The Democrats fought and fought, but in the end, President Trump has won the “lockdown wars,” according to a piece published Tuesday in the Washington Examiner.
The signs are everywhere that the “lockdown forever” crowd is losing its grip, W. James Antle III writes, although it remains to be seen how well the broad reopening of the country will play out for Trump over the longer term.
Antle: Trump largely vindicated
Early on in the pandemic, Trump’s concerns about whether “the cure is worse than the disease” presaged what eventually swelled into a full-blown culture war over lockdown measures taken to slow the spread of the virus.
While Democrats, their lapdogs in the media, and virus experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci studiously warned of a “second wave” — and pointedly shamed states such as Georgia that they perceived to be too hasty in reopening, President Trump and lockdown protesters pushed and pushed to get America up and running again.
After weeks of sheltering at home, the dialogue has flipped from whether to when lockdowns should end, Antle writes. Indeed, the likes of Fauci are seldom heard from anymore, and the virologist has recently shifted tone, conceding that prolonged lockdowns could be intolerably damaging and that a resurgence is not a foregone conclusion, as CNBC reported.
“I don’t want people to think that any of us feel that staying locked down for a prolonged period of time is the way to go,” Fauci said Friday.
Most importantly, Trump has been vindicated — so far — against the left’s doom-saying prophecies about states that reopened early on.
Backlash coming for Dems?
With lockdown fatigue having set in long ago, even Democratic governors like Andrew Cuomo — who has been held up by his party as a foil to Trump — seem to be loosening the screws, and more Americans are voting with their feet as the summer approaches.
However, Antle points to lingering question marks for Trump, who has been trailing Joe Biden in some key states, as virus fears — and a tanked economy — abide.
But Republican strategists disagreed with more dire assessments of Trump’s prospects, telling the Examiner that Democrats could pay dearly for putting all their eggs in the “lockdown” basket, according to Antle.
“Once the resistance crumbles, every voter will know that the president was pushing to reopen the economy, while the Democrats were pushing to keep everything, especially schools, closed,” said Republican strategist John Feehery.
With Trump predicting a rapid recovery, the best hope for Dems now may be for the virus to strike back and keep the economy in a slump. But, as Antle asserts, it looks like Trump wins this round.
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