Alex Brandon/AP Photo
A man wears a protective mask as President Donald Trump speaks about protecting seniors, and the coronavirus, in the East Room of the White House, April 30, 2020, in Washington.
The Goddess works in strange ways. For three years, Trump got away with science denial, contempt for democracy, all manner of corruption, and flat-out lies. But he seems to have met his match in COVID-19.
The virus shines a light on Trump’s several defects in a way that he can’t waltz around—his short attention span, his delusions, his incoherence, and sheer incompetence as a leader. And this time, there is no plausible scapegoat other than himself.
As Dr. Anthony Fauci—a brave and honest man—made all too clear in his Senate testimony yesterday, the costs of premature reopening will be immense. Trump’s pressure on governors is likely to backfire, economically, in public-health terms, and politically.
Polls show that large majorities of citizens, Republican as well as Democrat, support necessary policies of social distancing. The great likelihood is that the virus will peak, but then recur in wavelets. And the more that localities cut corners on social distancing, the more vulnerable they will be.
This will only get harder this summer, as the nice weather creates temptations for close-quarter gatherings at beaches, parks, and backyard barbecues. A competent president would be echoing Dr. Fauci’s cautions, rather than promoting risky behavior—for whose consequences Trump can’t escape the blame.
Meanwhile, Trump’s cavalier attitudes toward the most elementary precautions have turned the White House into a petri dish. It’s just one more mark of Trump’s delusional nature that this self-described germophobe somehow thinks he is impervious.
He has unmasked himself, in more ways than one. The next chapter in this drama is very likely Trump as First Patient.
