Reaction? We get by bombarded with headline alerts saying Trump’s “shifting” and “changing tone” on Coronavirus
And look, if you want to call this something other than Tuesday, be our guest. But, Ugh! How long do you think this is going to hold up?
Yes, the President for once said some common sense things during a solo White House media briefing on Coronavirus, his first in nearly 3 months, at the same time as the daily number of U.S. deaths exceeded 1,000 for the first time in nearly 2 months. And while taking but a few questions, was not combative with reporters.
Trump:
“We’re asking Americans to use masks….Whether you like the mask or not, they have an impact. They’ll have an effect, and we need everything we can get.”
“It will probably, unfortunately, get worse before it gets better. Something I don’t like saying about things. But that’s the way it is.”
“I think that we are doing a tremendous amount of testing. But if the doctors and the professionals feel that even though we’re at a level that nobody ever dreamt possible, that they would like to do more, I’m OK with it.”
“Certainly social distancing. I want…six feet to me is common sense. I would like to say maybe make it a little bit further.”
But these aren’t “shifts”, they’re contradictions. Intense departures from long and strongly held positions by the President, as if those original dug-in stances have now “magically disappeared”, now that COVID-19 apparently isn’t anymore.
Oh, and Trump doesn’t forget to give a shout out to the “elderly”, or as he further elaborates: “the high-risk wonderful people”.
You see, it’s all part of a body of work. And that body of work “is what it is”, as the President might say.
So what caused Trump to be suddenly a little responsible?
Probably, he arbitrarily, temporarily, listened to someone. Probably someone newly in power. Or a red state Governor, or a few. But probably his new campaign manager, Bill Stepien. Who probably told Trump he had to behave or his ratings would continue to go through the floor. And since everything’s about ratings and re-election, this registered with Trump, but only because the guy is new, so he’s got Trump’s ear.
The President’ll get angry again as soon as he feels he’s being treated “unfairly”, despite his efforts to toe the line. And then he’ll get back to what his “gut” tells him to do. Because Trump always reverts to himself being his best and only advisor. And that reset is always accompanied by an accelerated schedule of grievances and settling scores.
Meanwhile, in the same news conference, Trump, when asked about Ghislaine Maxwell who’s in jail on charges of trafficking and abusing underage girls with Jeffrey Epstein:
“I wish her well.”
Yeah, the President’s really gonna be holding it together from this moment forward…