The President of the Red States of America

All presidents are probably a bit more sympathetic to their supporters than their opponents. But I’ve never seen a president so obviously relish the suffering of people in states that voted against him, even though that suffering includes many people in blue states that did vote for him. Trump positively gloats over any piece of news suggesting the virus hit blue states harder, or stories of crime or homelessness in blue states.

But karma’s a bitch, and that attitude may come back to haunt him:

But until recently, the president was largely unreceptive to that message, they said, not fully grasping the magnitude of the pandemic — and overly preoccupied with his own sense of grievance, beginning many conversations casting himself as the blameless victim of the crisis.

In the past couple of weeks, senior advisers began presenting Trump with maps and data showing spikes in coronavirus cases among “our people” in Republican states, a senior administration official said. They also shared projections predicting that virus surges could soon hit politically important states in the Midwest — including Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, the official said.

In case you don’t know, “our people” doesn’t refer to Americans. Trump’s not patriotic; he’s a nationalist. “Our people” means Trump voters.

He may still win, but his decision to stick his head in the sand for 6 months is certainly making that task more difficult.

Perhaps I should have more compassion for Trump, who is the biggest victim of Covid-19:

Trump also maintained such a sense of grievance — about how the virus was personally impacting him, his presidency and his reelection prospects — that aides recount spending valuable time listening to his gripes, rather than focusing on crafting a national strategy to combat the pandemic.


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8 Responses to “The President of the Red States of America”

  1. Gravatar of MORGAN WARSTLER MORGAN WARSTLER
    28. July 2020 at 11:31

    we’ll see in 3 weeks if the herd immunity theory is true.

    After that it’s up the debates.

  2. Gravatar of David R. Henderson David R. Henderson
    28. July 2020 at 11:49

    Scott,
    You write:
    In case you don’t know, “our people” doesn’t refer to Americans. Trump’s not patriotic; he’s a nationalist. “Our people” means Trump voters.

    But if “our people” means Trump voters, he’s not even a nationalist, right? I don’t know what you would call him.

  3. Gravatar of Student Student
    28. July 2020 at 12:54

    A narcissist…

  4. Gravatar of ssumner ssumner
    28. July 2020 at 13:17

    David, That’s how nationalists think—they divide the country up into their group and the other group.

  5. Gravatar of Benjamin Cole Benjamin Cole
    29. July 2020 at 01:58

    Trump may lose. Will Biden usher in the “end of shareholder capitalism” as promised? Stay tuned!

    Biden is already promising federal outlays based on the ethnic/racial identity of recipients.

    https://www.marketplace.org/2020/07/28/biden-economic-recovery-promoting-racial-equality/

    Why, of all years, is there not even a long-shot third-party candidate? There was Ross Perot a long time back, and Nader at one point.

    I would think Pat Paulsen could win, if exhumed.

  6. Gravatar of msgkings msgkings
    29. July 2020 at 09:21

    @Ben Cole:

    KANYE!

    But seriously, unless something major changes, Trump will lose. I didn’t think it possible but Covid changed the game. Any incumbent would have a rough time winning with the virus out there, but an unpopular disaster like Trump certainly so. And unlike 2016, his opponent isn’t as hated as he is.

  7. Gravatar of janice janice
    30. July 2020 at 08:37

    Trumps policy is in align with most conservatives. He believes in liberty, individual responsibility, less government regulation, and so forth.

    You seem to spend most of your time attacking his character, rather than his policy.

    Re: nationalist policies
    Whether you like it or not, the United States competes internationally. International relations, to some extent, is a zero sum game. To rephrase, we might say that international relations is a winnable game. In other words, even if its not zero sum, which it is in some cases, there are still those that get a larger piece of the pie based on quality of legal system, academic research, school system, entrepreneurship, trade policies, and so on.

    The only Americans that support free trade without any barriers are economists. Even the far left opposes free trade with China, mostly on the grounds that China refuses to return the favor. In other words, if our tech companies cannot compete in their market fairly, why should we allow their companies to operate in our market. Americans do not benefit at all. Those tech companies are HQ’D in Shanghai; they don’t hire Americans. It’s not like car production, where it makes sense to setup a plant where you sell — this is new age economics and countries need to adjust or lose….

  8. Gravatar of ssumner ssumner
    30. July 2020 at 11:36

    Janice, You said:

    “Trumps policy is in align with most conservatives. He believes in liberty, individual responsibility, less government regulation, and so forth.”

    You are quite a comedian.

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