# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/41 "2020-03-17T04:28:08Z")
> [@Nonsuch](#): > > That, and they’ll continue to pass it to one another at the massive rallies Trump has said he will continue to hold. This. When he finally visited the CDC, one of the people there suggested large gatherings needed to be camcelled, such as his rallies. In his egotistical superiority, he said something to the effect that his loyal followers wouldn’t let a little old coronavirus prevent them from attending a rally where they could worship him. It was a very bad joke that fell flat. Let them gather! Just make sure you have some coughing, sneezing, feverish folk planted amongst the masses. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/42 "2020-03-17T04:33:18Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > His approval on fivethirtyeight is holding steady at 42.5%, there is nothing that will convince his base that he’s incompetent. If you also look on FiveThirtyEight and check out the _[state polls](https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/)_ in a Trump/Biden matchup you will find Biden leading in polls in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio (!), North Carolina (!!!) and, of all places Arizona (!!!) If you go to [270toWin](https://www.270towin.com) and start with the states Hillary won you will quickly realize there are a variety of combinations of those states that will result in DJT losing in November. Yeah, I know we are months away from Election Day but as Covid-19 continues to spread, as more people get sick and as others lose work, all while the economy plunges into recession…I don’t see how DJT or the GOP comes out of this in good shape. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/43 "2020-03-17T04:38:28Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > You hope. > > Why would his base give a shit about the Dow? They don’t own stock. I am afraid they will suffer unduly from Covid though. So will all red-staters since their governors are still in denial and anti-science. Trump promised that the good jobs would come back from China. By November the virus will be a memory - but if there is still high unemployment, the Trump supporters without a pot to piss in will either vote for good old Joe - one of them - or stay home. The Republicans will try to blame everyone but him, but the bottom line will be he didn’t deliver. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/44 "2020-03-17T04:48:29Z")
> [@Lance\_Turbo](#): > > [Video emerges showing Trump talking about cutting pandemic team in 2018, despite saying last week ‘I didn’t know about it’](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/coronavirus-video-trump-pandemic-team-cut-2018-a9405191.html) > > Damn. Didn’t happen, fake news lalalalalalala I can’t hear you! ---
**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:** [March 17, 2020, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/45 "2020-03-17T09:48:17Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > I’m sure he doesn’t believe in fire extinguishers either. > > COVID will not take Trump down. His supporters voted for him in the first place. > > Decent people that go to the polls to vote will. IF they are permitted to vote. IF their votes are counted. IF the Electoral College doesn’t fuck us over again. :mad: **[The five ways Republicans will crack down on voting rights in 2020](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/13/voter-suppression-2020-democracy-americahttp://)** > [@](#): > > Intimidation of minority voters > We’re likely to see more abusive use of state power to intimidate and criminalize Asian Americans, African Americans and Hispanics for voting or registering minorities to vote. Georgia, in fact, has been notorious in this regard. And continues to be so. > > In Texas, meanwhile, acting secretary of state David Whitley announced in January 2019 that he had a list of 95,000 non-citizens (immigrants) who were registered to vote in the state. Worse yet, he claimed, 58,000 of them had already cast a ballot in an election. He quickly turned over the names of these apparent miscreants to Texas’ attorney general to pursue criminal prosecution. > > Whitley’s claim was, in the end, a lie. … > Curbing voter registration > Another tactic, which Tennessee tried after 2018, is to criminalize voter registration drives. Initially, it would seem that a state ranked at the very bottom in the nation in voter turnout and close to the bottom in those registered to vote would try to improve their citizens’ participation in democracy. Instead, as the New York Times reported, when “tens of thousands of new black and Latino voters were registered in Tennessee in the run-up to the 2018 midterm elections” the Republican-dominated legislature complained that many of the registration forms were incomplete and that the only viable solution was to hold those who held these voter registration drives criminally and financially accountable. Although a judge has struck down the law, the threat of what Tennessee Republicans are willing to do hangs there. > Felon disenfranchisement > Florida has also tried to stem the tide of new voters coming to the polls. After a citizen-led ballot initiative passed to restore voting rights to 1.4 million felons who had served their sentences, Republicans began searching for some way to neutralize the effect. Given that more than 20% of all African American adults were disenfranchised in Florida because of a felony conviction, and