How Toxic Positivity Cost Trump His Presidency

It was close — for liberals, too close. And that closeness is reflective of an uncomfortable truth: had Trump done just a few things differently, he really would have won. And in particular, if Trump had stopped trying to wish away the pandemic, and started leading us through it, we’d quite likely have a second Trump term today.

American voters are not as fickle as the horserace polling outfits seem to imply they are. They tend not to change their minds except in reaction to big things, and many of those big things, from pandemics to recessions to…