Something I didn't fully realize till the past month: it's dangerous to have a leader whose base holds him to a low standard. If Trump's base insisted he take charge of the Covid-19 response, he'd have to. But since they're satisfied with press conferences, that's all we get.
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Replying to @paulg
It a literal sense that's true, but it's oblique enough to frustrate correction. It wasn't low standards. He was giving his coalition of bases exactly what they respectively wanted. It was a collection of confused standards.
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Replying to @generativist @paulg
Since 2015, people who supported or acquiesced to Trump have had one factor in common: They mistakenly and tragically priced him as a call option instead of an over-leveraged bet in an inherently volatile instrument. Thats what he always exploits and is still trying to exploit.
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Replying to @generativist @paulg
M*GA saw huge upside to a champion for their culture war causes in the White House — someone who would loudly hate the Dems, media, liberals, science, and "political correctness." They ignored the predictable catastrophic costs. A robust COVID-19 response compels reevaluation
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Replying to @generativist @paulg
Socially liberal, fiscally conservatives fantasized about lowered taxes & reduced regulations boosting their businesses and 401(K)s. They ignored obvious social harm and bullets in the Russian Roulette chamber thinking they were shielded from downside risks. They were wrong.
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Replying to @generativist @paulg
So what's he to do now? Follow the script. Keep playing group off of group in a tangled web of real and petty grievances. Keep supporters from pricing in the costs to truth, American democratic health, and institutional capacity. Hatred misdirection.https://dispatches.artifexdeus.com/donald-trump-is-hari-seldon-75bd789637d9 …
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I think the smart bet now is: he will fail. Body bags weigh a lot. But it's still a race between corrected beliefs and a consequent reallocation of power versus a god damn virus — and one of those things doesn't stumble over out-group calculus.
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