Post by Admin on Mar 22, 2020 21:05:15 GMT
The fall-out has ramifications for Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign, robbing the president of his most-common talking point — that he has overseen a growing economy. Instead Trump is facing criticism that problems with coronavirus testing and his own misleading rhetoric harmed efforts to quash the disease’s spread. And with large gatherings barred for the foreseeable future, Trump’s energetic rallies are off for now.
After initially downplaying the coronavirus threat, Trump has gotten behind severe measures to slow the disease’s spread. He supported governors as they ordered the closure of all restaurants and bars and applauded shelter-at-home orders, even as it caused the stock market to tank and sent businesses sliding toward bankruptcy. Trump himself has directed Americans to avoid any gathering of more than 10 people.
The reaction among Trump’s supporters is evolving, as well. A week after Trump’s base seemed to be splitting over the seriousness of the coronavirus, the quarrel is now over how much the government should damage the economy in response to the present threat.
“For generation X and younger MAGA influencers, we’re pretty much all uniformly on board with social distancing [and] flattening the curve policies. [The] only discussion is about severity,” said Jack Posobiec, a correspondent with the Trump-friendly One America News Network.
Posobiec advocates a “kill this thing, whatever it takes” approach, but acknowledged that “the draconian nature of government edicts is definitely something that causes old school conservatives to viscerally recoil — especially as pertains to business.”
It will inevitably be difficult for Trump to please his entire base, though. Some think Trump should deploy any emergency power that would help contain the virus. Others believe shutting down major sectors of the economy for weeks — dramatically limiting personal freedoms in the process — is misguided.
Reaboi worried that the people able to drive the conversation about the shutdown--”information economy folks [who] are used to telecommuting and taking two weeks of vacation”--were disconnected from the very real struggles of people who need to physically be at their work.
“Those people are still the lifeblood of the economy, and even the telecommuters depend on them being at their jobs. There are millions of people like that who are uncertain about their futures now, and it’s not long until worry becomes panic, and panic becomes terror. What happens after that is a nightmare for everyone, even the tweeters most alarmed by the virus.”
Fiscal conservative circles are starting to have their own discussion about how long the Trump administration should leave the economy fallow. The Wall Street Journal editorial board on Thursday called the extreme social-distancing policies “necessary,” but warned that they were not “sustainable.”
After initially downplaying the coronavirus threat, Trump has gotten behind severe measures to slow the disease’s spread. He supported governors as they ordered the closure of all restaurants and bars and applauded shelter-at-home orders, even as it caused the stock market to tank and sent businesses sliding toward bankruptcy. Trump himself has directed Americans to avoid any gathering of more than 10 people.
The reaction among Trump’s supporters is evolving, as well. A week after Trump’s base seemed to be splitting over the seriousness of the coronavirus, the quarrel is now over how much the government should damage the economy in response to the present threat.
“For generation X and younger MAGA influencers, we’re pretty much all uniformly on board with social distancing [and] flattening the curve policies. [The] only discussion is about severity,” said Jack Posobiec, a correspondent with the Trump-friendly One America News Network.
Posobiec advocates a “kill this thing, whatever it takes” approach, but acknowledged that “the draconian nature of government edicts is definitely something that causes old school conservatives to viscerally recoil — especially as pertains to business.”
It will inevitably be difficult for Trump to please his entire base, though. Some think Trump should deploy any emergency power that would help contain the virus. Others believe shutting down major sectors of the economy for weeks — dramatically limiting personal freedoms in the process — is misguided.
Reaboi worried that the people able to drive the conversation about the shutdown--”information economy folks [who] are used to telecommuting and taking two weeks of vacation”--were disconnected from the very real struggles of people who need to physically be at their work.
“Those people are still the lifeblood of the economy, and even the telecommuters depend on them being at their jobs. There are millions of people like that who are uncertain about their futures now, and it’s not long until worry becomes panic, and panic becomes terror. What happens after that is a nightmare for everyone, even the tweeters most alarmed by the virus.”
Fiscal conservative circles are starting to have their own discussion about how long the Trump administration should leave the economy fallow. The Wall Street Journal editorial board on Thursday called the extreme social-distancing policies “necessary,” but warned that they were not “sustainable.”