It looks to me like Donald Trump has only three issues he can campaign on - "Law and Order" and the "China Flu" and "socialism!!!". Pretty weak.
Given the persistent demonstrations about Black Lives Matter our president has decided that the only way to respond is to dominate the "blue cities" with para-military force. Hey, it worked for Nixon in 1968, so what the heck? Well 1968 had assassinations, massive anti-war demonstrations, civil rights demonstrations, Weather Underground bombings, violent anti-war demonstrations at the Democratic convention in Chicago, etc. It was a violent time. And the "silent majority" was afraid of the violence and responded to Nixon's appeal to the fear in the middle class. 2020 does not have that kind of violence from today's left. Indeed, today's heavily armed intimidators and killers are the radical white supremacists who have actually been killing people.
So, trying to whip up fear about a violent left falls way short in the face of a profound multi-racial and primarily peaceful support of anti-racism being demonstrated for by both left and right today.
The next issue is what he insists on calling the "Chinese Flu". Good grief. First he calls it a flu as if it is no more deadly than what we are familiar with - the flu. COVID-19 is more deadly, spreads much easier since people can carry the virus for 14 days without symptoms, and can cause heart, organ, and brain damage in those who do not die.
Second, and even worse, is by calling it the "Chinese flu" he gets to do the only thing he is good at - blaming others for his failures. Sure, it started in China. And sure, the Chinese reacted poorly at the start. But the one who refused to see and act on how terrible the pandemic was to become is Trump - he dismissed it, downplayed it, bragged about how great he was responding to it, etc. etc. He caused it to become much, much worse in America than any other prosperous democracy. He did not use emergency powers to mandate manufacture and use of masks and other Personal Protective Equipment, or tests, or vaccines. There is NO national response to the pandemic other than a national collapse of the economy as it spreads throughout our country. Astonishing level of presidential failure.
Third, is his pathetic warning about himself being the last defense against tyrannical socialism. The Democratic voters spoke very loud and clear - they went against the left wingers of Sanders and Warren. They looked at the field and chose Biden as the moderate to support. And they did so decisively and very quickly. Biden is not a fire breathing leftie no matter how much Trump and Fox News wants people to think he is. He is a moderate, stable, sane politician with decades of experience and history that prove he is not about to nationalize the oil industry.
So, Trump has no issue to run on other than those that excite the hard core right wing who are lost in the media bubbles of Fox News and talk radio shouters.
His desperation to keep from going down in history as one of the biggest losers of all time becomes increasingly evident as he hysterically grabs headlines with more and more outlandish statements and threats. He is a very wounded man, psychologically, and increasingly, a very wounded man politically as well.
Thank the dear Lord.
