All the focus on "China virus" from Trump is actually helping him distract from his undeniable failure to respond to it appropriately. It's literally what he wants his voters to focus on.
The core animating principle of American conservatism is that educated, secular elites are mean to religious people. This is exactly the debate that Trump wants to have.
Political science research shows that the number one indicator in whether someone voted for Trump is whether they believed "America is a Christian nation." politicalresearch.org/2018/04/06/chr…
By having a pointless debate over what to call SARS 2 / novel coronavirus, he distracts from the far more serious and non-deniable fact that he 1) refused to approve other tests, 2) refused to listen to his HHS secretary, and 3) encouraged unsafe behavior
If you're going to get to this debate, however, don't call it "coronavirus" call it SARS2. That's because the virus is literally related to the first discovered SARS virus. And Trump and his team learned NOTHING from it
"SARS1" was defeated by sound and competent public health policies but Trump and his TV show shoestring administration had no use for them. Which is why he refused to take it seriously.
Trump WANTS to be called racist because it a) binds his Christian nationalist supporters to him emotionally and b) distracts from the fact that the SARS2 catastrophe is literally the fault of his administration
It's much easier for Trump and GOP to debate "China virus" than to defend his failure on COVID-19 treatment and the fact that elites like Ron "3.4 percent of our population" Johnson care more about business than their fellow Americans or even their own voters
Ron Johnson has straight up said that the deaths of 3.4 percent of Americans, 11 million people, (almost all of who will be elderly Republican voters) isn't as important as his fat cat donors' wallets
He's too smart to say that we should just let people die in order to keep the economy going but he was repeatedly at pains to say that we "need to really understand the costs of potentially going too far here" jsonline.com/story/news/pol…
Other economic conservatives such as CNBC halfwit Rick Santelli, the person who inspired the Tea Party movement, have been much more ghoulish. According to Santelli, all Americans should be forcibly exposed to it in order to save the economy jsonline.com/story/news/pol…
Oops, Santelli link: marketwatch.com/story/cnbcs-ri…
Trump critics looking to make a difference should be exposing the nonchalant attitude of Trump and conservative elites toward SARS2 / new coronavirus. Don't waste time on conservative identity politics trolling.
Never forget: Trump and economic conservatives literally don't care about their own voters. They have even said it. Trump's also admitted this as well with his talk about not wanting COVID-19 numbers to increase since it would harm the economy.
Trump promised voters he would help them with healthcare, close the carried interest loophole, and make the elites pay more in taxes. Instead, his priorities were kicking people off Medicaid, lowering rich people's tax bill, and gutting the federal govt. SARS2 is the result.
The deaths, the quarantines, and the economic damage from COVID-19 are the direct consequence of American conservatism's hatred of expertise and belief that government is a useless waste of money
The history of recent Republican politicking has been that when the focus is on their policies, the GOP loses.
When it's on something else, they win. Dukakis's tank, Gore's earth tones, Kerry's windsurfing, and Clinton's elitism. All created GOP victories.
When it's on something else, they win. Dukakis's tank, Gore's earth tones, Kerry's windsurfing, and Clinton's elitism. All created GOP victories.
Finally, a prolonged debate about "Chinese virus" actually increases public knowledge of the term. If you want to fight racist attitudes, you aren't helping by gazing at Trump supporters' navels.
