If Liberals think COVID-19 is the end of the Trump era, well, you can add that to the list of their many self-delusions. The Evangelical Christian Apocalypticists who support him undoubtedly see this epidemic as a sign of the End Times and they want their man in office to shake hands with Jesus when he returns (DT and JC won't be observing social distancing). But Trump's base isn't only composed of the obvious crazies. Despite decades of bluffing, the American public suffers from deep anxieties about the kind of society we have created and the disconnect between that and the American Dream we are sold through advertising, films, and other media. Those anxieties are being expressed in a variety of counter-productive ways--not just the hoarding of toilet paper and canned goods, etc. Many ordinary "salt of the earth" Americans look to Trump to reassure them that the "American Way" is as good as it gets. Even the Democratic Party's rejection of Sanders's Canadian brand of "socialism" is symptomatic: Liberals cannot possibly admit that any other way of life is right for us, even if that way of life is killing us. So they'll go with Trump-Lite, thinking that somehow that is going to change things. If Biden wins in November (assuming he is the Democratic Party nominee), the reality (which will not sink in until the Liberals's euphoria wears off around 2022) will be this: Biden's first term will have turned out to be, in effect, Trump's second. The style will be different, but the results will be similar.
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