TGHusker
New member
This isn't leadership
https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Trump-sows-uncertainty-and-seeks-to-cast-blame-in-15175711.php
https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Trump-sows-uncertainty-and-seeks-to-cast-blame-in-15175711.php
WASHINGTON - In the three weeks since declaring the novel coronavirus outbreak a national emergency, President Donald Trump has delivered a dizzying array of rhetorical contortions, sowed confusion and repeatedly sought to cast blame on others.
History has never known a crisis response as strong as his own, Trump says - yet the self-described wartime president claims he is merely backup. He has faulted state governors for acting too slowly and, as he did Thursday, has accused overwhelmed state and hospital officials of complaining too much and of hoarding supplies.
America is winning its war with the coronavirus, the president says - yet the death toll rises still, and in the best-case scenario more Americans will die than in the wars in Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan and Iraq combined.
The economy is the strongest ever and will rebound in no time, he says - yet stock markets have cratered and in the past two weeks a record 10 million people filed for unemployment insurance.
As Trump has sought to remake his public image from that of a skeptic of the pandemic's danger to a savior forestalling catastrophe and protecting hundreds of thousands of people from a vicious contagion, he also has distorted the truth, making edits and creating illusions at many turns.
Trump's machinations have a dogged showman's quality, using his omnipresence at daily White House news conferences - which sometimes stretch to two hours or more and are broadcast to millions - to try to erase memories from his two months of playing down the crisis, sometimes scolding reporters who question his version of events.
The result is chaotic. Leaders from Maine to Oregon and from Dayton, Ohio, to Austin, Texas, say their constituents are whipsawed by the contradictory messages emanating each day from the presidential lectern, which exacerbates efforts on the ground to enforce social distancing and mitigate the spread.
"People are confused about whether this is really serious. People are confused about how long this may last," Austin Mayor Steve Adler, a Democrat, said. "We're trying to get as much containment as we can by limiting the number of physical interactions taking place, but they're hearing it's not a big deal, it's going to be over soon, and getting community buy-in becomes a harder thing to achieve."
Due to Trump's pinballing statements, Americans have been subject to a parade of claims and musings about medicine, a topic about which past presidents have avoided speculating in deference to the Food and Drug Administration's official role addressing safety and efficacy matters.
"He at times just says whatever comes to mind or tweets, then someone on TV is saying the opposite," Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, said recently. "It's critically important that the message is straightforward and fact-based for the public."