Much is made of President Trump’s popularity rising to the dizzying height of 49 percent.
Nearly half of the American public has confidence in his leadership in the midst of a great worldwide crisis.
People are desperate for leadership in such times and naturally want to encourage their leader.
President Trump’s popularity also undoubtedly benefits from standing alongside credible figures like Dr. Anthony Fauci.
The president’s behavior, unfortunately, is what we have become used to — self-aggrandizement, refusal to take responsibility and recklessness.
He measures his performance against the direst projections and the plight of the nations that have done the poorest in responding to the crisis.
The president and his enablers never measure our federal response against that of those nations that immediately faced up to the situation and took action.
President Trump denied the existence of any problem, as he does with any inconvenient reality, and scorned those sounding the alarm.
Now he blames China although the medical experts agree that more than adequate information regarding the coming crisis was provided by the Chinese government and that alarm bells started ringing immediately everywhere except in the White House.
The president’s daily briefings are an embarrassment when compared to the credible and competent leadership of governors and mayors, both Republican and Democratic, and the scientific community and well as many political leaders and scientists elsewhere.
Doug Holst
Port Angeles