# Coronavirus will finish Trump's presidency **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 16, 2020, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597 "2020-03-16T17:46:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**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:** [March 25, 2020, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/249 "2020-03-25T21:50:42Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > I’ve always doubted Biden’s ability as a candidate, but now I have a truly sickening feeling. He’s been leaning hard into gun control, also, which scares the hell out of me. Obama caught a lot of heat for claiming that people “cling to guns”, but he was dead right - people do cling to anything that gives them a sense of security, and when this pandemic is finally over I think a lot of people are going to be thinking, “by God, at least I had my guns in case society did fall apart.” Yet another thing that is going to weaken Biden’s electoral chances. I agree. Of all election years for a Democrat to call for gun control, a pandemic and crashing economy in which people fear looting or home invasions is not the time for it. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/250 "2020-03-25T22:03:59Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I agree. Of all election years for a Democrat to call for gun control, a pandemic and crashing economy in which people fear looting or home invasions is not the time for it. I’m a Liberal. Call me a Democratic Socialist. I’m also a gun owner (I probably have more firearms than most or all of us here), so I can see both sides of the issue. In my opinion, this country has many, many more problems than gun violence. That’s not to say gun violence isn’t a problem; only that I consider such things as universal health care, an expanded safety net, easier/cheaper entry into higher learning, less ‘free money’ for the rich and more money for consumers, etc. as having higher priorities. ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/251 "2020-03-25T22:17:22Z")
Most liberals (including me) agree with **Johnny L.A.**. But people who love guns, as we know, REALLY love them. Probably the most reliable single-issue voting bloc in this country. Which is why it’s a loser issue for Democrats at the best of times, and especially now. ---
**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:** [March 25, 2020, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/252 "2020-03-25T23:19:52Z")
What \*\*Nonsuch \*\*said has been the conventional wisdom for many years. I believed it myself until recently, when the hosts of the podcast _The Pollsters_ cited recent surveys that show the intensity of feeling has actually shifted dramatically to the anti-gun side. Some of this may be because Trump is president and therefore right wingers are not as worried. But even compared to during the most recent Bush administration, it was a significant difference IIRC. > [@Ale](#): > > To that question, it’s a matter of perspective. > > Take a cylinder, if someone sees it from the side it looks like a square, if someone sees it from the top it looks like a circle. But a pile of steaming feces looks like shit from any angle. :dubious: I firmly reject the idea that if I fail to see the angle that shows Trump to have even minimal fitness for the presidency, I’m the one who’s being “stupid” (your word). Sorry, but I think that label should be aimed elsewhere, to nearly half the voting population. (Or, sure, some of them may just be malevolent rather than stupid.) > [@JohnT](#): > > And GET THE FUCK OFF FACEBOOK. > > (The above was meant for everyone. FB is such a mentally toxic pool of lies and disinformation your screen should require sanitizing.) People are constantly saying stuff like this, but I have been on Facebook since 2007 and it’s nothing like that for me. Sounds like other people need to get better friends! > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > 'There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’ - Isaac Asimov Great quote! Do you know the date? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/253 "2020-03-26T00:06:47Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Great quote! Do you know the date? 1980, in an [essay](https://aphelis.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/ASIMOV_1980_Cult_of_Ignorance.pdf) in his _Newsweek_ column, ‘My Turn’. ---
**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:** [March 26, 2020, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/254 "2020-03-26T00:25:52Z")
Thanks! ETA: Still ambivalent about the wisdom of Democrats campaigning on this just yet, but if and when they do, this is an awfully good ad: [https://twitter.com/AmandiOnAir/status/1242811675797061633](https://twitter.com/AmandiOnAir/status/1242811675797061633) ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/255 "2020-03-26T00:36:47Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Thanks! > > ETA: Still ambivalent about the wisdom of Democrats campaigning on this just yet, but if and when they do, this is an awfully good ad: [https://twitter.com/AmandiOnAir/status/1242811675797061633](https://twitter.com/AmandiOnAir/status/1242811675797061633) I think that ad should drop George H.W. Bush at the beginning (what’s the “crisis” that came to his presidency? The invasion of Kuwait? That’s stretching it.) And it should insert a clip of Trump doing something exceptionally juvenile, just like the [intro](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP9gBWoa0mI) of Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Who Is America”, to contrast with the other presidents. Hell, I think it would be effective if it were just a somber montage of coronavirus victims and then a cut to Trump waving his hands and saying “duuuhhhhhh, I don’t know what I said!”. ---
