Thread by @PalmerReport

There are a number of you who mistakenly think Trump’s mishandling of the pandemic cost him the election. But his approval rating and poll numbers were exactly the same before and after the pandemic. Didn’t change any minds. He had already lost the election before the pandemic.

This may or may not fit with your preferred narrative of how things went down. But it’s a fact, not an opinion. The numbers couldn’t be any more clear.

Really, Trump lost re-election before he even took office. The shock and distaste of his 2016 win caused him to enter office with a disastrous 40-ish approval rating, which never he never did overcome. And no President wins re-election with numbers like that.

All you did play a key role in his defeat. By fighting back against him and blowing up his lies for four years, you ensured he never had a chance to boost his approval rating to where he’d be in contention for 2020. But let’s be real: he was never, ever in contention for 2020.

Why didn’t the pandemic turn anyone against Trump? If you were deranged enough to still cheer for him after he’d spent three years burning down the country, what’s a little deadly pandemic negligence? If you’re a fucked up person, you’re a fucked up person.

Some of Trump’s supporters turn against him once he’s out of office. Part of being a fascist cult is the feeling that it makes you an invincible winner. Trump leaving in disgrace will shatter that for some of them. But they were never going to give up on him while was “winning.”

The question is how we prevent these losers from falling for the next fascist leader who makes them feel like winners. The answer is education. Make sure their kids don’t grow up to be fucked up psychopaths like they are.

As to the question of, what if Trump would have handled the pandemic well? He was clinically incapable of that, so I see it as a moot point. You wouldn’t ask if Trump would have won if he’d expanded health care or stood up to Putin, because he never would have done those either.