Given his exceptionally low ceiling, Donald Trump was always going to have difficulty in November regardless of the circumstances. But consider what he’s done to sabotage his own efforts since then:
- He told the elderly, a key group of supporters in 2016, to get on with life with the virus and thereby risk death for the sake of the economy;
- He disparaged the use of masks, which help to permit something like normal economic activity;
- He demanded that states open up, when it was obvious that the problem was consumer confidence, not regulations;
- He behaved obnoxiously at a debate in an effort to show that Biden was weak and incompetent;
- He refused to participate in a virtual debate, thus throwing away an opportunity to take the momentum back; and
- He impulsively took responsibility for cutting off negotiations on a virus bailout package that would have improved the economy and his chances of winning in November.
What do these obvious mistakes have in common? They are all tied in one way or another to his strength narrative. Trump believes that America only responds to displays of strength, even when they are stupid and capricious. Who cares about virus deaths and recession when you can have a preening man on golf cart to keep you “safe”?
We do, as he will discover in less than a month.