This presidential behavior is all too familiar
Even the National Review can see this one.
So far in this crisis, Donald Trump himself has obviously failed to rise to the challenge of leadership, and it does no one any favors to pretend otherwise…
The failures of leadership at the top, however, show no sign of being corrected. In a serious public-health crisis, the public has the right to expect the government’s chief executive to lead in a number of crucial ways: by prioritizing the problem properly, by deferring to subject-matter experts when appropriate while making key decisions in informed and sensible ways, by providing honest and careful information to the country, by calming fears and setting expectations, and by addressing mistakes and setbacks.
Trump so far hasn’t passed muster on any of these metrics. He resisted making the response to the epidemic a priority for as long as he could — refusing briefings, downplaying the problem, and wasting precious time. He has failed to properly empower his subordinates and refused to trust the information they provided him — often offering up unsubstantiated claims and figures from cable television instead. He has spoken about the crisis in crude political and personal terms. He has stood in the way of public understanding of the plausible course of the epidemic, trafficking instead in dismissive clichés. He has denied his administration’s missteps, making it more difficult to address them.
Indeed – and all that is entirely typical of Trump. I wonder if the editorial board of the National Review is pausing to think about it.
This presidential behavior is all too familiar. It is how he has gotten through scandals and fiascos for more than three years in office. But those were all essentially political in nature, and most were self-created.
Oh look, they admit it. Yes, it is all too familiar, and that’s one reason he is such a disaster. Has TNR been saying that all along?
The country has been lucky in the Trump era, largely avoiding the sorts of major, unforeseen crises that make the greatest demands of the modern presidency. That luck has now run out, and this demands a new level of seriousness from the president and those around him.
Whoopee; the country hasn’t actually been incinerated while he was president. Lucky us, but sad about all the people he’s harmed, wildlife he’s destroyed, air and water he’s opened up to poisoning, and similar details.
President Trump needs to rise to this challenge. His partisan adversaries are sure he can’t. We hope he proves them wrong.
What a stupid conclusion. They’ve just admitted that he’s an incompetent hack, and then they call everyone else “partisan” for saying the same thing. We’re sure he can’t because he shows us he can’t every minute of every day! It’s not just “partisan.” I prefer the Dems because they’re slightly less ruthless to us non-billionaires than the Republicans, and go ahead and call that “partisan” if you want, but Trump is evil for countless reasons that aren’t even about policy.
But I too “hope” he won’t kill us all.
Just like TNR to assume because nothing threatened them, there was nothing catastrophic about the first years of the Trump administration. Tell that to the children in cages, or those lying face down in the Rio Grande. Tell that to the people thrown off food stamps.
Besides, a president isn’t elected just to deal with major unforeseen catastrophes. He needs to be present to deal with major, foreseen ongoing crises, such as public health and education, global warming, and other foreign and domestic things. He needs to be able to deal with such “trivial” and foreseen things as having adult conversations with the leaders of other countries, both allies and adversaries, without needing to be flattered every minute, without shoving them out of his way, without disrespecting them and throwing candy at them, and without giving them stupid playground nicknames.
The president needs to be PR for the country, too. Making our country look like a nation of bull-headed, insensitive, narcissistic greedheads isn’t usually the best image (though I’m afraid I’m coming to believe it may be accurate for too large a swath of the country).
The damage the Trump presidency has done to the US is incalculable. Even if Joe Biden is elected in November (God help us if Bernie is the nominee), I don’t know if the rest of the world will ever trust the US again, because having sane leadership in the form of a Democrat now is no insurance that the next president won’t be some wack-a-loon nutjob Republican.
A good portion of the electorate has lost their fucking minds. Apparently there wasn’t much there to begin with because I don’t understand how we have got here. Fox News and talk radio sure, but what happened to the conservatives I happily disliked and disagreed with but who weren’t actually stupid or mindless. I just thought they were wrong, which is what political discourse is supposed to be about in a healthy democracy. The crazies of both sides were usually on the fringes. Now the right-wing crazies are in charge on both sides of the Atlantic, and the left crazies are too busy attacking the “establishment” of their own side to focus their firepower on the real enemy here.
Shades of the Weimar Republic. I’ve resisted the urge to compare Trump to Hitler because I don’t think the comparison is quite right. But he’d give Kaiser Wilhelm II a run for his money. Wilhelm prepared the way for Hitler. Germany was a country on its knees after WWI and yet Hitler managed to turn it around into a deadly killing machine. The US is already the deadliest killing machine on Earth. I dread to think what Trump is laying the ground for.
Hello, Mr. Trump? I’d like to introduce you to the Really Deep State:
Physics.
Chemistry.
Biology.
They cannot be ignored, subverted or bought off.
,They will have final say on everything you do.
They will not cal you “sir”.
A ‘new level of seriousness?’ There would have to be a pre-existing level of seriousness to begin with.
Well, JtD, you have to admit that Trump’s policies were and are seriously deranged.