Trump Squandered His Incumbent’s Advantage

Matt Lewis: “Springtime may be a time for rebirth and hope, but it’s also a time when heavily bankrolled presidents vanquish the out-party nominee.”

“Except, this year, that’s impossible. Trump clearly has his hands full with a major crisis. What is more, the seriousness of this pandemic (and the fact that Trump has already botched his handling of it) makes it very hard to deploy his brand of scorched-earth mockery. Doing so would not just provoke a potential backlash for its unseemliness, it would also reinforce the notion that Trump isn’t fully focused on saving lives.”

“In essence, the coronavirus did what no imaginable force could possibly do: It neutralized Donald Trump’s ability to humiliate his opponent, while giving his opponent the perfect excuse to lay low.”