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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump will accept a 'steady' few hundred coronavirus deaths a day as the cost of his reelection
Washington Post/Politics/Analysis
Philip Bump
July 6, 2020 at 9:28 a.m. MST
His ability to convince America that it should do the same depends on a deeply flawed argument
President Trump presents his approach to the coronavirus pandemic as being rooted in optimism. Hes said so explicitly, arguing that its his role to offer hope to the public. This motivation is reflected in nearly everything he says about the virus: that there will soon be a vaccine, that it will go away, that there are or will be drugs which can ameliorate its worst effects.
This isn't really optimism, though. It's safer to describe it as a disinterest in addressing negative consequences over the long term. Trump fights no battle that lasts much beyond the following day's sunrise. One effect is to hype short-term victories which will obviously soon be shown to be hollow, like Trump's repeated predictions about how low the death toll from the pandemic would be.
So we get the administration's new approach to the pandemic, one which resembles the final moments of a climactic battle scene in an action movie. The protagonist, after fending off enemy after enemy, sees the finish line in sight. So he puts his shoulder down and makes a mad rush for perceived safety. In this case, the finish line is Election Day. In this case, the enemy is Americans who've died of covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
An unnamed government official summarized the administration's approach succinctly in an interview with NBC News: The virus is with us, but we need to live with it."
This isn't really optimism, though. It's safer to describe it as a disinterest in addressing negative consequences over the long term. Trump fights no battle that lasts much beyond the following day's sunrise. One effect is to hype short-term victories which will obviously soon be shown to be hollow, like Trump's repeated predictions about how low the death toll from the pandemic would be.
So we get the administration's new approach to the pandemic, one which resembles the final moments of a climactic battle scene in an action movie. The protagonist, after fending off enemy after enemy, sees the finish line in sight. So he puts his shoulder down and makes a mad rush for perceived safety. In this case, the finish line is Election Day. In this case, the enemy is Americans who've died of covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
An unnamed government official summarized the administration's approach succinctly in an interview with NBC News: The virus is with us, but we need to live with it."
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/07/06/trump-will-accept-steady-few-hundred-coronavirus-deaths-day-cost-his-reelection/
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Trump will accept a 'steady' few hundred coronavirus deaths a day as the cost of his reelection (Original Post)
Mike 03
Jul 2020
OP
He'll be very lucky if that is all it is. I expect death rate to begin to rise in next few days. nt
Bernardo de La Paz
Jul 2020
#3
tRUMP can't be re-elected. He lost the election in 2016 but won the ratfucking...
abqtommy
Jul 2020
#10
struggle4progress
(118,379 posts)2. "I don't care if you die. Do you?"
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,075 posts)3. He'll be very lucky if that is all it is. I expect death rate to begin to rise in next few days. nt
dawg day
(7,947 posts)4. How does that help his election?
That's pretty meager.
CentralMass
(15,265 posts)5. ...
Was Obamas message. Now hes stealing that? Trumps was American Carnage and thats what he gave us (promise made, promise kept), so he should stick to that message.
Blue Owl
(50,596 posts)7. Fuck him
n/t
markwbradley
(20 posts)8. Trump's Magical Thinking
Trump routinely engages in wishful, magical thinking that mirrors his personal hopes and desires. Later this evening, I will post a satirical article I wrote on this very theme.
Eyeball_Kid
(7,440 posts)9. IOW, he's lazy. Hard work takes hours and more.
Trumpy-Boy wont attend to anything for more than a few minutes.
abqtommy
(14,118 posts)10. tRUMP can't be re-elected. He lost the election in 2016 but won the ratfucking...