Donald Trump can’t even fake it anymore

| 9:09 am EDT March 14, 2020
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The United States has only had a few dozen Presidents, so it’s an admittedly small sample size. Some tried to do the job correctly; some were full-on corrupt. But even the crappy ones seemed to know enough to at least pretend to be doing things right. There are such easy points to be scored simply by saying the right thing now and then – even if you don’t mean it – so long as you can sell it.

Did George W. Bush mean it when he said he cared about the victims of Hurricane Katrina? His actions suggested he didn’t. But we know this much: if Bush hadn’t at least said he cared, the fallout from the scandal would have been even worse for him. That brings us to Donald Trump, who seems clinically incapable of understanding this concept.

Trump stood in front of all of us on Friday and said “I don’t take responsibility at all” for the coronavirus crisis. Really? Does he think that’ll somehow get him off the hook? Americans are dying under his watch. Many more Americans are about to die. Huge chunks of American society, including schools and public gatherings, are now being shut down. Every American’s life is now being made worse by this, and it’ll only get even worse in the coming days and weeks. And this idiot doesn’t even have the sense to fake it?

Donald Trump could have scored some really easy points with a skeptical, fed up American public simply by acknowledging that he’s responsible for this. All he had to do was fake it for a moment. Just sound presidential. But he couldn’t do it. He’s clinically incapable of understanding the need to sound like a leader. Not only is he failing America, he’s actively sabotaging what little is left of his failed presidency.