# WTF happened to improve Trump’s odds of re-election? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 9, 2020, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-improve-trump-s-odds-of-re-election/914869 "2020-07-09T21:14:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-improve-trump-s-odds-of-re-election/914869/161 "2020-07-18T15:13:39Z")
The message is very clear: “It’ll be far far worse if the Lefties get into power. All this craziness is despite the Righties best efforts to contain / reverse it.” And for the folks stoked on the Fox-RW narrative, it’s a very very powerful and seductive message. I wish this was not so. But I believe it is so. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-improve-trump-s-odds-of-re-election/914869/162 "2020-07-18T15:17:47Z")
Trump is in serious trouble mainly because it’s hard to make the reality of a pandemic disappear with lies. He can lie about high crimes and misdemeanors because the typical cynical voter assumes impeachment is just democrats out to get the other party. And they probably thought that the pandemic was being overhyped by democrats for the same reason in February, and perhaps even as late as March. The crazy part is that while Trump and the GOP totally botched the initial pandemic response, they actually got the economic response mostly right - and you gotta understand it’s like putting my balls in a vice grip to admit that much. Sure, they’re co-opting liberal ideas, but so what? They got it right. But everything else since March has been an unmitigated disaster, and they’ve gone to such great lengths to create this white male, macho, tough guy “I ain’t wearin no mask, I’m gonna go out, ride my Harl- er, Indian, and hoist my AR-15 in the air” cult. And that’s what they’ve created: a white nationalist anti-science, anti-fact cult. And it’s literally killing people. Like my ole pappy used to say, “If you lock people in an outhouse long enough, they will eventually realize they’re standing over a pile of shit. Give 'em time.” – Okay, I made that up, but you get the stench. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-improve-trump-s-odds-of-re-election/914869/163 "2020-07-18T17:35:45Z")
Trump is gonna try to parlay the ongoing protests in Portland Ore into letting his brownshirts run free. “Antifa terrorists”, etc. Hey Portland protesters- time to go home. Let the ACLU handle this, all you are doing now is helping trump win. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-improve-trump-s-odds-of-re-election/914869/164 "2020-07-18T17:51:14Z")
> [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](#): > > Now, it’s July - four months later relative to the respective election days. There will be no other campaigns by Republicans. The party is unlikely to coalesce behind another candidate. Trump could decline to run, but that wouldn’t be ‘pulling an LBJ’. It’d be doing something else entirely. Maybe it’s just me, but I can totally see Donny Two-scoops announcing the Friday before election day that he is suspending his campaign and will not serve as a final FU to the Republicans he’s convinced into supporting him. Donald J Trump has never given a rat’s ass about anything in his life but Donald J Trump and it would the the perfect end to a five-year con. ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-improve-trump-s-odds-of-re-election/914869/165 "2020-07-18T19:36:42Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Maybe it’s just me, but I can totally see Donny Two-scoops announcing the Friday before election day that he is suspending his campaign and will not serve as a final FU to the Republicans he’s convinced into supporting him. Well, I don’t think that’s going to happen. It seems he really does like being President (not doing that job, of course, but the adulation that he receives from his superfans.) I can’t imagine him giving that up voluntarily, but if he’s down double digits four days before the election, who knows… But I’d give 10-1 odds (figure of speech, not proposing a bet) he will still be ‘in the election’ on November 3. But, my point is, even if it did happen, it’s so totally completely different from what LBJ did in '68 that you couldn’t call it ‘pulling an LBJ.’ It’s something completely new and unprecedented. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-improve-trump-s-odds-of-re-election/914869/166 "2020-07-18T21:29:49Z")
Just thought I’d update… Since this thread started on July 9, things have been pretty steady. A very slight rise Biden over that time period. > ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2020, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-improve-trump-s-odds-of-re-election/914869/167 "2020-07-19T16:41:13Z")
I’ve watched Martha McSally go from “Trump is disgusting” (regarding the _Grab 'em by the pussy_ quote) in 2016 to sucking the Trump teat in 2018 (and losing – she was appointed to fill McCain’s seat). Since then, her election campaign has gone from _We’re all in this together_ (regarding Corona) in March to the current _Mark Kelly is in Commie-China’s pocket!!1!_ Meanwhile, while she pumps up her military experience and veteranhood, there’s not a peep about Russian bounties. I’m betting when she backs off from being a (s)Trumpet in the next month or so, like a remora leaving a dead shark, her campaign manager will have figured Donnie Two-scoops’ coat tails are not working any more. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2020, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-improve-trump-s-odds-of-re-election/914869/168 "2020-07-22T22:30:26Z")
For those who care, Dems are back to -190 (Biden -185) and Republicans +150 (Trump +150). ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2020, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-improve-trump-s-odds-of-re-election/914869/169 "2020-07-23T23:32:49Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Maybe it’s just me, but I can totally see Donny Two-scoops announcing the Friday before election day that he is suspending his campaign and will not serve as a final FU to the Republicans he’s convinced into supporting him. Donald J Trump has never given a rat’s ass about anything in his life but Donald J Trump and it would the the perfect end to a five-year con. Naw, Trump is too in love with the idea of his own importance to pull out of the race. He’s delusional enough to think he _deserves_ to be President _and_ that he is doing a good job. He wants to be President For Life. There’s no way he will drop out at the last minute. After all, all that would accomplish is get Pence elected, assuming the Repubs magically pull off the upset. Trump is more likely to FU the country by calling off the election because of the pandemic. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2020, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-improve-trump-s-odds-of-re-election/914869/170 "2020-07-24T17:50:43Z")
