The biggest winner of Covid19 is the media, especially social media. Every senator, governor, and congressperson’s twitter account is being flooded with comments in regard to the virus, as people on either side of the aisle vent their frustrations and point blame at the other ‘side’. Trump’s twitter is bigger and more relevant than ever, as, undeterred by the virus, Trump is tweeting as much as ever, and his his tweets are getting from 100-300k likes and as many as ten thousand comments, a gain of 2-4x from when this pandemic began. Trump’s support has exploded online by his base, much to the disappointment of the left, who hoped that the falling stock market and predicted surge in unemployment would cause enough of his supporters to defect and cost him reelection, but polling data shows Trump’s approval ratings flat or rising.
Blogs such as Unz are also seeing increased traffic. Same for 4chan and Reddit. Same for YouTube, as well a traditional media such as New York Times, WSJ, Vox, and Washington Post. The first media boom began after Trump won, as Trump has proven to be, generally, a much more interesting and news-worthy president than Obama or Bush, and now the virus has further accelerated this boom.
The fact that so many people are online in spite of all the doom and gloom, can be interpreted as good/optimistic news. Rather than being despondent and paralyzed with fear, people are trying to maintain wherever semblance of normalcy they can. People are still going going out for supplies, food, or to congregate at whatever few public areas that have not yet been closed. Some people still are going to work. Netflix and Uber Eats seeing huge surge of usage. The economy is down but far from being out.
The New York times has become a go-to source for updates and opinions about Trump, the economy, and the virus, and although most of it is overtly left-wing biased, in recent weeks they have tried entertaining opposing views, such as questioning the cherished left-wing belief that saving precious elderly lives must come before the health of the economy or the ability of able-bodied people to go back to work and feed their families but cannot. I think the left realized that they have dug themselves in such a deep pit of contradictions and unpopularity, that they need to try to pretend to be sane or coherent at least once in awhile in order to maintain the facade of credibility.