Jennifer Rubin at The Washington Post was hired almost a decade ago as a conservative blogger to offset the overwhelmingly liberal opinion pages, but she’s never been an actual conservative. She has as much to do with the conservative movement as Elizabeth Warren has to do with the Cherokee Nation.
Rather, Rubin serves the purpose of presenting a “conservative” opinion that can be weaponized against conservatives, and never has that been more clear than in the age of never-Trump conservatives, of which she is one. Yet, Rubin serves as a useful reflection of what we can expect from Democrats against Trump.
And a recent tweet from Rubin tells us what we can expect from Democrats: Squeezing Trump in a vise with mass economic disaster on one side, and death of Americans on the other. If Trump allows unemployment and business destruction to grow to depression levels by continuing for months the current economic shutdown, Trump will be blamed for the economic destruction of tens of millions of people. But if he loosens up, even slowly, he will be blamed for each and every death.
So, in sharing a WaPo article claiming Trump was planning to disregard health experts by opening up the economy, Rubin tweeted advice for Joe Biden:
If Biden is serious about winning he needs to accuse Trump of willingness to kill people.
My reaction on Twitter:
As sick in the head as she is, this is in fact a preview of how Democrats will handle reopening of the economy, it’s win-win for them: If unemployment reaches 30-40% it’s Trump’s fault, if the economy rebounds and even one person dies of virus, he’s a killer.
Rubin’s advice to Biden was gratiuitous, the media and Democrats already were going there. During the coronavirus briefing today a reporter asked (this is paraphrased): If we open up the economy before the health experts say it’s okay to do so, doesn’t that mean more people will die?
Of course, many of our economic activities cause death. We accept tens of thousands of auto deaths a year rather than banning driving, but we do things to minimize death, such as vehicle design (airbags, three-point seat belts, crumple zones, computer controlled stopping, and much more), road design, and driving enforcement. Do we have a “willingness to kill people” by not shutting down driving and tearing up roads?
If we continue the way we are going, there will be death, but it will be through suicides, substance abuse, and violence.
Trump needs to ignore demagogues like Rubin and her Democrat friends and do the right thing. People will understand that the current widespread shutdown cannot go on much longer, it’s not sustainable. A slow reopening of the economy, combined with the healthcare equivalent of airbags, will strike the right balance.
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