President Trump praised the “pretty good job we’ve done” when he predicted in late February that the number of Americans infected by the coronavirus would dwindle to “close to zero” in a couple of days.
Over the last weekend, one of his most chaotic since the pandemic struck, Trump drastically redefined success, claiming that if the pandemic kills between 100,000 and 200,000 Americans, “we all together [would] have done a very good job.”
Trump has stood in front of TV cameras as much as any president in history the last two weeks, holding forth with meandering, frequently testy, near-daily news briefings that often go 90 minutes or longer while tens of millions are Americans are marooned at home, desperate for information.
The constant exposure has provided a real-time look at Trump’s decision-making process — the vacillating, the wishful thinking, the degree to which he’s influenced by whoever talked to him last or whatever he last saw on cable TV — that has long been reflected in the daily chaos of his presidency but never tested as when so many American lives were at stake.
One former White House official said Trump’s reelection campaign advisors are terrified that the coronavirus outbreak, which so far has hit largely Democratic coastal cities hardest, will soon scythe across the rural areas that remain deeply loyal to Trump.
The advisors have warned Trump that the political consequences at the ballot box in November will be even worse if he is seen as too lax.
“Pay attention. You’re going to lose the election,” the former official said, summarizing the intervention.
https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-03-30/trumps-mixed-messages-confuse-coronavirus-response