The handling of this whole coronavirus pandemic by the Trump White House – and particularly by Donald Trump himself – has been nothing short of disastrous. In recent weeks, Trump denied the seriousness of the coronavirus, and claimed that it was a hoax being used by his opponents. He predicted that the number of infected within the United States would soon be close to zero, and imagined that it would simply just go away one day, just like that. Poof.
Maybe it will go away someday, just like that. But the thing is this: it will grow worse, and far worse, before it gets better. And let’s also be clear about one other thing: Trump has made this crisis far worse than it might have been had he conducted himself…well, like a real president.
Instead, he opted to try and act in a typically childish, self-interested way. So, whenever he receives criticism, he lashes out at those doing the criticism, and claims that it is all “fake news.” Clearly, he has an unorthodox style, and this style seemed to work well enough to convince enough Americans that he got elected in the first place, and that he was doing a halfway decent job as president, even if his style was clearly not normal.
By taking this same approach with the coronavirus, however, Trump has now finally exposed himself for the fraud that he always was. Some people knew that he was a con artist from the beginning. His only concern seemed to be how concerns over the coronavirus might hurt the only thing that he apparently measures his presidency by: the high stock market numbers. He has been a pretty one-dimensional president, with literally no nuance or layers beyond what he reveals of himself regularly. Frankly, there is no mystery to this man, or to his ridiculous excuse of a presidency.
When he focused only on the stock market, he revealed what his only true concerns were. That is likely why he has panicked since the coronavirus exploded to become a major crisis of his presidency. That is also why he tried to undermine the significance of it, and why he urged Americans to go to work, even if they felt sick. Anyone who had a sense of responsibility and, frankly, common sense, beyond just fixating on the stock market would realize that this would be horrible advice to give, and would only make matters worse.
For once, Americans are finally beginning to see Trump for what he is: a fraud. A con artist, and the scam has been exposed. Trump really is this bad and this irresponsible when handling fragile things. He really is that dumb, that ignorant, and that limited. And that makes it alarming that he is in the highest office in the land.
Recently, Peter Wehner wrote a piece for Atlantic magazine, and I think he put the Trump presidency into perspective. To be clear, Wehner is a lifelong Republican and conservative, who actually concedes to agreeing with Trump’s political platforms and policies more than he agreed with those of Hillary Clinton.
But, he said, the temperament question was not a minor one. Indeed, it is the key question to answer when considering who should be President of the United States, and he suggested that Trump lacked any of the qualities inherently necessary to command the nation’s highest office. A lot of people were confused when he expressed his inability to support Trump for the White House, but as he puts it:
What I explained then, and what I have said many times since, is that Trump is fundamentally unfit—intellectually, morally, temperamentally, and psychologically—for office. For me, that is the paramount consideration in electing a president, in part because at some point it’s reasonable to expect that a president will face an unexpected crisis—and at that point, the president’s judgment and discernment, his character and leadership ability, will really matter.
He expands on that a bit, perhaps trying to advertise his anti-Trump credentials, even while being a Republican:
“Mr. Trump has no desire to acquaint himself with most issues, let alone master them” is how I put it four years ago. “No major presidential candidate has ever been quite as disdainful of knowledge, as indifferent to facts, as untroubled by his benightedness.” I added this:
Mr. Trump’s virulent combination of ignorance, emotional instability, demagogy, solipsism and vindictiveness would do more than result in a failed presidency; it could very well lead to national catastrophe. The prospect of Donald Trump as commander in chief should send a chill down the spine of every American.
Finally, he concludes by suggesting, or claiming, that Trump’s disastrous coronavirus response will lead to his downfall:
It took until the second half of Trump’s first term, but the crisis has arrived in the form of the coronavirus pandemic, and it’s hard to name a president who has been as overwhelmed by a crisis as the coronavirus has overwhelmed Donald Trump. Donald Trump is shrinking before our eyes.
The coronavirus is quite likely to be the Trump presidency’s inflection point, when everything changed, when the bluster and ignorance and shallowness of America’s 45th president became undeniable, an empirical reality, as indisputable as the laws of science or a mathematical equation. It has taken a good deal longer than it should have, but Americans have now seen the con man behind the curtain. The president, enraged for having been unmasked, will become more desperate, more embittered, more unhinged. He knows nothing will be the same. His administration may stagger on, but it will be only a hollow shell. The Trump presidency is over.
Well, I sure hope that he is right. It has the potential to make this the turning point of the Trump presidency, when all of the nonsensical crap that he keeps on getting away with finally ends, and people finally view him for the fraud and failures that he and his presidency have consistently produced.
However, I will continue to remain skeptical, frankly. After all, this is a guy who believes that wind turbines produce cancer, and who once suggested that there are some good people among Nazis and white supremacists. This man referred to dozens of countries as “shithole nations” and rejects any science – and any facts, really – that are not to his liking. That includes the science behind climate change, the science that informs people not to look directly at an eclipse, and the science behind the coronavirus, until quite recently, when the epidemic grew beyond the point of any serious attempt of denial.
Hopefully, this man will get his well-deserved rejection and condemnation. But his supporters are often equally as stubbornly stupid and willfully ignorant as their hero is, so I just am not sure. They seem willing to forgive him any and all trespasses, and some of them have expressed their support of him even still. Trust me, having come from a very conservative town, there were plenty of high school friends of mine who still continue to admire and fully support the man, and even praised his handling of the coronavirus. And if they remain supportive of him, despite all of the overwhelming evidence that actually indicts him, then there likely are many, many Americans ready and willing to do the same. Probably at least about sixty million and change, or more. Probably just about the thirty to forty percent who continue to support this man come what may, no matter what.
Let’s hope that I am wrong on that.
Here is the link to the article by Peter Wehner that got me on this topic to begin with:
The Trump Presidency Is Over by Peter Wehner, March 13, 2020:
It has taken a good deal longer than it should have, but Americans have now seen the con man behind the curtain. Contributing writer at The Atlantic and senior fellow at EPPC
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