Donald Trump is in deep trouble and Joe Biden is waiting in the wings

There is now an odds-on possiblity that the coronavirus will skewer Donald Trump's hopes/expectations of being reelected in November. For the first time since he entered the White House I really do believe that his chances of having a second term are currently only 50-50 and may be even 40-60. It's not so much Joe Biden's sudden political momentum, although that is a factor. It's the coronavirus pandemic. The virus is not Trump's fault, obviously, but the public's perception of his management of the crisis is everything and right now the perception is that he is confused, with hs mixed messages, his initial dismissal of the seriousness of it, his late conversion and then, predictably, his accusation that the media and fake news are stirring it up to undermine what he is trying to do. Well, no leader in the world is perfect, everyone to a certain extent is flapping around trying to make the right decisions. But if the president of the United States doesn't seem to know what he is doing then he cannot expect to waltz back into the White House after the November 3 election. His first public statement about measures to be taken was so dreadful and inaccurate that it was almost as if someone had mischievously mucked around with the autocue. Since that moment in the Oval Office Trump hasn't really improved things. Slapping a ban on all flights from the European mainland, then two days later including the UK and Ireland in the ban but telling all Americans wandering the streets of Paris, Rome and Florence etc that they could come back no problem, had exactly the opposite effect. American nationals panicked and grabbed the first flight back to the US in case Trump closed the airport gates altogether. So tens of thousands of Americans started arriving at airports around the country to find that everyone had to be questioned, have their temperature taken and other stuff and the delays were mammoth. Some waited up to ten hours to get back into the country. Trump spoke without, it seems, arranging for airports to have extra staff to cope. Chaos is never a good word when dealing with a national crisis, especially when it involves a horrible disease that is floating around for everyone to catch. All these Americans just wanted to get home where they would feel safe. But the authorities appeared to be reluctant to let them in. Trump will be blamed. Governors were furious because they said the federal authorities should have preplanned everything and should have provided more staff. That's a bit of a cop-out by the governors in my view but the fact is the easiest thing to do is not to accept responsibility but to blame someone else. And it's Trump because he's the president. It's the same in the UK. Boris is being blamed by everyone, especially in every capital around the world, for failing to follow everyone else's example and doing things totally differently. So no ban on mass gatherings and no closure of schools etc. But Boris took these decision based on scientific data. If the scientific data proves to be dodgy or just plain wrong, then Boris will be blamed. That's life. But Boris doesn't have to worry about being reelected anytime soon. He's safe for another four and a half years unless there is a parliamentary majority vote of no confidence in his government. But that's not going to happen. Trump on the other hand has less than eight months to prove to the American people that he is taking all the right decisions on the virus and on the economy. It's not looking good for him at the moment, and Joe Biden is starting to look presidential. But then he can say what he likes about the virus and the way to handle it because he is not in charge of anything. I never thought I would say it, but President Joe Biden, 46th holder of the office, seems pretty likely.