**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:** [March 26, 2020, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/256 "2020-03-26T00:50:03Z")
I’m sure before all is said and done, we’ll see a variety. He’s a target rich environment! The Trump campaign is actually suing in court about this other ad: [https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1242935820757204992](https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1242935820757204992) ETA: Bush had a recession and Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait, I think those count. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/257 "2020-03-26T01:55:52Z")
I can already see the narratives spewing out. Let’s say the Coronavirus outbreak does get a little worse, peaks and then largely recedes by May. The stocks come back, the economy comes back strong, maybe not really to where it was but there is a perception of strength and return to normalcy. With six months at that point left till the election Trump will run as the president who defeated the virus. Man, it’s like Joe Biden doesn’t even exist right now, he hasn’t really been in the news. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/258 "2020-03-26T02:28:38Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > The Trump campaign is actually suing in court about this other ad: [https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1242935820757204992](https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1242935820757204992) This needs to turn into a Streisand Effect. It’s very telling that the campaign is going after content providers rather than trying to sue Priorities USA. ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/259 "2020-03-26T04:12:49Z")
Just dropped in to say that my father-in-law had Fucker Carlson on tonight. They’re beating the gun control gun big time. In spite of the sunshine that Trump is spewing, Carlson had people on decrying that cities are closing gun shops just as unrest is breaking out. They went on with how prisoners are being let out of jails, police and ordinary people are afraid to intervene when a crime is being committed right in front of them, and crime is rising in our major cities. Of course, they didn’t provide much evidence of this new sequel to _The Purge_, but they were very clear that the libs are disarming America in the face of coming lawlessness. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/260 "2020-03-26T04:33:48Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > The Trump campaign is actually suing in court about this other ad: [https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1242935820757204992](https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1242935820757204992) Well in fairness it is a _nasty_ ad. ---
**Author:** ![Warm\_blood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Warm\_blood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Warm_blood)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/261 "2020-03-26T04:45:44Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Trump would have had to massively fail for this to really hurt him. And he hasn’t massively failed. He’s made good calls and bad calls. He’s said the right thing, and incredibly stupid things. But by and large, he’s done what other world leaders have been doing - some things better than most, some things not. You can’t be serious. This is a joke, right? ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/262 "2020-03-26T04:52:07Z")
> [@Warm\_blood](#): > > You can’t be serious. This is a joke, right? Gavin Newsome, governor of California apparently doesn’t think it’s a joke: [https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newsweek.com/californias-democrat-governor-praises-trumps-coronavirus-response-every-single-thing-he-said-1491294%3famp=1](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newsweek.com/californias-democrat-governor-praises-trumps-coronavirus-response-every-single-thing-he-said-1491294%3famp=1) ---
**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:** [March 26, 2020, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/263 "2020-03-26T04:52:44Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Well in fairness it is a _nasty_ ad. Kind of like the “nasty” women who ask him questions at press conferences? ETA: All that 16-day-old Newsweek cite shows is that Newsom (whose ex-wife is now Donald Trump Jr.'s fiancée, which is beyond bizarre including the fact that she’s actually several years older than he is, a real faux pas in Trump World) was narrowly satisfied with Trump’s assistance regarding one single cruise ship. There was no other subject discussed in his statement. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/264 "2020-03-26T05:01:24Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Kind of like the “nasty” women who ask him questions at press conferences? > > ETA: All that 16-day-old Newsweek cite shows is that Newsom (whose ex-wife is now Donald Trump Jr.'s fiancée, which is beyond bizarre including the fact that she’s actually several years older than he is, a real faux pas in Trump World) was narrowly satisfied with Trump’s assistance regarding one single cruise ship. There was no other subject discussed in his statement. Say what you want and I don’t necessarily disagree but I think this is Trump’s shining moment where he will look the most presidential he ever has if only as a matter of perception by the public and his poll numbers seem to reflect that. