Looper

Why? If you're behind, you only have so many chances to turn the campaign around, and Trump whiffed on a couple of chances this week.

He did not get much help from his convention.

Nor does his "LAW AND ORDER" focus seem to working, at least if you trust the polls.

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) September 4, 2020

Or maybe it's because the President is stuck in a loop:

Trump ludicrously claims that economic shutdowns to combat the coronavirus kill more people "than the virus itself" pic.twitter.com/MNJjrKTXbD

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 4, 2020

If this were a science-fiction movie, that would make more sense than the President just saying the same thing over and over again, hoping for a different reaction.  Because this sounds real familiar:

Trump: "Speaking of politics, I think North Carolina, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, and other states, the Democrat governors should open the states. They'll open them on November 4th, but they should open them now." pic.twitter.com/UkbHX9aYf4

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 4, 2020

What's another 100,000 deaths when baby needs new shoes, huh?  Throw them dice!

"We can probably have it sometime during the month of October" -- Trump's timeline for a coronavirus vaccine keeps getting pushed up pic.twitter.com/BDINsQDOEP

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 4, 2020

Considering how well they did rolling out ventilators and covid-19 tests across the country, I'm not holding my breath on this one.  Even if it's efficacious, the inability to distribute it on a mass scale will burn Trump to the ground.

I'm waiting for the fun part of the press conference:  the first question about the Atlantic story will send him running from the room.

Sadly, that didn't happen (he did blame John Kelly, though, because sure, why not?), but this did:

Christmas Eve, Holland. Every American and Canadian veteran buried here receives his own Christmas light.
We will remember, we will never forget. pic.twitter.com/COcbjhrXOk

— Maria Benaim. (@mcbenaim) September 4, 2020

Wait for it.....

Now Trump is saying he even phoned Melania back in Washington to say how disappointed he was that he couldn’t go to the military cemetery outside of Paris. In fact, Melania was with him in Paris. He just made up his alibi. pic.twitter.com/pYErQ3yMB6

— John Aravosis 🇺🇸🇬🇷🏳️‍🌈 (@aravosis) September 4, 2020

A lie is always better than the truth, no?

And did I mention four states now won't distribute a vaccine for covid until they are sure it has been properly tested and verified?

The [Michigan] state’s health department told TPM on Friday that it would not agree to distribute a vaccine that received federal approval without completing safety and efficacy trials or without approval from an independent board of scientists.
....
A spokesman for California’s department of public health told TPM that the state would not distribute a vaccine that had not completed phase III trials or which had not passed muster under an independent review board. Washington and New York officials have also said that they would hold back on distributing such a vaccine.

I still think the people who brought you the covid-19 testing debacle and the ventilator shambles don't have a snowball's chance in hell of distributing even a legitimate vaccine on November 1, or any time before January 21, 2021.