Was there any one mistake by Trump that cost him a second term?

[EJ24]

I think that first debate really hurt him.

[Flyersfan232]

listening to invanka and kushner.

[Mr.Bakari-Sellers]

He should of passed the 2.2 T stimulus as well as Confirm ACB, he came out with 2K checks after the Election. The Rs could of did both but most of the time was spent on ACB

Perdue and Loeffler allowed Mcconnell to block it and cost Rs GA

If Stimulus included 2K checks, it would have cost 2.2T

[Calthrina950]

listening to invanka and kushner.

I think you're wrong here. I despise "Jared and Ivanka", as they were commonly called, and I've expressed my opposition to nepotism before, but these two actually exercised a positive influence upon Trump and limited some of his worst excesses. They were also responsible for Trump's limited moves on criminal justice reform (i.e. the First Step Act and pardoning some lesser offenders) and pushed him to support paid family leave, in addition to crafting much of his Middle Eastern policy. Had he not relied upon them, I think he would have behaved even more recklessly than he actually did.

[Neptunium]

COVID COVID COIVD

that's all.

[Motorcity]

listening to invanka and kushner.

I think you're wrong here. I despise "Jared and Ivanka", as they were commonly called, and I've expressed my opposition to nepotism before, but these two actually exercised a positive influence upon Trump and limited some of his worst excesses. They were also responsible for Trump's limited moves on criminal justice reform (i.e. the First Step Act and pardoning some lesser offenders) and pushed him to support paid family leave, in addition to crafting much of his Middle Eastern policy. Had he not relied upon them, I think he would have behaved even more recklessly than he actually did.

Ivanka also pushed for Trump to stay in the Paris Climate Accords to my knowledge and pushed him away from child seperation.

Of course, and I hate to quote spitting image, but she does seem to care what her New York friends think

[Skill and Chance]

Yes.  If he split from Fauci by telling his supporters to wear MAGA masks in February, he would still be president.

[LtNOWIS]

Remember the Muslim ban on Week One of his presidency? Just utter chaos, green card holders being turned away at airports, random liberal lawyers and members of Congress going to their nearest airports to try to help out? Some people were already on a plane or at their layover stops when the ban went into effect with no notice.

I feel like that freaked out a lot of people, and got them thinking that Trump was gonna start rounding people up and putting them in camps. That he actually was a rampaging menace like they feared. So I think that swelled the ranks of the #Resistance liberals, and got them engaged so massively in the 2017 specials, the 2018 midterms, and on through the 2020 general election.

So if Trump had just given people a week's notice on the travel ban like Sean Spicer said, people would be much less freaked out. Or better yet, just start with the 3rd executive order that could actually pass legal muster, instead of the January 2017 one.

[Flyersfan232]

Yes.  If he split from Fauci by telling his supporters to wear MAGA masks in February, he would still be president.

fauci didnt flipflop on mask till march i believe.

[Mr.Bakari-Sellers]

The VBM system allows people that normally don't vote to do it at home, that's why he has criticized the VBM system.

The last time the Rs won the PVI was in 2004, that was the last time we used same day voting.

Since then, the Rs have failed in every Prez Election since then, due to Early voting.

Yeah, they won in 2010 due to 11 percent Unemployment and 2014 due to a red Senate map and got by in 2016 due to Gary Johnson, bit we have won the PVI in Prez Election abd that's all that matters

[ProudModerate2]

I think people here are underestimating the "shy anti-lockdown/restriction" vote.  In 2020, especially, there were trends of people moving from more locked down states to less locked down ones, and almost none of the reverse.  Certainly, some parts of his covid response (like the drinking bleach comment) hurt him, but I don't know that he would have benefitted significantly from imposing major nationwide restrictions.

But what if he hadn't made lockdowns a political issue? If he would have taken leadership back in March and encouraged lockdowns, as every scientist and doctor was urging, there would have been a lot less anti-lockdown votes. Sure there would have been some libertarian-esque resistance to any government measures, but it would not have been as significant as it ended up being. The thing about Trump is that his supporters listen to him. If he supported lockdowns, most of his base would have complied without significant pushback, with the added benefit of looking competent to Trump skeptics.

I disagree.  I don't think 95% of the opposition to lockdowns is ideological, but, rather, more along the lines of "I just want to live my life again and accept any risk that comes with that".

Again, it's not an issue of an individual just wanting to "risk what comes" with the lax precautions we all need to take. The risk and consequences do not just fall on that person. This pandemic requires a "team" or society-wide effort to control. One who is not being cautious, not only endangers himself, or close family/friends, but everyone in the community.

Some of you die-hard, anti-abortion blue-avatars are so quick to scream and cry for loss-of-life, but just fail to see the reality of sickness/death caused by morons who think they are just "risking their life" and no one else, because they just "want to live my life again."

[krb08]

Literally just COVID. It was basically a free reelection if he handled it the way other world leaders did. He was handed a crisis in an election year on a silver platter, and managed to fumble it.

[pppolitics]

His entire term was a mistake.

[Statilius the Epicurean]

Remember the Muslim ban on Week One of his presidency? Just utter chaos, green card holders being turned away at airports, random liberal lawyers and members of Congress going to their nearest airports to try to help out? Some people were already on a plane or at their layover stops when the ban went into effect with no notice.

I feel like that freaked out a lot of people, and got them thinking that Trump was gonna start rounding people up and putting them in camps. That he actually was a rampaging menace like they feared. So I think that swelled the ranks of the #Resistance liberals, and got them engaged so massively in the 2017 specials, the 2018 midterms, and on through the 2020 general election.

So if Trump had just given people a week's notice on the travel ban like Sean Spicer said, people would be much less freaked out. Or better yet, just start with the 3rd executive order that could actually pass legal muster, instead of the January 2017 one.

This sh**tshow plus the botched Obamacare repeal as the first order of Congressional business basically crippled his term right out of the gate, yeah.

[Skill and Chance]

Yes.  If he split from Fauci by telling his supporters to wear MAGA masks in February, he would still be president.

fauci didnt flipflop on mask till march i believe.

Just in general telling people to wear masks before several % of the population was already infected could have been enough for the USA to have a Japan level outcome, which would have looked like an obvious success by the fall.  Japan had mostly anti-lockdown leadership too. 

[dotard]

Fred Trump not pulling out.