IF YOU COME AT THE KING, YOU BEST NOT MISS: Democrats fret about the political fallout from the Trump rally shooting. “The presidential contest ended last night,” said a veteran Democratic consultant.
In the hours after a would-be assassin fired a bullet through former President Donald Trump’s ear, Panfilo DiCenzo, a 40-year-old Democratic voter from Pittsburgh, drew a simple conclusion about the political effect of the attack: “It definitely is good for Trump.”
DiCenzo reasoned that undecided voters may “be more likely to vote for him out of sympathy” and that “especially with the upheaval in the Democratic Party, you know, more and more people I think are a little bit confused as to who to vote for.”
At a time when President Joe Biden has been struggling to shore up support with fellow Democrats following a miserable June debate performance and shaky cleanup effort, some professional Democratic political operatives said Saturday’s shooting will end up sealing the incumbent’s electoral fate.
“We’re so beyond f—ed,” one longtime Democratic insider said, noting that the image of Trump thrusting his fist in the air, with blood dramatically smeared across his face, will be indelible.
That’s from those crazy right wingers at NBC. Now let’s check in with the MAGA-hat wearing chaps at Axios: Trump rally shooting upends Democrats’ Biden crisis.
Most lawmakers who spoke to Axios said it is too early to say whether the cessation in tensions will last until the Democratic National Convention next month.
But the second senior House Democrat offered one reason for why it might: “We’ve all resigned ourselves to a second Trump presidency.”
Still though, don’t get cocky. As Stephen Kruiser wrote in April, “Back in the Tea Party days, I used to say that any Republican candidate polling lead under six percent wasn’t outside the margin of ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). Now that early voting starts sometime around Super Bowl Sunday and Election Day is Election Seven or So Weeks, I’ve revised that. If a Republican isn’t up by at least eight points in a poll, he or she is not outside the Margin of Magic Mail Ballots.”