that the overwhelming majority of blacks vote for Democrats, the Republicans added a rider to “clarify” that a completed sentence required paying all of the court fines, fees, and penalties accrued during the trial and incarceration before the returning citizens’ voting rights would be restored. No matter how many ways the GOP tried to dress this up, this was a poll tax. It made access to the ballot box solely dependent upon the ability to pay. > > A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Florida law. But, he left enough room in his decision that the legislature could tweak, tweak, tweak until it has sowed the kind of confusion about eligibility that depresses voter turnout. > Election security issues > While Florida reached back to 19th-century Jim Crow to try to institute a poll tax, other states like Georgia are inviting full-fledged 21st-century hacking to tilt elections. There is already the 127,000 missing votes in the 2018 lieutenant-governor’s race. That was so mysterious that experts, but not Georgia’s election officials, tracked the discrepancy down to predominantly black precincts on election day. The missing votes did not come from white Democratic-leaning precincts or black precincts where voters used absentee ballots or early voting. The discrepancy happened only to those in predominantly black precincts, who used the machines on election day. Their votes just disappeared. > Partisan courthouses > The final, and overarching ominous sign is Senate Republicans’ determination to pack the federal courts with judges, more of whom than ever before have been rated “unqualified” by the American Bar Association and whose only expertise is hostility to civil rights, including the right to vote. As Dahlia Lithwick wrote, this is a “dangerous game of ‘How Many More Judges Can They Ram Through Before Democracy Breaks?’” > > So far, the federal courts have beat back the most egregious voter suppression tactics, like Tennessee’s voter registration law, but if the Republicans can hold on to the Senate after 2020, the federal judiciary will hit a tipping point that will eviscerate what’s left of this democracy. > > We’ve been here before. After the civil war, the supreme court gutted the constitutional amendments defining citizenship, due process, and the right to vote. It took more than 100 years, numerous legal battles, and an epic civil rights movement to recover from that debacle. > … (My indents) Voting is necessary but not sufficient. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/46 "2020-03-17T12:33:04Z")
Trump is going to run on lies and blaming everyone but himself. And a lot of (mainly) old, white Americans are going to think like this: "I don’t really think anyone could have done better on the Coronavirus, and it’s important we stop the Democrats from (pick from list) [ul] [li]killing babies[/li][li]taking guns[/li][li]doing socialist[/li][li]letting mexicans in[/li][li]hating god[/li][li]govern[/li][/ul] Also, Trump (pick from list):[ul] [li]Will bring our troops home[/li][li]Keep our military strong[/li][li]Put America First[/li][li]Put our businesses first[/li][li]Piss off the libs[/li][/ul]" He could lose, but I wouldn’t put my life savings on any outcome, even with corona. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/47 "2020-03-17T12:42:55Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > **Coronavirus will finish Trump’s presidency** > > No, it won’t. [Damn good argument.](https://www.theonion.com/this-war-will-destabilize-the-entire-mideast-region-and-1819594296) ---
**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:** [March 17, 2020, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/48 "2020-03-17T14:56:07Z")
Not sure where to post this… don’t want to start yet another CV thread… **[Poll: As Coronavirus Spreads, Fewer Americans See Pandemic As A Real Threat March 17, 20205:01 AM ET](https://www.npr.org/2020/03/17/816501871/poll-as-coronavirus-spreads-fewer-americans-see-pandemic-as-a-real-threat?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news)** > [@](#): > > In February, a little more than a quarter of U.S. adults believed the coronavirus was being blown out of proportion. Now, that number has risen to nearly 40% of respondents. > > Pollsters found that both shifts are largely driven by changes in opinion by Republicans. **For instance, 72% of Republicans saw the coronavirus as a real threat in early February, but that figure has now plummeted to 40% of Republicans now believing the deadly virus is a serious menace.** > > **And a majority of Republicans — 54% — now say the response to the coronavirus is overblown, a significant jump from last month, when about 23% of Republicans held that view.** > > Fewer independents, too, see the coronavirus as a real threat. Fifty percent of them view it as such now, compared with 64% of independents last month who said the virus was legitimately threatening. > > Democrats remained the most unchanged on this question. An increasing number of them — 76% — now say the danger of the coronavirus is real, up from 70% last month. > … My bold. WTF?? maybe it’s too late to change their minds, even though The Donald has decided now that CV is “the enemy.” They really ARE that stupid, I guess. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![CastletonSnob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ea924/32.png) [@CastletonSnob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CastletonSnob)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/49 "2020-03-17T15:20:14Z")
