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In August, right after the Democrat convention, if the President Trump campaign team determines that winning in November is hopeless, then President Trump can plunge a dagger into the heart of the Democrat party by resigning prior to the Republican convention. Mike Pence becomes President and the anti-Trump vote evaporates. President Trump can say his work his done (declare victory and get out).

There are several long-term benefits to President Trump if he does this----The Republicans gain seats in the Senate, and the Republicans take the House of Representatives. This heads off any investigations/indictments in 2021.

If he stays in office and loses in November, then the Democrat-controlled DOJ, House and Senate in 2021 will find multiple ways to indict and convict him.

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It's more than trump's mishandling of the pandemic and civil unrest. My son is an engineer at Edward's Air Force Base. He and his co-workers overwhelmingly supported trump in 2016. That has changed since so many respected military leaders have spoken out against trump, and the great majority of base employees are now voting for Biden in November. It's a sentiment held by many in the aerospace field as I understand it. I live in a GA House district that is going to be flipped without question. The incumbent Dale Rutledge is going to get a shellacking in November. Like so many others, I am beyond tired of the lunacy brought about EVERY day by this administration, and am willing to do whatever it takes to make it stop! I'd say "I told you so," but I'd be preaching to the choir. November can't get here too soon!

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Trump doesn’t have the self-control or the temperament to fade into the background and let the experts run his campaign.

Unless Biden has a major stumble or three, Trump is going to go down badly, and it’ll be ugly all the way down.

Biden doesn’t have the unlikeability or slimy character that Hillary has, and Trump and Biden are nose-to-nose on who has more dementia.

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At best, Trump will win a close election like last time. But this is better than losing like McCain in 2008 and Romney in 2012. In 2016, here are some polls from mid-June that also showed Trump losing big ( https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/general_election_trump_vs_clinton_vs_johnson_vs_stein-5952.html ):

Reuters/IPSOS (6/11-6/15): Clinton +10

Reuters/IPSOS (6/18-6/22): Clinton +9

ABC/WPost (6/20-06/23): Clinton+10

Reuters/IPSOS (6/25-6/29): Clinton+11

The big Clinton leads continued in various polls until mid-October:

Associated Press/GfK (10/24 to 1024): Clinton+14

ABC News Tracking (10/20-10/23: Clinton 13

CNBC (10/21-10/24): Clinton +9

ABC News Tracking (10/20-10/24): Clinton +9

The RCP average for 4 WI polls was Clinton +6.5, If you throw out the Trafalger group because it was Republican poll predicting Trump+2, the other 4 polls in November had Clinton winning MI by +5. If you throw out the two Republican polls in November the four other polls had Clinton winning PA by 3.5.

Maybe the polls are right now, but there is certainly reason to doubt they got the great Clinton landslide of 2016 utterly wrong. The 2020 election is the same as the 2016 election in term of policies, except the Democrats have drifted even further left. If that is what the voters of our country chooses, there is no way for the GOP to stop it, as policy-insanity-light is still policy-insanity.

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I agree Erick. Trump is losing this race. He has done nothing for the virus, the protests, etc to gain supporters. I can see how much he cares and is trying to do for our country BUT with the level of HATE for him, NOBODY else does. I've seen comments below about who would vote for Biden because of his mind. They will be voting for his VP. They will be voting just to vote AGAINST Trump. If Biden picks a woman of color I don't know if Trump can overcome that. Every person I know HATES him! They have been saying he is racist since the day he was elected. My son and his friends firmly believe this and they are millenials who vote. They are all employed. They are intelligent and informed but they do not care or understand how Trump stimulates the economy and that then gives us $ to do good things. They feel we have left a mess for them, climate change, immigration, worse off $ wise than generation before, racism everywhere. They do not get that the other side will tax us into oblivion. The Republicans have done us no favors not solving issues (healthcare!) and they believe all of the media lies!

I live in the 6th US District and ever person I know HATES Trump, helped almost flip our district for Ossoff, voted against Handel, and actively campaigned for Stacey Abrams. These are organized, high income, highly educated people. They spout every media lie. But they support school choice! They created and formed a new charter school! I can relate to them on every level but they all vote democrat. These are business people! It is so confusing!

Also, it was VERY damaging when Lafayette Square was cleared for the President to take that picture. I was even horrified. And his battles with the press were entertaining until they continued thru COVID 19 and these protests. We need a steady, calm, consistent, compassionate message from Trump and the Republicans but they don't give it. It is NOT a message for all of them to keep reacting to every stupid thing the democrats say. Instead give us a solution-based message. You said it Erick in an earlier column, safety, back to work, ADD we will get thru these troubled times. ADD, we are the party who will meet with protesters, find REAL solutions to racism, etc. Trump has done actual reform for the black community but it is like no one cares! Trump could have won in a continued good economy but COVID and these protests have blown that up. No one I knew would even credit him for the good he did the economy before Covid, etc. They would just come back with "he's racist." They believe electing him is immoral. I fear for this country if he loses but if he wins, I really think the Georgia suburbs will try to burn this country down with everyone else who hates Trump.

