Day 1,147: Donald Trump isn’t up for this
Thanks to Barack Obama, Donald Trump had very few crises upon entering office. Things were relatively easy, and he was happy to ham it up and claim he was the greatest president in the history of the universe.
But over time, Trump has routinely failed to rise to the occasion of the moment. Getting punked by Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin. Ripping up deals and failing to create new ones in their place. Creating trade wars he’s been unable to exit. Abandoning allies.
Now, with the coronavirus officially a pandemic, it’s woefully clear that Trump is not capable. As a leader, he has failed to prepare the country (he gutted funding and task forces over the past three years that could have been the first layer of defense); he has failed to take action (he oversaw a heavily delayed response); and he has failed to warn the public (calling it the “new hoax” just a week ago, and saying that a vaccine was close when it’s really over a year away).
Wednesday evening he appeared live on national TV, sitting behind the Resolute Desk, addressing the nation. Looking dark orange and extraordinarily nervous, Trump fidgeted with his hands, breathed heavily and sniffed up a storm as he awkwardly and haltingly read off a teleprompter. There was no passion, no leadership, no sense of calming a fearful nation.
Instead, he blamed China and Europe —including slapping a travel ban on the latter continent, minus the U.K., for the next 30 days — for failing to take steps to adequately contain the virus. Ignoring the last few months, he praised himself and his team’s response.
That despite the fact that there are currently more than 1,000 Americans infected with the coronavirus. Just two weeks ago, Trump said the number of cases would soon be nearly zero.
And again, when you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done.
Wednesday Trump also claimed that the number of cases was “dramatically fewer” than other parts of the world.
But that’s largely true because of the failure to adequately test Americans. In many cases, even when people likely have the disease, they aren’t being tested, either because the CDC tells local physicians not to, or because tests are unavailable.
With Americans desperate for more science-backed information, the Trump administration has previously covered up information. And they’re actively still at it.
The White House has ordered federal health officials to treat top-level coronavirus meetings as classified, an unusual step that has restricted information and hampered the U.S. government’s response to the contagion, according to four Trump administration officials.
Staffers without security clearances, including government experts, were excluded from the interagency meetings, which included video conference calls, the sources said.
“We had some very critical people who did not have security clearances who could not go,” one official said. “These should not be classified meetings. It was unnecessary.”
The sources said the National Security Council (NSC), which advises the president on security issues, ordered the classification.”This came directly from the White House,” one official said.
Trump has been obsessed not with Americans’ health and well-being as the crisis has unfolded, but rather himself and the stock market.
In no way, shape or form is Trump capable of effectively dealing with the coronavirus crisis. The last three years, three months, three weeks, three days and even three hours have proven that.
1,147 days in, 315 to go
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