Massdriver

https://www.statesman.com/news/20200722/abbottrsquos-approval-plummets-amid-pandemic-poll-says?template=ampart Abbott’s approval plummets amid pandemic, poll says I was interviewed for this Texas poll.

We can't open them right now. If we had done our job in April and May and had a mandatory mask mandate, we could explore options. Certain states and areas may be able to experiment with limited in school options, but it needs to be done very carefully. In Texas, it isn't an option. It's completely out of control here.

I want to see the whole interview with Wallace.

I may get a lot of flack for saying this here, but I think Joe Biden is the reason Texas is so close. I doubt any of the other candidates would be doing nearly as well here. Edit: The biggest counterpoint is most of Biden's out-performance is due to Trump hurting himself. However Biden being boring and not in the news enhances this effect.

They can try, but I have a feeling that a lot of these judges won't resign.

I think the most likely scenario is Trump will cast as much doubt as possible on the results, claiming mail in ballot fraud and illegal voting if he loses. If it gains traction, he may feel like he could try to pull something more drastic.

I wish we could just have the election now. I think Biden would win and Trump's reign would be over. I believe Biden will probably win, but there is plenty of time for Trump to come back and a lot can happen.

You can't put a negative spin as easily on the COVID-19 disapproval numbers though.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/broad-disapproval-trumps-handling-coronavirus-race-relations-poll/story?id=71704889 Let's hope these disapproval numbers hold up. Some white uneducated voters are starting to turn against him.

There's the bigger picture that if Biden carries Texas, that means the Texas House probably went blue for the first time in decades, giving them some limited influence over redistricting.

Abbott needs to mandate the gathering order and not allow counties to bypass his rules unless they’re stricter at this point. Once again our governor has failed us miserably.

Oh Wow. Texas ladies and gentlemen. edit: I was defending county judges because many of them in larger cities were begging for more authority to restrict gatherings and mandate masks.

I’m not sure which county judges and mayors you are referring to. My understanding of Abbott’s previous order prohibited counties from mandating a mask on an individual so counties mandated it on businesses because it was a loophole to try to do something. Perhaps you meant the numerous counties that didn’t issue the mandate on businesses. I work in one of those counties and we have had our own mask policy since April. I just had a visitor today that decided to take his mask off in a meeting on our premises and I had to stop him and tell him to put it back on. I don’t think people realize how rude it is to take it off or they just don’t care. I would like to know how masks relate at all to Marxism too. Rush said it, but how?

He’s only 3 months late. Abbott is a complete failure. I’m still thankful he did this, but it took hospitals being nearly filled to capacity for him to take a modest action like this.

Swing state voters give Trump dismal marks as coronavirus cases spike, CNBC/Change Research poll finds https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/01/trump-gets-poor-marks-on-coronavirus-during-2020-election-cnbcchange-poll.html Arizona: Biden 51%, Trump 44% Florida: Biden 50%, Trump 45% Michigan: Biden 48%, Trump 43% North Carolina: Biden 51%, Trump 44% Pennsylvania: Biden 50%, Trump 44% Wisconsin: Biden 51%, Trump 43%

I would be very surprised for Biden to flip on cannabis. He wants more evidence regarding its chronic effects on human health. I think it was easier to be for same sex marriage because you didn’t have the risk of more abuse and car crashes and possible long term health issues. What’s odd is being for letting states set their own policy without Federal regulation. At this point, Federal legalization seems like the only reasonable option to me if you want to control and regulate the market. The patchwork of state regs is not sufficient in my view.

I had an emergency alert on my phone yesterday in San Antonio urging people to stay distanced and stating our hospitals are filling up. I have skin irritation and a callus from wearing a mask at work all day for the last few weeks. A lot of people I know know of someone close to them who are sick. Crazy times.

If there was ever a time to borrow money and hand it out, this is it.

Never liked him as a tennis player even before I found out he is anti vax.

Just to be clear, local governments are not free to mandate masks on individuals. They can mandate that businesses require them. Texas just spiked to 5500 new cases today. 4092 in the hospital. The curve is basically going straight up. Edit: Abbott has failed miserably. I hope everyone can see what a dick he’s been for our state. First he let local governments take the flack for hard shut down decisions. Then he stripped their power away to look like the knight saving the economy as it reopened and handed them a shitty order that prohibited individual mask mandates. A clever local judge found a loophole in Abbott’s order that allowed local governments to mandate that businesses require masks rather than a direct mandate on individuals. Abbott pretends like this was his intention all along when it clearly wasn’t if you look back at how he framed the reopening. He is a slime ball. The right thing to do was reopen with a statewide mask mandate on businesses and individuals. Look at where we are at now.

The way I read the statistics in Texas is there are now 3,700 people currently hospitalized in Texas. When they say being hospitalized, it sounds like 3200 people a day are being admitted for covid. I'm open to correction, but I believe Jim Roberts is misleading people a bit there. Also Abbott has allowed cities to mandate that businesses require face masks. An order went into effect in San Antonio on Monday. Others cities have followed. Abbott still won't allow individual mandates though. In any case, it's still a terrible situation and Abbott has failed Texas miserably. The curve is looking horrid and if we continue on this pace, we will be in a full blown crisis of beds within around 6 weeks.

I agree he's just a symptom of a much more systemic problem. Trumpism isn't going away even if he loses. The goal here is to marginalize it as much as possible with the upcoming election and make some of the people that fell into it that aren't as dedicated as the rest question it. More than half of the GOP will still be TRUMP (build the wall, populist right wing stuff) all day and night after a loss, but it would temporarily weaken the movement.

There’s no question that Trump has brought out the worst in everyone and normally I would agree that mocking someone for disability or age is wrong. It’s sad to see what America has become. We have a spoiled dumb feeble child that has talked shit for 4 years and people are sick of it. He’s dangerous and has proven it. 4 more years is completely unacceptable. We need to kneecap his movement by making it a one term presidency with a landslide loss.

It’s working if it rattles him and makes him look silly and pathetic politically. Trump will never stop being shitty. The goal is to make sure he loses the election.

Shitty but seemingly necessary if it is working to bring him down politically. The bigger picture is getting him out in one term to permanently hurt his brand of conservatism.