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Assume you are commenting on what the polling shows regarding why these voters are unhappy, so to the comments below you are 100% correct. What could have Trump done about the virus, probably no much more than he did but the people think he handled it badly. The media did not help him, was a huge deal until the protests and now is a big deal again now that the protests are over shows the true bias. Trump is his own worse enemy, he needs to keep his mouth shut long enough to win, so far being in the basement has worked for Joe and it would probably work for Trump. If I was a GOP Senate or House candidate I would not embrace him at all. Hell if I had a choice I would keep the Senate and lose the presidency, just to be done with all the hate.

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I'm seeing less of the anti-Trump sentiment here, except in people who have always, and loudly, felt that way. Our Republicans are part of his base and are solid. But they might stay home in November if a) they're worried about getting sick or b) they're sure that Biden will win. Of course, we're a sparsely populated region so it might not matter. For those on the fence (who might have stayed home in 2016, not liking either candidate) I agree with William Armstrong that Biden's VP would matter enormously.

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I would vote for Romney before I would let Nancy or Biden’s VP be the de facto president!!

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Before one votes for Biden.....focus on his VP......can we “live” with that person? And the Dem policies.

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Folks have been trying to get Candidate Trump and now President Trump to tone it down and let the experts work for 4 years. Everytime I hear this I think of JFK and ," the best and the brightest". Sadly, the truth no longer matters. We have no free press . If people hate President Trump so much they will vote for a man that is obviously senile , all we can do is hold on.

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I agree the President is not handling the Protests well at all . I don’t agree that he is not handling the Virus well . Give examples Erick of what Trump could so better for the virus ??

Biden is likable but his mind is not all there . He clearly has dementia ! Why would anyone vote for him knowing he is just the Dems puppet at this point ?

I think people will vote for Trump over Biden but are afraid to ADMIT they will vote for Trump . Trump

Does need to take a backseat for a bit and calm down , which we all know is difficult for him to do .

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Please, please explain what President Trump could do for this virus? I agree that stepping into the background would benefit him, but truly, what are things he can do with regard to making the virus be better? I keep hearing people say this - I never hear actual ideas that can be done.

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It is almost as if he does not want to win. But that is Trump. Remember he won the nomination against all odds in 2016 and against someone who was up by 10 points in October 2016. So Trump will be Trump. All geniuses are a kind of people.

Yes times are different and have changed drastically this I hope he understands that.

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(1) Stop downplaying it;

(2) Continue funding urban/suburban drive-thru testing facilities;

(3) Take the lead on a shelter-in-place economic recovery plan;

(4) Step up federal assistance to the states;

(5) Provide more concrete guidelines and less mixed messages on masks, reopenings, etc.

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1) Everybody should stop downplaying the danger of the Corona virus.

2) The US is testing at a very high rate now with over 30M total tests and 500K/day, We have about 93K tests/1M, versus Germany at 65K tests/1M. The US is catching more low-risk cases, which is why the US death rate has dropped over the last 2 months while the number of cases has remained fairly constant (except for rising in the past 2 weeks).

3-4) The US Corona bills allocated trillions and Trump regularly tweets out assistance given to various states.

5) The WHO and Dr. Fauci/Birx have been inconsistent on masks bouncing back and forth like a yo-yo and that inconsistency is not Trump's fault. There can be no single reopening plan because Corona-risk is very irregular over the US and the Corona risk in rural areas is much different than the Corona risk in urban areas., At this point in time, forcing one-size-fits-all Corona regulations on the US for lock downs and/o re-openings is senseless.

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Comparing tests per million between Germany and the US is next to meaningless. Germany tested early and contained the virus. They only have 7,900 active cases. The US tested way too late and it's still far from contained. The buck stops you know where.

Fauci/Birx recommended against facial coverings in the early phases because there was a limited supply and they wanted preference to be given to front-line workers. Their views changed as the supply chain changed.

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The states and counties are worried sick about the economy, Medicaid costs, the loss of sales tax. I agree, more aid would be a huge help. But maybe it's time to re-think how stuff gets paid for. Was paying for schools with lottery $ (popular up North too) a good idea? What happened to the funds that were paying for education? State and federal aid is great, but in times like this it's unreliable. I wish there was some kind of conference, open to the public (and press like me!) so we can all talk about it.

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