The Memo: Political world grapples with long coronavirus shutdown

Americans are coming to grips with the fact that there will be no quick end to the coronavirus crisis — a realization that will shake up the 2020 presidential race in profound ways.

President Trump has sought to shift expectations in recent days, acknowledging that the de facto shutdown of the nation’s economy will last longer than he had originally hoped and that the death toll will likely climb far higher.

But Democrats are by no means guaranteed to reap a political dividend from Trump’s performance, even though the president underplayed the severity of the crisis in its early days and has been widely criticized in the media for doing so. Continue reading.