You Are There

In a normal time, what we'd have today is the bizarre and almost inexplicable decision by Trump to destroy his campaign and those of most Republicans running for election across the country by announcing that he was cancelling stimulus negotiations for a desperate nation.  But then, this isn't a normal time, this is Trump World.  So, what kind of a day was it?  A day like any other in Trump World, except...You Are There.

For starters, there was the story of the Admiral Charles Ray testing positive for the coronavirus, and as a result seven of the eight members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have had to quarantine, including  Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs.  While this doesn't put the nation's security at risk, since all the members have full communication systems at home, it is not a Good Look.  And a worse one if any (let alone all) of their health deteriorates.  It should be noted that Admiral Ray was...yes, a guest at the White House on Rose Garden Massacre weekend.

Moreover, one of Trump's top advisers and speechwriter Stephen Miller -- one of the architects of separative immigrant children from their parents and putting them in cages without any plans to to reunite them -- also tested positive for COVID-19.  It led to a comment on social media: Stephen Miller testing positive for the coronavirus challenges the good nature of all those who wish everyone well during the pandemic.

Further, Mike Pence -- head of the coronavirus task force -- and his team spent much of the day ridiculing Kamal Harris for insisting on a protective plastic shield between the candidates for their debate on Wednesday.  Beyond being weird general principle, there's the reality that Pence says he met with Trump just the other day, so by CDC standards he should actually quarantine himself, and not only that, but the measures that Sen. Harris insisted on are CDC guidelines.  Or, as Brian Williams put it, pretty much the same protection you get when checking out at a Seven-11.  Which makes this a good time to repeat that Mike Pence is the head of the coronavirus task force!

Also, A CNN/SSRS poll showed that Joe Biden's lead in the polls had increased to 16 points.  What's especially important about that is it confirms the results the day before from the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll that had showed a leap to a 14 point lead, up from eight points before the debate, and therefore establishes that the NBC poll was not an outlier.  In fact, two other polls showed Biden with over 50% and huge national leads.

[UPDATE:  This is from today, so it doesn't count for "You Are There," but it confirms the polls from yesterday in a very big way.  Rasmussen Reports -- that trends heavily Republican, and actually had Trump's approval above 50% earlier in the year -- on Wednesday released that even they have Joe Biden up by 12 points nationally.  No, "nationally" doesn't count. But when Rasmussen reports that, it helps confirm the rest and is a Really Bad Sign for Trump.]

In addition, and importantly since it's state polls that most matter, a poll from Monmouth University showed Joe Biden with a 12 point lead in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, which had been four points before the debate.  Results also showed that voters over-65 in the state flipped by 18 points, now giving Biden a nine-point advantage.  And this too confirmed that CNN poll that said nationally support by voters over-65 (traditionally a Republican strength) went up from four points before the debate to 27 points (!) after the debate.  And a New York Times/ Sienna College polls had Biden with an eight-point lead in the battleground state of Arizona.

And perhaps the most bizarre story of the day, in a day of the bizarre, is the suspicion that Trump's bizarre behavior and pronouncement could possibly be related to his taking steroids for his coronavirus -- which, if true, leads us back to what should have been the only story of the day:  Trump saying he was going to end negotiations for a stimulus package.

The best quote of the day on that came from a Trump campaign adviser who told Jonathan Swan of Axios -- "You have to try to be this politically inept."

It was so inept that the moment I heard it, even before hearing that the stock market almost immediately dropped around 350 points, I figured that Trump being Trump would actually cave and reverse his pomposity after GOP leadership with their hair on fire began flooding his phone (they normally would have raced over to the White House, but not now with the risk of infection...) with screams out horror at what he was doing to the Republican Party's chances over the next 28 days.

Indeed, Trump has already slightly, sort of backtracked with half-hearted offers of stimulus, albeit massively less than what's needed.  More is likely to follow, I suspect.  The problem is, Trump is already on record as not wanting to give any stimulus to a desperate nation.  And instead just pushing for a Supreme Court justice that only 26% of the country supports.  So, even if he does eventually get back to the negotiating table, his preference and lack of interest in the public good is established.

And this was just Tuesday.  What kind of a day was it?  A day like any other in Trump World, except...You Are There.