First it had to be nothing much at all and not disrupt the economy. Anything else and he thought he was screwed, so just play it that way. That failed to happen, so his desperation move was to just open back up and hope he got away with that. He had to have improving economic numbers well before the election. That couldn't happen if we stayed shut down.

I compared it to Hitler and the battle of Kursk in Russia. By the summer of 1943 the Russians were driving the German armies back and it was clear to the generals on the front that there was no stopping them. There was no chance of pulling back and defending and hoping for any kind of resolution that would keep Hitler in power. They had to strike a decisive blow to turn the tide of the war. It really wasn't possible, but Hitler had nothing to lose. It was worth it to him to risk it and lose a huge part of their military power, but he actually believed it could work.

It's Kushner, Barr and the rest of the collaborators that are really terrified. Trump probably thinks he'll come out of everything okay even if he does lose the election. Trump probably won't live long enough to see prison, but the rest are going down hard I hope.