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/265 "2020-03-26T05:15:52Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Kind of like the “nasty” women who ask him questions at press conferences? I’m not sure who’s whooshing who, but yeah that’s what I meant. The new definition of “nasty” is anyone or anything that exposes Trump’s wrongdoing. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/266 "2020-03-26T05:36:25Z")
> [@pool](#): > > Say what you want and I don’t necessarily disagree but I think this is Trump’s shining moment where he will look the most presidential he ever has if only as a matter of perception by the public and his poll numbers seem to reflect that. I think he looks like shit, to be honest. With each new press conference he looks and sounds more haggard, tired, confused, and impotent than the last. He can’t troll his way out of this, and he can’t dismiss it with smug sarcasm or cutting remarks. He looks like shit, but the Democrats look equally impotent and pathetic. Before all of this shit really hit the fan, I thought Biden was looking sort of halfway decent. He had some momentum from the primary and he sounded like he had some balls when he spoke. But my faith in his ability to deliver the election is eroding quickly. The Coronavirus is a game changer and neither Biden nor any of his surrogates have really “seized the moment” with the necessary rhetoric and public presence. I realize that campaigning is severely hindered when everyone is sequestered like this, and there’s a limit to how much he can do. I actually just talked to my dad about this - a very depressing conversation. He had been extremely sanguine about Biden and confident that he was the man to make Trump a one-term president, even with (_what he perceives to be_) Bernie undermining his campaign. Until this past week. He said, “with all the money Bloomberg is supposedly pumping into the Democratic campaign, we ought to be seeing an absolute barrage of well-produced and hard-hitting attack ads hammering the shit out of Trump’s mishandling of this pandemic…where are they?” ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/267 "2020-03-26T06:14:30Z")
> [@pool](#): > > I can already see the narratives spewing out. Let’s say the Coronavirus outbreak does get a little worse, peaks and then largely recedes by May. Exponential curves don’t work that way. Don’t believe me; check with immunologists. Let’s say the prognosis is pretty much as forecast but Tramp and Pants (and immediate families) get excellent medical care. Meanwhile millions are dead, tens of millions are sick, zillions are not working, and the bailout checks have run out. Your family, friends, and ex-co-workers are coughing up blood, same as many in the US. What happens to Tramp and Pants when their protective squads start losing spouses, parents, children? COVID could end this administration long before the scheduled general election. ---
**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:** [March 26, 2020, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/268 "2020-03-26T06:14:40Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > I actually just talked to my dad about this - a very depressing conversation. He had been extremely sanguine about Biden and confident that he was the man to make Trump a one-term president, even with (_what he perceives to be_) Bernie undermining his campaign. Until this past week. He said, “with all the money Bloomberg is supposedly pumping into the Democratic campaign, we ought to be seeing an absolute barrage of well-produced and hard-hitting attack ads hammering the shit out of Trump’s mishandling of this pandemic…where are they?” I suspect the reason we aren’t seeing that yet is because there are political grandees advising Bloomberg who agree with David Axelrod that it’s too risky to run ads like that right now. And they might be right–I’m really torn about that. But there’s still plenty of time. And Trump looks like he’s getting ready to make a potentially grave political error by getting businesses to reopen in mid-April, just when things are likely to be getting a lot worse. I do agree that it’s somewhat deflating that we will never get to see the alternate reality of Biden coming out of Super Tuesday on a tear and potentially rolling through a normal political season from there. Whatever else we can say about this unprecedented scenario we are living through, it’s actually pretty unsatisfying for a political junkie. Baseball and basketball fans aren’t the only ones not getting their “fix” these days. However, I also believe that Trump is limited in how much he can gain here. It kind of feels like, even with all the bizarre circumstance around this election, people have already made their minds up about Trump long ago and we are just going to get what we were always going to get in the election, no matter what happens with the coronavirus and no matter what ads anyone does or does not run. I \*think \*“what we were always going to get” most likely means a comfortable Biden win in the popular vote and a narrow Biden win in the Electoral College. Not a lock by any means, but if it’s an even money bet I’ll take Biden rather than Trump. Give me Trump as a 2-1 underdog, and he looks like a better bet. So I guess Biden is to my mind something like a 60 percent favorite. (Which is not, to be very clear, the same as saying he is going to get 60 percent of the vote! Probably more like 52 percent.) > [@Mijin](#): > > I’m not sure who’s whooshing who, but yeah that’s what I meant. Why does anyone need to be whooshing anyone here? 😕 I thought we were just both riffing on the same phenomenon. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597.md?page=14)