World- class moron and existential threat Donald "Impeached Forever" Trump flails around looking to distract from his predictable mishandling of the coronavirus crisis --
-- Blaming the media for exaggerating the threat and undercutting his "nothing to see here" message;
-- Calling coronavirus a Democratic "hoax", and saying Democrats are "politicizing" the crisis (by pointing out how he's weakened our country's ability to respond, his anemic response so far, and his concern about his political fortunes and the stock market rather than human suffering).
Right- wing media is, when not promoting insanely paranoid theories, flummoxed about how to cover the crisis while continuing to promote the interests of Dear Leader. It can't be easy when your "product" is a pathological liar who also happens to be a narcissistic ignoramus. He'll continue to step on any message meant to project an air of calm, rational situation management because, well, see previous sentence.
Eric Levitz writes why this the- man- and- the- moment test for Trump is going to turn out badly:
The mogul became a great businessman by playing one on TV. He turned himself into a viable candidate for the presidency by having the audacity to present himself as such. And throughout his first term in office, Trump has overcome indisputable evidence of his own gross malfeasance through sheer force of mendacity (along with a little help from his friends). The president’s “fake it till you shake it” strategy has gotten him out of one improbable jam after another. In collusion with Fox News and congressional Republicans, Trump transformed his campaign’s manifestly unsavory contacts with a foreign government into a tale of FBI overreach; his well-documented attempts to engineer legal troubles for his domestic political foes into a story about a “witch hunt” over a “perfect phone call”; and a historic rebuke by members of his own party into “total exoneration.”
Thus, from one angle, the fact that Trump is trying to bluff his way out of an incipient pandemic makes sense.
But from every other angle it’s batshit insane. [snip]
It is not clear why the Trump administration believes it’s “nothing to see here” messaging is tenable. An impeachable offense may be in the eye of the beholder. But Fox News can’t immunize its viewers against the reality of a highly contagious disease. And Senate Republicans can’t hold a vote to make an epidemic go away. When Americans start dying, how are these clips of the president assuring the public that it is safe — or of the White House chief of staff scolding the press for covering the public-health crisis, and painting Donald Trump as the supposed outbreak’s primary victim — going to look?
And if the president lacks the requisite foresight to safeguard his own best interests in the face of a pandemic, what does that say about his capacity to protect ours? (our emphasis)Of course, the answer to that is, "Even if he had the intellect and skills, protecting our interests is the least of his concerns." Trump's narcissistic personality disorder prevents him from relating to the needs or suffering of others. For an incompetent real estate developer with such an affliction, the damage caused is limited; unfortunately, we've already seen for an incompetent "president" with the affliction, the damage is compounded a million- fold. And there's more to come owing to this crisis, one Trump can't bluff his way out of.
(Image: via Jimmy Kimmel Live)
