So much going on right now in the news. New developments from every direction, much of it seems unrelated. A lot of it’s shocking. Here’s the way to understand it.

In an election year, everything significant that happens is about the election. So all of these developments are in fact related, and here’s the core question in every election. Who is up and who is down?

As of tonight, the president is down double digits in the polls and there’s not much question about why that is. Americans are miserable. They’re stuck at home. They are fearful. Millions of them don’t have jobs.

The percentage of Americans who believe our country is headed in the right direction has dropped off a cliff since this spring. Not coincidentally, that’s when a strange new virus from China began to spread among our population.

The rise of COVID-19 in the United States tracks almost precisely the decline of Donald Trump’s approval numbers and the political lesson from this is clear. The more damage the Wuhan coronavirus does to America, the harder it is for the President to get reelected.

That’s not speculation. It is the most certain fact in American politics. Every Democratic officeholder understands that. If the population remains terrified, Democrats will have more power in January.

So the Democratic Party has every incentive to keep Americans afraid and off balance. For the next 97 days, they plan to do that. That is their entire campaign strategy. It’s the only thing they’re running on.