I don't do politics on Twt & for the record I am a lifelong liberal/libertarian progressive enviro.

But I saw the Trump presser, and I need people to hear this: this is a staggeringly competent media operator, in full command of his faculties. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52276004

The e-sport industry of Trump-sniping from intelligensia (Twitter), and pearl-clutting by bewigged responsibles (media + Dem politics), pales into insignificance in the brutal analysis that his political style + calculus (it's both) - is working.

Get ready for the second term.

Claiming the ethical highground is easy. Yet it is not winning votes, or even arguments, hardly even media coverage.

If the left thinks binging - intoxicating itself - on outrage is a winning strategy, or that Trump is not comptetent in media or strategy terms, it will lose.

I had this experience also in 2016 - I watched a complete interview, and realized the level of raw media competence and psychic momentum of DJT was vastly higher than ppl were crediting - and called it then. He would win.

Right now, his Covid-19 strategy is calibrated, not dumb.

The ppl most likely to re-elect him are the people

- already exposed to most risk from coronavirus
- suffering most from a dead economy
- get nothing from the health system as it is

So in the political analysis, so they literally have nothing to lose by the economy opening.

Watch this exchange, and you will see an extraordinarily energized 73-year-old in extreme command of communicative faculties.

Even if you disagree with - as is natural - EVERYTHING he says, this man is not missing the political moment. He is owning it. https://twitter.com/Channel4News/status/1249997778836692992?s=20

Compare this with Biden or Sanders, and you'll see old men struggling to present themselves confidently, unsure of who they need to reach out to win favour.

Trump may win not just ease to victory, he may win in a staggering rout, because confidence in Biden may be so low.

If you think this is a note of approval, or you feel outraged that I am not reflecting on the gruesome ethics and tragic realities behind this, I truly fear you may be suffering from a form of political brain damage.

Stop cultivating your rage and ask what will win an election?

Ethical supremacy may not - will not - win an election, and if you truly believe govts are the most powerful instruments to protect the poor and disenfranchised, you have to win.

Look the situation in the eye, politically, take a step back: on the current outlook, he will win.