Yeah, deep down inside I know that. It’s t\rather like the fantasy I’ve posted on these boards a couple times now of him sitting in his prison cell, contemplating on how he done fucked up when he decided that running for President was a good idea. The man isn’t capable of contemplating anything. If he ever _does_ wind up in a cell, I can see the warden giving him a smartphone that doesn’t connect anywhere so he can spend the day composing Tweet after Tweet without disturbing us, and the staff won’t have to put up with his incessant whining about how unfair it all was. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2020, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-improve-trump-s-odds-of-re-election/914869/171 "2020-07-24T18:42:47Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > Naw, Trump is too in love with the idea of his own importance to pull out of the race. He’s delusional enough to think he _deserves_ to be President _and_ that he is doing a good job. He wants to be President For Life. There’s no way he will drop out at the last minute. It has nothing to do with self-importance; it has everything to do with his survival. He has to remain president to survive, which makes him dangerous. It makes others around him who enable him and have similar exposure to legal jeopardy dangerous, too. This is one reason strongmen try to stay in power - because they’re in too deep, and they know they have to. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2020, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-improve-trump-s-odds-of-re-election/914869/172 "2020-07-24T18:59:50Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > The message is very clear: “It’ll be far far worse if the Lefties get into power. All this craziness is despite the Righties best efforts to contain / reverse it.” > > And for the folks stoked on the Fox-RW narrative, it’s a very very powerful and seductive message. > > I wish this was not so. But I believe it is so. I disagree. The only people who see Trump as their savior in a race war are the people who decided the day after the 2016 election that they were going to vote for him in 2020. Actual swing voters are thinking “We didn’t have all this rioting when Obama was running things. It all started when Trump became President.” ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2020, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-improve-trump-s-odds-of-re-election/914869/173 "2020-08-07T02:42:53Z")
Wait. You’re worried about a possible threat more than an actual, I can see it on TV, it’s happening a few miles from here threat? Sorry. Was trying to get through the whole thread before responding. Couldn’t resist. ---
**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2020, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-improve-trump-s-odds-of-re-election/914869/174 "2020-08-07T13:07:44Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > Wait. You’re worried about a possible threat more than an actual, I can see it on TV, it’s happening a few miles from here threat? Are you under the impression that riots have killed more people in the US this year than COVID? Also **suranyi** said, “miles,” which you, for some reason, changed to, “few miles.” I’m sure the vast majority of Americans live closer to the home of someone who died of the virus than that of someone who died in a riot. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2020, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-improve-trump-s-odds-of-re-election/914869/175 "2020-08-07T15:10:24Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I disagree. The only people who see Trump as their savior in a race war are the people who decided the day after the 2016 election that they were going to vote for him in 2020. Happened to listen to NPR the other day, and they did a short piece on Kansas elections. They had a clip of a woman saying essentially that Trump was the best Pres of all time, and the only other who could compare was Lincoln. To clarify, she said something like, “At least he speaks his mind, which so few politicians do.” - ending with a chuckle. Not sure if she thought she was saying something funny, or chuckling to signal she was saying something unpopular that was so obvious it shouldn’t need to be said. I can imagine someone coming up with SOME basis for preferring Trump over Biden, or even to say that they approve of his presidency, or say he’s better than Clinton would’ve been. But to suggest he’s better than any President other than Lincoln? Insanity! And that person’s vote is worth exactly as much as mine. More, in fact, as she has greater proportional representation in the Senate. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2020, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-improve-trump-s-odds-of-re-election/914869/176 "2020-08-07T15:31:23Z")
Definitely. I know people who have gotten sick from COVID. I even know people who have died. That’s not even including the massive inconvenience: No schools, no concerts, no sports, no travel, etc. I don’t know anybody who has been affected by the riots in any way. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2020, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-improve-trump-s-odds-of-re-election/914869/177 "2020-08-07T17:05:52Z")
I know someone whose commute was longer, that’s about it. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@chappachula1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula1)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2020, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-improve-trump-s-odds-of-re-election/914869/178 "2020-08-07T17:20:17Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Actual swing voters are thinking “We didn’t have all this rioting when Obama was running things. It all started when Trump became President. no, the opposite is true. Swing voters are thinking “we didn’t have all this violence before…but now the lib-ur-als are rioting, burning police stations, threatening to take over entire cities and defund the police so that there will be nobody to protect me. and the Democrats support all this fully and proudly . I’m definitely going to vote for Trump.” Prepare yourself for 4 more years of Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2020, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-improve-trump-s-odds-of-re-election/914869/179 "2020-08-07T18:13:09Z")
> [@chappachula1](#): > > no, the opposite is true. Swing voters are thinking “we didn’t have all this violence before…but now the lib-ur-als are rioting, burning police stations, threatening to take over entire cities and defund the police so that there will be nobody to protect me. and the Democrats support all this fully and proudly . I’m definitely going to vote for Trump.” > > Prepare yourself for 4 more years of Trump. I really doubt you can find ten people in this entire country who are thinking that - and didn’t vote for Trump in 2016. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@chappachula1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula1)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2020, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-improve-trump-s-odds-of-re-election/914869/180 "2020-08-07T18:25:39Z")
| hope you’re right. But there are a lot more than 10 people who are non-political, and don’t really care whether they vote or not. They may have voted for Trump 4 years ago because he was exciting and new, but this year those same people are willing to sit out and ignore politics, and not bother voting. Until they see graphic videos on Fox news showing the entire country being burnt down by the lib-ur-als. That will motivate them to get up off the couch and vote again. (maybe for only the second time in their lives). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-improve-trump-s-odds-of-re-election/914869.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-happened-to-improve-trump-s-odds-of-re-election/914869.md?page=10)