Craziest election in history heads into the homestretch: Here's what to expect

Can this election get more crazy?

We've got a worldwide pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 Americans and race riots raging in several U.S. cities. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs as the economy collapsed and businesses across the country are shuttered amid lockdowns.

Wait, there's more. Suddenly, a vacancy arose on the Supreme Court, and President Trump wants to fill it – just weeks before the election. Then, Trump and his opponent held a chaotic debate full of name-calling and ad hominem attacks.

Oh, and one more thing: Trump announced on Friday that he has tested positive for COVID-19.

All those subjects and more will play out in the campaign's final 33 days. 

While the outcome of the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett will have far-reaching effects for decades, the next 10 to 14 days could well be truly compelling. That's how long doctors suggest those who are diagnosed with COVID-19 should quarantine. And the most powerful man in the world is about to give Americans a real-time, live-blog of that experience.

When the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 first began to sweep across the U.S., Trump was criticized for downplaying its severity.

"We have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It's going to be just fine," he said on Jan. 22. "It's going to disappear. One day — it's like a miracle — it will disappear," Trump said on Feb. 27. (For the record, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was saying much the same thing at the time, saying on Feb. 24, "You should come to Chinatown. Precautions have been taken by our city.")

But the president continued to play down the virus, saying in a March interview with Bob Woodward: "I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down, because I don't want to create a panic."

Now, the president, 74, has the virus. He's already announced that he's going into quarantine, and his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, told reporters on Friday that "he has mild symptoms, as we look at that, the doctor will continue to provide expertise in the residence. He's in the residence now."

But the president has got to meet with dozens, sometimes hundreds, of people every day, even more so as the election heads into the homestretch. 

Meadows said that the White House already has extensive testing and practices social distancing, but "even with that wide circle around the president, we find that he's having to deal with this like so many other millions of other Americans and people around the world have had to. I can tell you that what we're doing is focusing on the therapeutics, the vaccines, continuing to do that. And that doesn't change."

Americans will soon be hearing daily reports about what medicines the president is taking to help alleviate the symptoms of COVID-19 and kill the virus. And it's safe to say that Trump is even more high-profile than another big name who got the virus — actor Tom Hanks — so the news will be everywhere.

Still, Meadows said Trump will stay hands on, as always. "Even as recent as this morning, a little after 8 o'clock, the president was giving me a number of things to make sure that I get done, and I'm sure that I will actually have those due-outs, have to be back to him later today," he said.

Then there's the Supreme Court vacancy. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, last week announced that Barrett's hearing before his committee will begin on Oct. 12. There will be two days of hearings, and then the committee, controlled by Republicans, will vote. Graham says he hopes to send the nomination to the full Senate by Oct. 22.

That means that with just weeks to go before Election Day, Republicans and Democrats will wrangle over Barrett, a 48-year-old mother of seven who is a devout Catholic. Trump could've picked Barbara Lagoa, 52, a Cuban-American judge from Florida — which Trump desperately needs to win. But the president clearly knows that Democrats will attack Barrett over her faith (as they did three years when she was nominated and confirmed by the Senate to a seat on the 7th District Court of Appeals). 

The move was strategic by Trump. He needs the evangelical vote in November, and one report in June said the president was losing support among the group. "Roughly seven-in-ten white evangelical Protestants (72%) say they approve of the way Trump is handling his job, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted June 16 to 22. That is a 6 percentage point drop from 78% recorded in April, in line with the 5-point drop during that period among U.S. adults overall," Pew Research reported.

Democrats will have to walk a tightrope — hit Barrett on her judicial philosophy, but steer clear of bashing her on religion. Team Trump will be ready to pounce should they cross that line.

On the other issues, Trump stands to get some good news on the economy by the end of October — just four days before the election. On Oct. 29, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) will release the numbers for the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). 

The U.S. economy shrank by a nearly 33% annualized rate for the April-June quarter, the worst plunge since record-keeping began in 1947. But the Federal Bank of Atlanta model currently estimates real GDP growth in the third quarter of 2020 will be 34.6%, up from an estimate of 32% on Sept. 25. 

That means that Americans will have rock-solid proof that things are improving — not perfect, but improving. And more good news came on Friday, when the Labor Department announced the U.S. added 661,000 jobs in September and the unemployment rate fell to 7.9%, the lowest level since the pandemic hit. The official jobless rate had peaked at 14.7% in April before subsiding.

As for violence raging in cities across America, there appears to be no end in sight. But even that can be exploited by Trump, who has repeatedly hit Biden over law and order.

In Tuesday's debate, Trump said he has "law enforcement, almost every law enforcement group in the United States. I have Florida. I have Texas. I have Ohio. I have every — excuse me, Portland, the sheriff just came out today and he said, "I support President Trump."

"I don't think you have any law enforcement. You can't even say the word law enforcement. Because if you say those words, you're going to lose all of your radical left supporters. And why aren't you saying those words, Joe? Why don't you say the words law enforcement? Because you know what? If they called us in Portland, we would put out that fire in a half an hour," the president said. "But they won't do it, because they're run by radical left Democrats."

The two also had this exchange: 

Trump: And you still haven't mentioned. Are you in favor of law and order?

Biden: I'm in favor of law. You —

Trump: Are you in favor of law and order?

Biden: Law and order with justice, where people get treated fairly.

Trump: OK.