I wrote about @realDonaldTrump’s abject failure of leadership in the 🦠 crisis, and how the best thing he could do to save American lives would be to resign—which he won’t do, because he cares only about himself, and not the country.
If you think you’ve been hearing a different President Trump this week—more accepting of the reality of the coronavirus pandemic—don’t be fooled. The new @realDonaldTrump is the same as the old Trump. He can’t help it.
After weeks of denial and deflection, he’s finally conceding that the virus is, in fact, “not under control,” and is, indeed, “a very bad one.”
But the sudden shift can’t conceal the fact that @realDonaldTrump has shown himself to be wholly inept at dealing with the pandemic.
But the sudden shift can’t conceal the fact that @realDonaldTrump has shown himself to be wholly inept at dealing with the pandemic.
It doesn’t change that he puts himself first, always. Or that he looks at every day in the White House as a reality TV episode starring him. Or that he compulsively lies, even when truth would serve him best. Or that he’s incompetent, ignorant, and has a propensity for chaos.
And it doesn’t change his inability to accept responsibility. “I don’t take responsibility at all,” @realDonaldTrump said last Friday.
He still doesn’t take responsibility, even after realizing the seriousness of the crisis this week:
He still doesn’t take responsibility, even after realizing the seriousness of the crisis this week:
Monday, @realDonaldTrump rated his job on the pandemic a 10 out of 10. Tuesday, he said, “I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic.” Wednesday, he said he “always treated the Chinese Virus very seriously.” And he’s blaming governors.
Ever the blameless narcissist, @realDonaldTrump always insists that the buck stops wherever convenient—for him, personally. For Trump, success always has a single father—himself. Failure has a hundred—everyone else. Anyone who doesn’t do his bidding or sing his praises.
And the common thread between his taking credit and shifting blame? @realDonaldTrump’s standbys: Lying, deceit, and exaggeration. All have come into play throughout his presidency, and all now have come home to roost.
.@realDonaldTrump mendaciously claimed that his phone call with the Ukrainian President was “perfect.” Perversely but fittingly, he has compared his coronavirus response to that call: “The tests are all perfect, like the letter was perfect, the transcription was perfect, right?“
Even as late as the weekend before last, @realDonaldTrump said at his 🦠-infected Mar-a-Lago resort: “They’re trying to scare everybody, from meetings, cancel the meetings, close the schools—you know, destroy the country. And that’s okay, as long as we can win the election.”
𝘼𝙨 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙨 𝙬𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙬𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣. That’s what it’s all about for @realDonaldTrump. It’s always about winning—winning for Trump, by making him look good in each day’s reality-television production. It’s never been about the country.
But the way a president actually can make himself look good is by being a true leader. By seeing the truth clearly, telling it bluntly and acting on it promptly and skillfully—not by dissembling, preening and careening from day to day, as @realDonaldTrump has done.
.@realDonaldTrump’s abject failure of leadership brings to mind words a Tory backbencher used in 1940 to bring down British PM Neville Chamberlain: “You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go.”
The nation needs a credible, competent president, now more than ever. The surest and best thing @realDonaldTrump could do to come to the aid of his country—to save lives—would be to go, as the hapless Chamberlain did.
But that won’t happen. Because that would be taking responsibility—something @realDonaldTrump has never done and will never know how to do.
Too bad for us.
Too bad for us.
