Trump walking out of the 60 Minutes interview:

"President Trump declares coronavirus is ‘ending’ as virus rates spike and financial markets dip"

 

Over the past week, the nation has suffered a 20 percent increase in new diagnosed cases, a 13 percent rise in hospitalizations and an 11 percent rise in daily deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University, with the seven-day average of new cases reaching its highest level ever. The increase has been driven by spread in rural communities and northern states, including Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota and parts of Michigan, all of which could play a decisive role in the presidential contest.

 

Trump nonetheless argued in three Pennsylvania rallies — where thousands gathered without social distancing or consistent mask-wearing — that the viral danger has been exaggerated by the news media and that Democratic politicians, including the governors of several swing states, had imposed unnecessary restrictions on large gatherings for political reasons.

 

“It’s ending anyway. We are rounding the turn. It’s ending anyway,” Trump said of the virus at an outdoor stop in Allentown, Pa. “Normal life. That’s what we want, right? Normal life. Normal life. We just want normal life. It’s happening, very quickly.”

 

Biden’s latest attacks on Trump’s handling of the virus stemmed from a television interview Sunday in which White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said, “We’re not going to control the pandemic.”

 

Meadows expanded on his remarks Monday by mocking Biden’s purposeful efforts to wear a mask in public, a measure public health experts say could save more than 100,000 American lives in coming months.

 

“The only person waving the white flag along with his white mask is Joe Biden,” Meadows told reporters traveling with the president. “We’re going to defeat the virus. We’re not going to control it. We will try to contain it as best we can.”

 

That argument was rejected Monday by Assistant Secretary for Health Adm. Brett Giroir, a political appointee, who contradicted Meadows in a call with reporters.

 

“I think we can control the pandemic,” he said. “I want to be clear that what we have done, what the American people have done, has been able to put out very significant outbreaks.”

 

Paul1977:

 

SJB:

 

Sanders was as unelectable in 2016 as he is now.

 

Trump should have been unelectable too. We'll never know how Sanders might have faired against Trump in 2016, but as I said I believe the polls showed he would have done better than Clinton so I don't think you can say he was unelectable.

 

The feeling was he would have fared much better in the rust-belt states where Clinton lost despite being expected to carry them. Trump won them based on a strong protest vote against the status quo which Clinton was a strong embodiment of. Sanders was also considered to be a protest vote to change up the system in the primaries so theoretically could have carried that through to the general election.

"This chart shows why Trump is *so* dangerous to the GOP"

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/26/politics/gop-shrinking-support-trump-graph/index.html

I dont think Trump was a protest vote. He was a non politician offering to clean the swamp, throw in a few wild promises to the down trodden in the rust belt and thats a great recipe.

At worst he could have been a low performing President, didnt really deliver much at all. 2/10.

The fact that he was far worse, a -6/10, destroyed a lot, makes sure that will never rinse and repeat

• Biden gets elected
  
  
• The Republicans lose control of the Senate
  
  
• Biden can increase the number of Supreme Court justices.

tdgeek:

 

I dont think Trump was a protest vote. He was a non politician offering to clean the swamp, throw in a few wild promises to the down trodden in the rust belt and thats a great recipe.

 

That was what I meant by a protest. They wanted someone who was not a 'Washington insider" who would tear down the system/drain the swamp and stick it to the fatcat politicians. Unfortunately they chose a corrupt businessman to do it. Now he is destroying the nation and is being enabled and supported by the Republicans as they see this as their chance to cement their power.

Paul1977:

 

That just makes me think the process is faulty. It really seems like Biden is the nominee because it's "his turn".

 

I understand that Biden was the "last man standing", but why? He's a poor public speaker, and doesn't display a great deal of charisma. I'll admit that I don't have great understanding of the primary process, but he seems more the choice of the Democratic Party than the "choice of the people".

