TUESDAY,JULY 28 , 2020 .THEWASHINGTONPOST EZ RE A
Thecoronaviruspandemic
BYASHLEYPARKER
ANDPHILIPRUCKERBothPresidentTrump’s advis-
ers andoperativeslaboringto de-
feathimincreasinglyagree onone
thing:Thebestwayforhimto
regainhispoliticalfootingis to
wrestcontrol of thenovelcorona-
virus.
In thesixmonthssince the
deadlycontagionwasfirstreport-
ed in theUnitedStates,Trumphas
demandedtheeconomyreopen
andchildrenreturnto school,all
whilescramblingtosalvagehis
reelectioncampaign.
Butalliesandopponentsagree
hehasfailedattheonetaskthat
couldhelphimachieveallhis
goals—confrontingthe pandemic
withaclearstrategyandconsis-
tentleadership.
Trump’s shortcomings have
perplexedevensomeof hismost
loyalallies,whoincreasinglyhave
wonderedwhythepresidenthas
notat leastpantomimedasenseof
commandoverthecrisisorcon-
veyedcompassionforthe millions
of Americanshurt by it.
PeopleclosetoTrump, many
speakingontheconditionofano-
nymitytosharecandiddiscussions
andimpressions,saythe president’s
inabilitytowholly address thecrisis
is duetohisalmost pathological
unwillingnessto admiterror;apos-
itivefeedbackloopof overlyrosy
assessmentsanddata fromadvisers
andFoxNews; andapenchantfor
magicalthinking thatprevented
himfromfullyengagingwiththe
pandemic.
In recent weeks, with more
than 145,000Americansnowdead
fromthevirus, theWhiteHouse
hasattemptedto overhaul —orat
least rejigger —its approach.The
administrationhasrevivednews
briefingsledbyTrumpandpre-
sentedthepresident withprojec-
tionsshowing howthevirusis
now decimating Republican
statesfullof hisvoters.Officials
have alsosetupaseparate, smaller
coronavirusworkinggroupledby
DeborahBirx,theWhiteHouse
coronavirusresponsecoordina-
tor,alongwithTrumpson-in-law
andsenior adviser JaredKushner.
Formany, however, theques-
tioniswhyTrumpdidnotadjust
sooner,realizingthat thepathto
nearlyallhisgoals—from an
economicrecovery to anelectoral
victoryinNovember—runsdi-
rectlythroughahealthynationin
control of thevirus.
“Theironyisthatifhe’djust
performedwithminimal compe-
tenceandjustmouthedwords
aboutnational unity,heactually
could be in aprettystrongposition
rightnow,where theeconomyis
reopening,where jobsarecoming
back,”saidBenRhodes, adeputy
nationalsecurityadvisertofor-
mer presidentBarack Obama.
“A ndhe justcould notdoit.”
Many public healthexperts
agree.
“Thebestthingthatwecando
to setour economyupfor success
andreboundingfromthelast few
monthsis makingsureourout-
breakis inagoodplace,”said
CaitlinRivers,anepidemiologist
at theJohnsHopkinsCenterfor
HealthSecurity. “People arenot
goingto feelcomfortablereturn-
ingto activitiesinthecommunity
—evenifit’sallowed fromapolicy
perspective—iftheydon’t feelthe
outbreakis undercontrol.”
Someaides andoutsideadvis-
ers havetriedtostress to Trump
andothers in hisorbit thatbefore
hecouldmoveontoreopeningthe
economyandgettingthecountry
backtowork—andlife—he
neededto grapple with thereality
of thevirus.
Butuntil recently,thepresident
waslargelyunreceptive to thatmes-
sage, theysaid,not fullygrasping
themagnitudeof thepandemic—
andoverlypreoccupiedwithhis
ownsense of grievance,beginning
manyconversationscastinghimself
as theblameless victimof thecrisis.
