There’s this soundbyte wandering around the net that unconsciously captures the heart of our President. Here is a man who wants to look good and either raises a powerful defensive wall of self aggrandizement or, terrifyingly, believes his own bullshit. Either way, he is not that intelligent. Moreover, he is not a very good leader. Obviously this sounds like a subjective assault on the quality of his leadership, but the facts are facts and not alternative facts. The man had one job last night: to deliver a speech that calmed the American people. He bungled it epically.
To quote Newsday 1600, “The boldest-sounding move announced by President Donald Trump in a prime-time speech to the nation about the coronavirus crisis Wednesday night was a 30-day ban on travel from Europe, except for the United Kingdom. Then the Department of Homeland Security clarified that the restriction applies only to foreign nationals and that some two dozen European countries are exempt. Trump also said it would apply to trade and cargo, but the White House later and a presidential tweet said no, just people.”
Let’s not forget that we have done little more than point fingers thus far about the virus. Individual states and institutions are doing more and better work on this problem than the man we, as a nation, put in charge. Political rhetoric aside, he is bad at the game. Does that even matter? Yeah. It really does. This is a global pandemic according to the WHO, and the first thing our administration (consisting of him and the people he brought in) does is to lock down the exterior of the nation. There has been no discussions about the people–many of whom are sick–moving freely through the nation. What stops the virus from spreading inside our borders? Why are we acting like that is not already happening when early tests reveal that this is exactly the case?
The NBA shut down. NCAA is playing in empty stadiums thus far and may even wind up taking a step further. Many Universities are switching to online and work from home modes. Yet those at the very top are looking out the window and screaming ‘you can’t come in’.
We need change. I fear this entire thing is going to create a scenario where we don’t get that change and don’t get that election we need. If that happens, I worry for what happens next.