Susan Glasser: “Of course Trump is trying to distract. The emerging politics of the pandemic are not good for him, nor are they likely to get better. They have recast the fall election as a referendum on Trump’s basic competence to lead the country through a once-in-a-century convergence of crises.”
“During the pre-pandemic impeachment era, Richard Nixon was the inescapable historical point of comparison for Trump’s corruption-ridden Presidency. Now it is Herbert Hoover. Running for reelection after the stock market crash of 1929 and three failed years of trying to stop the Great Depression, Hoover promised Americans that ‘Prosperity Is Just Around the Corner.’ Upbeat predictions amid bread lines didn’t cut it, and Hoover lost badly. The brutal political reality of running for another term while the country is experiencing mass unemployment is one that almost no President can overcome. In fact, the last time an American incumbent successfully won during a recession was in 1924.”
Then again, Hoover’s campaign slogan seems like a winner today compared with the clunker Trump has been trying out in recent days: ‘Transition to Greatness!'”
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