The Phony Campaign

2020-04-26 Update

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The probability gap between Trump winning and Biden winning continues to shrink this week, I assume because Biden said fewer stupid things than Trump did.

Or at least the media reported Biden saying fewer stupid things…

Hey, is it possible that Trump might be figuring this out? Check this out:

Translation: I come off looking bad.

Meanwhile, in the only polling that matters, Donald Bone Spurs continues to beat Wheezy Joe by about 4-to-1:

Candidate WinProb Change
Since
4/19
Phony
Results
Change
Since
4/19
Donald Trump 48.8% -1.0% 1,630,000 -10,000
Joe Biden 43.6% +0.3% 420,000 -30,000

Warning: Google result counts are bogus.

  • Bloomberg columnist Joshua Green reports that a New Poll Shows a Hidden Danger for Trump: Double Haters.

    During the last weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump’s data team was obsessed with a particular subset of voters: those who disliked both Trump and Hillary Clinton. As I reported in my book about the race, Devil’s Bargain, Trump’s analysts nicknamed this group “double haters.” They comprised about 3% to 5% of the 15 million voters the campaign believed were persuadable, but they were vexing because their intentions were difficult to discern. While their voting history indicated they would likely cast a ballot, many refused to answer pollsters’ questions or declared themselves undecided.

    And (Joshua alleges) the "Double Haters" broke decisively for Trump when it came time to cast ballots. But this year, one poll shows that prospective voters with "negative opinions of both Trump and Biden" are leaning toward Joe, 60% to 10%.

    Now, I'm not a hater, but (true enough) I have "negative opinions" about both. Unlike the pollees, I don't consider myself obligated to vote for either.


  • At Reason, Elizabeth Nolan Brown advises readers: Don’t Get Fooled by Fake Photos of Coronavirus Lockdown Protests.

    After last week's protest around the Michigan Capitol, a picture of someone holding a large swastika flag that said "TRUMP PENCE" began circulating on social media as a sign of the supposed Nazi leanings of Trump supporters and the people protesting. But after some viral outrage about the kind of people the conservative organizers of these protests were in cahoots with, it turns out that the picture in question actually came from a March 2 Bernie Sanders rally in Boise, Idaho.

    As noted earlier in the week: if one of these protests have 1000 American flags and three Confederate flags, the Confederate flags will be the ones to make the news, and your social media mavens will be sure to frame them as revealing the "typical" mindset of the protesters.


  • And a funny story from a member of a losing team: Former Sanders Press Secretary Blames Media for Protecting Biden.

    Sen. Bernie Sanders's (I., Vt.) former campaign press secretary said in a new interview the media effectively conspired to protect presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden at the expense of her old boss.

    "Yeah, voters chose Joe Biden as their preferred candidate after months of concentrated media attention saying that he was the most electable candidate, not talking about any of his vulnerabilities," Briahna Joy Gray told the Atlantic.

    I think Briahna has (almost) a good point: the media gets attached to a narrative, and that slants their coverage toward that perspective.

    Griping about this is pointless.


  • Good old Vodkapundit has a link-filled article about Joe Biden: Unfit to Serve by Any and Every Measure. Here's just a sample:

    I'm pretty sure you'll find something Stephen mentions that will turn you into a "double hater".


  • And Kevin D. Williamson points out Joe Biden Is a Ridiculous Crank. Which threatens to be a series.

    Joe Biden, based only on the voices of the choir of goblins in his head, charges that Donald Trump is going to try to use the coronavirus epidemic as an excuse to try to delay the election — or even to cancel it.

    “Mark my words,” Biden said, “I think he is gonna try to kick back the election somehow, come up with some rationale why it can’t be held.” Your words have been marked, Mr. Biden.

    This is, of course, par for the course for Joe Biden, a man who once told a predominantly black audience that Republicans under . . . Mitt Romney . . . would “put y’all back in chains.”

    Biden will attempt to position himself as the “normal” candidate vis-à-vis Trump, the decent and reasonable man in the race. The truth is that he is a crank. He is a vicious, lying partisan of the first order, a moral and political coward not above lying about the circumstances of the death of his first wife and daughter when he thinks it will suit him politically.

    Biden’s claims about a canceled election are pure fiction.

    Indeed. Would a "fairer" media start openly wondering about the paranoid mentality behind this nonsense?


Last Modified 2024-01-23 5:21 AM EDT