To the editor:
I can’t remember reading a more tone-deaf op-ed article in the L.A. Times than Brad Schiller’s piece on the economy alone carrying President Trump to victory in 2020. This defies recent history and ignores the extraordinary behavior of this president.
First, Trump made the 2018 midterm a referendum on his performance, and the economy was doing well. Nonetheless, House Republicans were resoundingly defeated. It was a total repudiation of Trump’s performance.
Second, Trump’s approval rating (historically low) and disapproval rating (historically high) argue against his reelection.
Third, Trump’s behavior, characterized as allegedly criminal, immoral, unethical, and boorish by large swaths of the populace, is unlike that of any other president.
Schiller ignores all this and relies on an inapplicable model to all but predict a Trump victory. I advise him to pay close attention to the 2020 election results and then consider that the economy plays second fiddle when the existence of our democracy is at stake.
Ray McKown, Torrance
Note from KBJ: Practice saying “President Trump,” Ray. You’ll be saying it for five and a half more years.