 

With Hillary it was definitely 'her turn' because Obama had swept her aside before and she accepted that. Except then Bernie came along and looked like passing her again. So the party, worried about his progressiveness anyway, made sure he didn't get the nod and pissed off a lot of his supporters in the process, ensuring that Hillary lost the election. This time, the party was determined not to make the same mistake, and bent over backwards to ensure a fair selection process, resulting in a very long and very tiresome primary circus that didn't do them any favours. When Biden emerged, it was because he won, not because the party was pulling the strings. This is my understanding of what transpired. The other candidates lost primaries and ran out of money and withdrew until only the tortoise was left in the race. Sometimes that is just how things happen. I do not think the result was engineered this time (unlike last time). Biden won fair and square and he deserves the victory.

I think it would be naïve to think the the "higher ups" in the democratic party don't have a lot of influence over who ends up being the candidate. I can't see Hilary Clinton securing the 2016 nomination based on her glowing personality.

While staying with friends in the US at the time they walked me through some of the ways things were set up to ensure that Hillary, and only Hillary, got in.  This was 5+ years ago and a casual conversation so the details are only vaguely remembered, but there were things like having the state caucus select someone other than Hillary and the national Democrat committee turning it into selecting Hillary.  That was somewhere like Utah or Colorado, I think, and there were many others.  There was no chance of anyone other than Hillary being the Democrat candidate in 2016.

And that also helps understand why Trump did so well.  When you're a Democrat voter and getting Hillary no matter who you vote for, you can see that people would either not vote at all or protest vote for the other side.

I don't know what the situation is with Biden since I haven't been to the Plague States this year, but he seems, like Hillary, the decreed popular choice rather than the actual popular choice.

With Hillary it was definitely 'her turn' because Obama had swept her aside before

A friend of mine in the US summarised it as "Obama out-minoritied Hillary and she was PISSED".  Yup, definitely her turn.

neb:

 

I don't know what the situation is with Biden since I haven't been to the Plague States this year, but he seems, like Hillary, the decreed popular choice rather than the actual popular choice.

 

I think the situation with Biden is either "he is not Hillary" or "he is not a woman".

Rikkitic:

 

With Hillary it was definitely 'her turn' because Obama had swept her aside before and she accepted that. Except then Bernie came along and looked like passing her again. So the party, worried about his progressiveness anyway, made sure he didn't get the nod and pissed off a lot of his supporters in the process, ensuring that Hillary lost the election. This time, the party was determined not to make the same mistake, and bent over backwards to ensure a fair selection process, resulting in a very long and very tiresome primary circus that didn't do them any favours. When Biden emerged, it was because he won, not because the party was pulling the strings. This is my understanding of what transpired. The other candidates lost primaries and ran out of money and withdrew until only the tortoise was left in the race. Sometimes that is just how things happen. I do not think the result was engineered this time (unlike last time). Biden won fair and square and he deserves the victory.

I think it's more likely that the Dems just made the process look fairer, but I have no evidence of that and I don't want to go down a conspiracy theory rabbit hole. I just find it hard to believe the Biden really is the best of the Democrats, as opposed to a figurehead who will tow the party line. If it was a 100% fair selection process and Biden truly is the best candidate, then that paints a depressing picture of the current Democratic line up.

I still hope Biden wins.

Paul1977:

 

If it was a 100% fair selection process and Biden truly is the best candidate, then that paints a depressing picture of the current Democratic line up.

 

Bingo!

Paul1977:

I think it's more likely that the Dems just made the process look fairer, but I have no evidence of that and I don't want to go down a conspiracy theory rabbit hole. I just find it hard to believe the Biden really is the best of the Democrats, as opposed to a figurehead who will tow the party line. 1-If it was a 100% fair selection process and Biden truly is the best candidate, then that paints a depressing picture of the current Democratic line up.

2-I still hope Biden wins.

1-The way I see it, due to the outcome - definitely can't be a fair process, otherwise it wouldn't be the outcome that it is.

2-Either way, there is a serious risk of civil war IMO

Batman:

Either way, there is a serious risk of civil war IMO