| This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a closing argument of Bloomberg Opinion's opinions. Sign up here. Today's AgendaCovid, Now Even More Out of HandLess than a week before the election, President Donald Trump's closing argument to the American people is that the coronavirus pandemic is "rounding the turn." But that turn leads right into a brick wall, apparently. Two weeks ago we wrote the pandemic was entering a scary new phase. It turns out this new phase is already the worst one yet:  That chart, created by Time magazine's Chris Wilson, shows only U.S. cases. The numbers are troubling throughout the Northern Hemisphere as the weather grows colder, with new daily records being set in Italy, Spain and elsewhere. Hospitals are filling up across Europe, warns Lionel Laurent, and we can't just applaud frontline health workers and send them thoughts and prayers as we did back in the spring. They need real capacity, reinforcements and protective equipment this time. Little wonder stock prices have tumbled three days in a row, with the S&P 500 today suffering its worst sell-off in a couple of months. As Brian Chappatta writes, traders fear a new pandemic wave will lead to more lockdowns and self-imposed spending limits, only this time without the salve of massive fiscal stimulus. At least we're now several months closer to getting a vaccine than we were in the spring. The U.S. has bet billions of dollars that Operation Warp Speed will get it a vaccine more quickly than the rest of the world. But this bet is foolishly unhedged, warns Bloomberg's editorial board, because Trump has shunned the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility, known as Covax. For the investment of a few extra billion dollars, this would let the U.S. share resources with the rest of the world and help Americans get the best vaccines more quickly. It's the latest and possibly deadliest example of how Trump's knee-jerk nationalism is self-defeating. The coronavirus's closing argument does not favor the president. Election Day ApproachesNo surprise, then, that Trump continues to lag Biden badly in the polls, both on the national and swing-state levels. At this point, Jonathan Bernstein writes, Trump needs major polling errors to break in his favor in more than one place to pull off an upset victory. Leaving hundreds of Nebraska supporters stranded in freezing temperatures won't help, particularly as it provides an almost perfect metaphor for his presidency's failures. Worse, Trump can't turn to some of his 2016 greatest hits: vilifying Mexicans and promising to prop up coal. The past four years have been fantastic for Mexicans and terrible for the coal industry, writes John Authers. The Economy Still Needs a HandBefore March, Trump could make a fairly convincing argument that he was a decent steward of the economy. But the never-ending pandemic has all but wrecked that. Tomorrow we'll get third-quarter GDP data, and they'll likely show an enormous rebound from a second-quarter collapse. Trump will probably seize on this to say the economy is snapping right back into shape as the best ever. But Justin Fox reminds us of the tricky math behind these GDP numbers, which will make the bounce back look larger than it really is. We'll still need lots more growth even to get back to normal.  And given the size of this new pandemic wave, such growth will be difficult without more stimulus. And that probably won't happen without the Democrats taking both the White House and the Senate. The Fed is still standing by to help, but it's almost out of ammunition, warns Bill Dudley. And perpetually low rates aren't healthy for investment returns or long-term growth. Kavanaugh's New PowerIf you ever want to kill several minutes, you might want to stare for a while at this spaghetti chart of the ideological leanings of every Supreme Court justice since 1935:  Far to the right on this chart (click the link above for a much bigger, clearer version), you'll see a tiny green line, which represents Brett Kavanaugh. Soon the orange line that for decades represented Ruth Bader Ginsburg will track Amy Coney Barrett instead. We can assume Barrett will be much higher on the chart (i.e., much more conservative) than RBG was. That means Kavanaugh will suddenly replace Chief Justice John Roberts as the court's median vote, Noah Feldman points out, giving him enormous power to shape decisions. Though he did draw a roadmap this week for helping Trump take the election in court, Kavanaugh has also left clues he might use his power to keep the high court relatively centrist. In that, he would resemble Anthony Kennedy, for whom he once clerked and who once occupied the same green line running close to the center of that chart. Further Reading Needing an electoral edge, Emmanuel Macron is foolishly turning to clumsy French nationalism. — Pankaj Mishra On the ballot in Illinois is a tax hike that could decide whether its bond rating gets cut to junk. — Brian Chappatta China needs a better plan to shore up its small and medium lenders. — Anjani Trivedi and Shuli Ren The NBA and China seem to have made up out of necessity, but don't expect the detente to last. — Adam Minter GE's latest quarter cleared low expectations and shows Larry Culp's turnaround plan is working. — Brooke Sutherland There aren't many options for saving money and getting a decent return in the medium term, but here are a few. — Farnoosh Torabi ICYMIMiles Taylor revealed he is the "Anonymous" who wrote a White House tell-all. What we learned from Melbourne's three-month lockdown. K-Pop superfans are fighting QAnon. KickersBats naturally socially distance when sick. (h/t Mike Smedley) Area woman allegedly impersonates prosecutor, drops charges against self. FINALLY, we get flying cars. Are we losing our ability to remember? Note: Please send flying cars and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. Sign up here and follow us on Twitter and Facebook. | 
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