People said the same thing about his response to Hurricane Maria. Sorry about the double post. You have to remember that even after all the bad Trump has done, his approval rating still hasn’t dropped below 40%. ---
**Author:** ![CastletonSnob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ea924/32.png) [@CastletonSnob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CastletonSnob)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/50 "2020-03-17T15:21:47Z")
People said the same thing about his response to Hurricane Maria. ---
**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 17, 2020, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/51 "2020-03-17T15:44:43Z")
It may not be the virus itself so much as the economic consequences of it that sink his reelection. If, as seems likely, we head into full-blown recession and unemployment spikes massively, that’s him done, barring a (dark) miracle. His hardcore, never-to-be-convinced-otherwise base is not big enough on its own to carry him to victory again. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/52 "2020-03-17T17:05:52Z")
I’m not sure that it’s worth it to even discuss the effect of \*anything \*on his base any more. The only thing that matters in November is whether the Dems are stirred up enough – there are plenty of us to get the job done and his base can’t stop us. Only we can stop us. ---
**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:** [March 17, 2020, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/53 "2020-03-17T17:13:13Z")
> [@Red\_Wiggler](#): > > I’m not sure that it’s worth it to even discuss the effect of \*anything \*on his base any more. The only thing that matters in November is whether the Dems are stirred up enough – there are plenty of us to get the job done and his base can’t stop us. Only we can stop us. AND whether they will be allowed to vote, and whether those votes will be counted. Republican dirty tricks will be in full play! ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/54 "2020-03-17T18:07:44Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Sam Harris recently said that this virus appears to have been custom designed to decimate the Trump Cult population. I thought that it was really short sighted of Harris, given that it’s a worldwide pandemic that will hurt populations that take no part in the Trump Cult. However, if what you say is true and Trump continues to hold large rallies, I will have to grant Harris his due. I was perusing my usual latrine literature, the [Wordsworth Dictionary of the American West](https://www.amazon.com/Wordsworth-Dictionary-American-West-Collection/product-reviews/1853263567), and came upon the entry for **cultus**. It’s a Chinook (trade language) term meaning worthless, useless. How appropriate for cultists. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/55 "2020-03-17T20:35:15Z")
> [@CastletonSnob](#): > > People said the same thing about his response to Hurricane Maria. I thought her name was Melanie ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/56 "2020-03-17T21:05:45Z")
We’ll see who’s left to vote and vote for in November. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2020, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/57 "2020-03-17T23:34:25Z")
They’re preparing for [20% unemployment rate](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-17/mnuchin-warns-virus-could-yield-20-jobless-rate-without-action-k7wheob8). ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2020, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/58 "2020-03-18T12:01:54Z")
“Only I can solve this. You have no choice, you have to re-elect me to get this fixed.” ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2020, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/59 "2020-03-18T13:18:09Z")
It will finish Trump if he gets it, he’s at that at risk age group, his health is questionable to what he claims it is (obviously out of breath at times in speeches, and sometimes doesn’t show up with those who are accompanying him, like he has to rest add to that Trump seems to eat fast food crap a lot. And this virus attacks the respiratory system. Not good for Mr Trump. He also has a tendency to not tell the truth, can’t believe his health report nor his Covid19 status testing. But he has at his disposal the best doctors that money can buy, I’m not talking about presidential doctors, but from his former days, but now with presidential resources. He also acts very much as a illusion, so while we may be seeing him with others, there may be things going on behind the scenes keeping Mr. Trump safe. If Mr Trump does get sick I suspect he will ‘disappear’ from public view. He may twitter and make other statements but not in a public way. He does not want to portray that he is mortal, nor that he is infirm. ---
**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 18, 2020, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597/60 "2020-03-18T14:21:13Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > It will finish Trump if he gets it… ‘And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.’ - Revelations 13:5, KJV Or: ‘There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him.’ - Revelations 13:5, NASB Forty-two months would be July. July or August has been predicted to be when the pandemic reaches its peak in the U.S. Just sayin’. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-will-finish-trumps-presidency/849597.md?page=4)