The only re-election path Trump may have is to invoke yet again some image as a “war-time president” even if the enemy is his incompetence. In the post-impeachment period, this is another desperate act for re-election.
He’s always been a war-time POTUS* even as he was impeached. For example, on Jun 4, 2018 WaPo declared that Trump is a wartime president — in a war against his political opponents.
Remember when Major Bone Spurs's Continental Army “took over the airports” from the British in 1776. Trump said that the Continental Army “took over the airports” from the British during the American Revolutionary War during his Fourth of July “Salute to America” speech.



He’s trying to promote a war narrative since the COVID-19 pandemic could last as long as 12-18 months. His conduct of this ‘war’ for another, less-pathological POTUS* might be less suspect, but there should be plenty of evidence that the usual Trumpian tricks of deflection and distraction will fail, simply because of message fatigue, even for his base. Playing on fear might not even help his base laugh at “pwning the libs” or even their going to the polls or suppressing the vote.