COMMENT | 'Sleepy' Joe getting the upper hand on 'Superman' Trump
COMMENT | Going into the final lap of the White House race, the polls are all showing Democrat Joe Biden leading Republican Donald Trump by a wide margin. Against all odds, "sleepy" Joe might be the next president of the United States, come election day on Nov 3.
Now, Trump has become the underdog and is battling hard to close the yawning gap. Despite the pomp and power of incumbency, Trump appears to be losing his grip. The Republican camp must be wondering what has gone wrong with its seemingly foolproof strategy.
It is not too difficult to gauge why the Biden story has become more compelling than the Trump narrative. It is all about the coronavirus, the deadly disease that has claimed more than 200,000 American lives. By February next year, the death toll is expected to hit 500,000.
Biden lost no time in hammering home the point that Trump did nothing to contain the spread of the plague. Hence, the message is clear: another four...
COMMENT | Going into the final lap of the White House race, the polls are all showing Democrat Joe Biden leading Republican Donald Trump by a wide margin. Against all odds, "sleepy" Joe might be the next president of the United States, come election day on Nov 3.
Now, Trump has become the underdog and is battling hard to close the yawning gap. Despite the pomp and power of incumbency, Trump appears to be losing his grip. The Republican camp must be wondering what has gone wrong with its seemingly foolproof strategy.
It is not too difficult to gauge why the Biden story has become more compelling than the Trump narrative. It is all about the coronavirus, the deadly disease that has claimed more than 200,000 American lives. By February next year, the death toll is expected to hit 500,000.
Biden lost no time in hammering home the point that Trump did nothing to contain the spread of the plague. Hence, the message is clear: another four more years of Trump would see more lives lost to the dreaded, invisible enemy.
To be fair, Trump cannot be held responsible for the devastation wreaked on American lives. Put the blame squarely on China, from where the virus originated. But still, the perception persisted that the president had been negligent in his handling of the pandemic.
Even his attempt to bring some cheers with the news that a vaccine will soon be available for free did not sound quite convincing. People are dying like flies but the "doctor in chief" is not treating the matter seriously, or so it seems in the eyes of candidate Biden.
Trump thought that he could gain some political mileage when he himself was down with the virus, but recovered, looking like a "superman". He portrayed himself like a true-blooded patriot who "risked his life for you", but it must have rung hollow in many states where his ratings are declining alarmingly.
In contrast, Biden is playing a shrewd game. He wears a mask everywhere to emphasise the gravity of the situation. In some key states, Biden holds drive-in rallies to ensure social distancing. You just drive in, park your car, sit in and listen to him speak over the windscreens.
But not with macho tough guy Trump, who discards all precautions in his crowded rallies. No mask for him. He has already developed immunity and can speak directly to your face. He shuffles a few steps on the stage whenever the upbeat songs "YMCA" and "Mancho Man" hit the air to show how sprightly he is compared to lethargic Joe.
Even in the final debate, Trump (who did not sparkle) was adamant in not wearing a mask, at least, when entering the stage. Biden did wear briefly and that is enough to capture the current mood of the people who are living under the shadow of death racing across the country.
Trump has dragged Biden, and his family, through the mud in all his rallies, in the hope that these vitriolic personal attacks - and not the plague - will sink into the public mind. Going by the polls, this line of attack doesn't seem to be working.
How can Trump turn the tide? His speeches are becoming tedious and repetitious, mostly about making America great again. The common thread running through his narrative is all about cutting taxes, bringing back jobs and troops home, building the great wall of the USA along the Mexican border, standing up to China in the trade war, hitting hard at anarchists and left-wing extremists and creating more prosperity, the likes of which Americans have never seen before.
But the great plague has spoiled Trump's American dream. And the Biden's story is gaining ascendancy by playing up the horrors of the disease. Just by saying he would stop the advance of the virus if he wins the election, Biden has struck a resounding chord in the hearts of the American people.
In the final analysis, it is the health of the people that is more important than grandiose projects. When fear stalks the land, it is hard to concentrate on creating wealth.
In the 1992 presidential election, the Democratic Party candidate Bill Clinton used a catchy slogan against his Republican opponent George W Bush (who was basking in the glow of military victory in the first Gulf war) that carried the former to the White House: "It's the economy, stupid."
Come Nov 3, if the polls hold good and Biden is on course to a massive victory, Trump would have learnt the cause of his stunning defeat: "It's Covid-19, stupid".
PHLIP RODRIGUES is a retired journalist.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
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