump and the GOP with extreme prejudice over their handling of this. > > The fact that this is even up for discussion really points to one of the core weaknesses of the Democratic Party these days. Do you think the Republicans would hesitate for even a second to exploit this potential crisis for all it was worth if it were happening under a Democratic president’s watch? Fuck no. > > Instead of always worrying about taking the high road, the Democrats need to learn how to play dirty, because that’s what it’s going to take to defeat Trump. Right?!? Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/53 "2020-02-29T00:20:09Z")
> [@tim314](#): > > I don’t want a recession, nor do I want a pandemic. The definite human costs of those are worse than any hypothetical political gains. > > But, if those things do happen (as seems increasingly likely), the Democrats absolutely should bring it up frequently. I agree. The Democrats should bring it up. Not that it will work. The virus could easily feed a mood of fear feeding Trumpist psychology. And COVID-19 might undercut Democratic arguments for universal coverage by the GOP plumping for some sort of virus-specific 2020-only deficit-funded free healthcare. The wild evidence-free speculation of political benefits to mass death, from some other posters, makes zero sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![cmosdes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@cmosdes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmosdes)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/54 "2020-02-29T01:15:25Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > No. > > If you drive home and don’t kill anyone, does that prove you were shitfaced drunk? > > Regards, > Shodan Do you think it is a good decision to put a man of god in charge of such a possibly looming crisis? Do you think it was a good decision to leave 700 jobs at the CDC unfilled? Is the answer to these questions only knowable based on the outcome? ---
**Author:** ![cmosdes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@cmosdes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmosdes)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/55 "2020-02-29T01:20:39Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > No. > > If you drive home and don’t kill anyone, does that prove you were shitfaced drunk? > > Regards, > Shodan Do you think it is a good decision to put a man of god in charge of such a possibly looming crisis? Do you think it was a good decision to leave 700 jobs at the CDC unfilled? Is the answer to these questions only knowable based on the outcome? ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/56 "2020-02-29T01:36:25Z")
I’m not wishing for it, but if it brings him down, that could be a silver lining. **[A coronavirus recession would likely end Trump’s presidency](https://a.msn.com/r/2/BB10wZ6y?m=en-us&referrerID=InAppShare)** > [@](#): > > …But the plunging stock market, badly spooked by the unpredictable spread and impact of the virus, is suggesting the tailwind might turn into a headwind — and that could mean a one-term Trump presidency. Wall Street banks are already cutting their economic growth forecasts for the first half of the year. Beyond that, they’re not so sure, an uncertainty reflected in wildly gyrating markets. Economic predictions about consumer demand and supply-chain disruptions are now also pandemic predictions. JPMorgan just trimmed its second-quarter projection for U.S. GDP growth by a quarter percent to 1.75 percent, but in a report to clients added that “extensive domestic ‘community spreading’ would prompt a larger downward revision.” > > Economic forecasts are always tricky business. Now, in addition to the usual mix of jobs numbers, consumer surveys, and corporate earnings reports, economists have to factor the spread of a virus whose transmissibility and lethality remains unclear. Economic consultancy Capital Economics concedes “there is no way our models can incorporate the risk of a widespread coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. which, just like it appears to have done in China, would almost inevitably cause a recession.” As it is, Moody’s Analytics predicts a 40 percent chance that the virus will grow into a global pandemic that would indeed push the United States and the rest of the global economy into a recession. > > An election-year downturn is bad for any incumbent presidential party. There have been three presidential elections since 1960 where the election year saw a recession. > … > > But here’s what should really unnerve Republicans: Avoiding an outright recession may not be good enough to save the Trump presidency. Some election analysts blame Al Gore’s loss to George W. Bush in 2000 to a mild economic slowdown during the year. Even though economic growth overall was a sizzling 4.1 percent — the fourth consecutive year of 4 percent real GDP growth or higher — growth slipped to just 0.5 percent in the third quarter and 2.5 percent in the fourth. As one analysis put it, “Our best guess, however, is that the slowdown was a major factor in Gore’s defeat… the long economic boom that arrived just a little too late to get George Bush re-elected in 1992 seems to have ended just in time to elect his son.” > … > > Expect Trump to push the Fed to cut interest rates ASAP and maybe Congress to supply fiscal stimulus. Also expect more efforts by Team Trump to talk up the market. > … ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/57 "2020-02-29T02:12:50Z")
[Trump says](https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/28/politics/donald-trump-coronavirus-miracle-stock-markets/index.html) > [@](#): > > “It’s going to disappear. One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear,” Trump said at the White House Thursday as the virus marched across Asia and Europe after US officials said the US should brace for severe disruption to everyday life. He deserves every single piece of shit that gets thrown his way on this. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/58 "2020-02-29T02:31:13Z")
Bloomberg makes the call: “The market is pricing the president’s incompetence” > ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/59 "2020-02-29T02:35:52Z")
Trump calls Coronavirus a “Democrat hoax” in his South Carolina hate rally. Remember: earlier today Mike Pompeo refused, _refused_ to deny the Coronavirus is a hoax. > > ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [February 29, 2020, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630/60 "2020-02-29T02:37:02Z")
In this thread I noticed many expecting the Republicans to use that OP sentiment against the Democrats. The Republicans are trying ('How dare you! You guys like a disaster to take place don’t you?). But, it is harder for the Republicans to do when they exude the ignorance and incompetence like their fearless leader… > **[Ted Cruz tried to mock AOC's scientific knowledge – it didn't end well](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/feb/28/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-ted-cruz-coronavirus)** > > The Texas senator tried to pick a fight after Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called out Mike Pence’s coronavirus credentials > [@](#): > > Ted Cruz tried to mock AOC’s scientific knowledge – it didn’t end well > > … > > Cutting to the heart of the matter with her characteristic bluntness, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez this week pointed out the absurdity of placing Pence in charge of a potentially looming health crisis. > > “Mike Pence literally does not believe in science,” she tweeted on Wednesday. “It is utterly irresponsible to put him in charge of US coronavirus response as the world sits on the cusp of a pandemic. This decision could cost people their lives. Pence’s past decisions already have,” she said. > > Ocasio-Cortez reminded people of Pence’s credentials for the job. While he was governor of Indiana, he oversaw an HIV crisis that was so severe that at its peak, 20 new cases of HIV were diagnosed every week. > > “As governor, Pence’s science denial contributed to one of the worst HIV outbreaks in Indiana’s history,” she continued. “He is not a medical doctor. He is not a health expert. He is not qualified nor positioned in any way to protect our public health.” > > … > > Rushing to the defense of the administration the next day, Ted Cruz jumped into the fray. > > > [@Ted Cruz](#): > > > > As you are speaking as the oracle of science, tell us, what exactly is a Y chromosome? > > > [@AOC](#): > > > > Sen. Cruz, while I understand you judge people’s intelligence by the lowest income they’ve had, I hold awards from MIT Lincoln Lab &others for accomplishments in microbiology. > > > > Secondly, I’m surprised you’re asking about chromosomes given that you don’t even believe in evolution. The aimeless Cruz missile stopped replying then. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-coronavirus-pandemic-provides-a-huge-opportunity-for-democrats/848630.md?page=4)