5/4/20
President Trump’s April 23 White House briefing — in which he proposed a novel coronavirus research agenda of injected or ingested disinfectants — may be remembered as the moment his schtick finally failed. Behind Trump’s expected drama, a drum now beats for every lonely, quarantined death from covid-19. More than a thousand beats each day. The president tweets about a favorable poll. Beat. He refers to a prominent woman as a “dog.” Beat. He brags about a golf course he owns. Beat. He attacks one of his predecessors for urging national unity. Beat. He posts a video of Mike Tyson. Beat. He accuses another predecessor of organizing a treasonous deep-state conspiracy against him. Beat. He goes after the “Lamestream Media.” Beat. He throws his intelligence briefers under the bus on coronavirus warnings. Beat. He compares himself to Abraham Lincoln. Beat. In light of the coronavirus threat, the Trump Show has become sickening and surreal. This is less a presidency than a failing Vegas variety act, trying to keep a dwindling audience with more cleavage and dirtier jokes.
The president recently took the side of “very good people” carrying guns, swastikas and nooses in Michigan. Trump’s repertoire is not only stale; it now represents the dishonoring of sacred responsibilities. He preferred to live in a land of hopeful dreams and happy talk for several weeks while a pandemic spread, cough by hacking cough. He ignored warnings in the expectation that a virus would respect his political strategy and cooperate in attempts to talk up the stock market. It was a risk he was willing to take — though the consequences have fallen on others. This is utter failure by any measure. A pandemic cannot be confronted by the patchwork policies of states, cities and counties. Those divisions mean nothing to the virus. We needed a national effort to provide tests. We need national standards and detailed guidance on economic reopening — not the vague, dumbed-down version the administration dumped on the states. We need federal support, guidance and monitoring to ensure that contact tracing is done well. And what does our president do? He struts and frets and dissembles and whines and mugs for the audience. And always behind his tired act, the beat, beat, beat.
