After one of the biggest governmental screw-ups in the American history, the president overseeing such a fiasco would be run out of office on a rail. He certainly would have no chance at reelection … right?
But of course, we do not live in a sane world, do we?
That Trump could so mishandle the national response to the coronavirus pandemic and set the stage for an economic downturn possibly not seen since the Great Depression, and still win reelection, is mind-boggling.
Then again, in a sane world a pathological liar would never be elected to the most powerful office on Earth in the first place. In a functioning American democracy, a corrupt, incompetent leader would be removed from office as the Constitution prescribes.
Yet here we are, seven months away from the next presidential election and Donald Trump is only marginally trailing Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, in some battleground states. Marginally … as within the margin of error.
Yes, the latest USA Today/Suffolk national poll has Biden with a commanding lead over Trump (50-40 percent) but national polling strength does not necessarily equate to Electoral College strength, as we so well know.
With an unemployment rate increasing by the day; with so many families unable to pay their bills; with so many of our fellow citizens needlessly stricken by the coronavirus, how could a good chunk of Americans still want four more years of Trump at the helm?
As Chauncey DeVega writes in Salon:
A culture of distraction and spectacle has rendered many Americans incapable of being responsible engaged citizens. Our public educational system does not teach critical thinking skills.
Add to that a right-wing propaganda network, Fox News, ranked the most-watched cable news network 18 years in a row; throw in the Republican Party’s efforts to limit access to voting among predominantly Democratic folk and you have Trump with a good chance of stealing another election, pandemic or no pandemic… depression or no depression.
In politics, seven months is a lifetime. But for current polling to still have Trump with anywhere near a shot at reelection while we are in the middle of one of the worst health and economic crises in the nation’s history should scare the daylights out of us.
Photo | cnn.com
It’s been a truism of American politics that a perceived strong economy is good for the incumbent as is the fear of “alien invaders” (foreign powers, or just “them.”) The opposite of either (economy seen as bad, little or no fear of foreigners) is bad for the incumbent. Have both going for you, you’ll get re-elected. Have both going against you, you’re out of office.
Where the economy will be in seven months is anybody’s guess. But keep in mind that many of Trump’s supporters are at least somewhat xenophobic. And the effects of a pandemic like this are largely untested and thus unknown.
As for critical thinking skills, I ran a school computer lab when the Internet was relatively young, so I saw the transition. We’ve gone through a major change to how people gather information. Before the Internet, many people either got their information from a large newspaper or national television news broadcast (most of which were pretty reliable), or from the public library (which contained books that had been carefully screened by librarians for accuracy). Chances were you were getting pretty good information.
But things have changed. Television news is now part of TV networks’ entertainment division–making a buck is more important than presenting the facts. And, as *The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law* says, “Caution: Do not mistake the Internet for an encyclopedia, and the search engine for a table of contents. The Internet is a sprawling databank that’s about one-quarter wheat and three-quarters chaff.”
Over and over again, I’ve seen long misinformed discussions on social media about an issue that I could find accurate information on in literally one minute. But people don’t seem to have either the knowledge or the drive to do so.
With so much information (misinformation) out there, it is easy to find “facts” that support what we want to believe in. “Alternative facts”
anyone?
Found out about this serendipitously. Although it’s preaching to the choir. Please add me to your mailing list.
Who knows? maybe a republican friend will accidentally receive a post in their inbox, and “hear” what’s being said.
Thanks Michael. You’ve been added to email list.