Trump’s Bluster Doesn’t Beat a Virus, Calm a Restive Nation
Insightful news analysis of the Trump camp’s current bunker mentality. An interesting inside media aside: the headline at the top was the headline at two minutes after posting, and in under 9 minutes AP has updated it to “Trump’s leadership is tested in time of fear, pandemic” - a headline more favorable to Trump.
For Trump, the virus has been the most persistent of those problems. But he has not even tried to make a common health crisis the subject of national common ground and serious purpose. He has refused to wear a mask, setting off a culture war in the process as his followers took their cues from him.
Bluster isn’t beating the virus; belligerence isn’t calming a restive nation.Instead he spoke about preening with a mask when the cameras were off: “I had a mask on,” he said this past week. “I sort of liked the way I looked … like the Lone Ranger.”
These are times of pain, mass death, fear and deprivation and the Trump show may be losing its allure, exposing the empty space once filled by the empathy and seriousness of presidents leading in a crisis.
Bluster isn’t beating the virus; belligerence isn’t calming a restive nation.