Honestly, why releasing your internals that show you getting clobbered?
Probably to warn Republican Senators that they would be wise to abandon Trump and to tell Republican front groups to pump money into campaigns of Republican Senators seeking re-election.
Perhaps Firehouse is trying to warn Republican leaders against pushing the reopen-immediately narrative. Or maybe they are pushing a reopen-immediately narrative and want to pin Trump's problems on the closures. There's quite divided thought on that internally among Republicans.
If it's the former, they shouldn't have to look much further than the governor polls, which show that Brian Kemp and the other Republican governors who are pushing for an early re-open are the least popular in the country while Mike DeWine and the Democratic governors are extremely popular. It is pretty clear that pushing for immediate reopen is political suicide for Republicans, while if they actually are reasonable like DeWine they can be very popular. I don't know why this is even a subject of debate, should be a no-brainer for them. Then again it's Republicans we're talking about here. Doing that which is reasonable and right for all parties concerned is anathema to their natural instincts. And I guess maybe the "DON'T TREAD ON ME" crazies are so vocal a minority they feel they can't ignore them?
1. Donald Trump got with much erratic, despotic, and even corrupt behavior so long as it wasn't hurting people and the economy wasn't going into the tank. Once his policies can be linked to something inexcusable, such as pointless mass death, he is in deep trouble politically.
2. Running afoul of the President on a policy that hurts one's constituencies is ordinarily good politics. Most people recognize that a hasty re-opening of high-risk locations is asking for a second surge of the Plague of 2020. There are loudmouth fools who want to go to the bowling alley, have some beers, and have a hamburger and fries who would end up getting and spreading the SARS-2 virus... but are we having fun yet? (Truth be told, theaters, bowling allies, concert halls, and most sporting venues depend upon food and drink sales for revenue that make such places profitable).
What do those loudmouth fools expect? People to reopen such places only for employees, let alone owners and customers, get sick and die?
3. Great leaders like Lincoln, Churchill, and FDR are able, when necessary, to get people to do things counter to their instincts, impulses, and immediate interests; they can express the need for looking at a long term. Long term may be "you will be a soldier for now, but if we lose you will be a slave or a corpse".
Most Americans seem to recognize that contracting COVID-19 isn't worth:
getting a haircut
getting nails done
surf 'n' turf
Little League baseball
bowling 300
going to a religious service
having a big, showy wedding
attending a live concert
watching a movie or a stage play in a theater
participating in a political rally
test-driving a new car
celebrating the 75th anniversary of the surrender of Nazi Germany
a Civil War re-enactment
Fourth of July fireworks
a dream vacation
earning big tips as a waiter
I doubt that anyone would conflate Trump with Lincoln, Churchill, or FDR.
4. No-brainer? There are people who do incredibly stupid things, like using street drugs, doing prostitution without condoms, gambling the rent money or the car payment, throwing stones at large dogs, texting while driving, driving drunk, responding to 419 scams, and playing the shell game. There are Nazis, Maoists, and Trotskyites.
Assessing risk is something that few people do well. Insurance companies pay actuaries well for assessing risk. If I were combat age, I would rather risk combat, something that everyone knows is risky, than face COVID-19. I look at many of the people in the "Liberate Michigan" rallies and I see overwhelming evidence that many there do a bad job assessing even basic risk.
5. When I see common threads among extremist groups with a new cause, then I expect to see much the same pathology.