Inthepastcoupleofweeks,
senioradvisersbeganpresenting
Trumpwithmapsanddata show-
ingspikesincoronaviruscases
among “our people”inRepublican
states,asenior administrationof-
ficialsaid. Theyalsosharedpro-
jections predicting thatvirus
surgescouldsoonhitpolitically
importantstates in theMidwest—
including Michigan, Minnesota
andWisconsin,theofficialsaid.
This newapproachseemedto
resonate, ashehewedcloselyto
pre-scriptedremarksinatrioof
coronavirusbriefingslastweek.
“Thiscould have beenstopped.
It couldhave beenstoppedquickly
andeasily.But forsomereason,it
wasn’t, andwe’llfigure outwhat
thatreason was,”Trump said
Thursday, seemingto simultane-
ouslyacknowledgehis predica-
mentwhile tryingto assignblame
elsewhere.
InadditiontoBirxandKush-
ner,thenewcoronavirusgroup
guidingTrumpincludesKushner
advisersAdamBoehler andBrad
Smith,accordingto twoadminis-
trationofficials. Marc Short, chief
ofstafftoVicePresidentPence,
alsoattends, alongwithAlyssa
Farah, theWhiteHousedirectorof
strategic communications,and
StephenMiller, Trump’s senior
policy adviser.
Theworkinggroup’s goal is to
meetevery day, fornomorethan
30 minutes.Itviewsitsmissionas
halffocusedonthegovernment’s
responsetothe pandemicandhalf
focusedonthe WhiteHouse’s pub-
lic message,the officialssaid.
White Housespokeswoman
SarahMatthewsdefended the
president’shandlingof thecrisis,
sayingheacted“earlyanddeci-
sively.”
“Thepresidenthas alsoledan
historic,whole-of-Americacoro-
navirusresponse—resultingin
100,000 ventilators procured,
sourcing criticalPPEforourfront-
lineheroes,andarobusttesting
regime resultinginmorethan
doublethenumberof teststhan
anyothercountryintheworld,”
Matthewssaidin anemailstate-
ment. “Hismessage hasbeencon-
sistentandhisstrongleadership
willcontinueas wesafelyreopen
theeconomy, expeditevaccineand
therapeuticsdevelopments,and
continuetoseeanencouraging
declinein theU.S. mortalityrate.”
Forsome, however,theaddi-
tionaleffortistoo littleandfartoo
late.
“Thisis asituationwhere if
Trumpdid hisjobandput in the
worktocombatthehealthcrisis,it
wouldsolvetheeconomiccrisis,
andit’s aninstance wherethecor-
rectgoverning move is alsothecor-
rectpoliticalmove,andTrumpis
doing the opposite,”said Josh
Schwerin,aseniorstrategistfor Pri-
oritiesUSA,asuperPACsupporting
formervicepresident JoeBiden,the
presumptiveDemocratic nominee.
Other anti-Trump operatives
agree, sayinghecouldmakeup
lostgroundandmakehis race
withBidenfarmore competitive
with asimple coursecorrection.
“He’sstaringinthemirrorat
night:That’swhocanfixhis politi-
calproblem,”saidJohnWeaver,
oneof theRepublicanstrategists
leading the LincolnProject, a
groupknownforits anti-Trump
ads.
Oneof Trump’s biggest obsta-
clesishis refusaltotakeresponsi-
bilityandadmiterror.
Inmid-March,asmanyofthe
nation’s businesseswereshutter-
ingearlyinthepandemic,Trump
proclaimedintheRoseGarden,“I
don’ttakeresponsibilityatall.”
Those six wordshaveneatly
summedupTrump’sapproach not
onlytothepandemic,butalsoto
manyoftheothercriseshehas
faced duringhispresidency.
“His operatingstyleis to double-
andtriple-downonpositionsand
tonever,everadmithe’s wrong
aboutanything,” said Anthony
Scaramucci, alongtimeTrumpas-
sociate who briefly served as
WhiteHouse communicationsdi-
rectorandis nowacriticof the
president.“His 50-yeartrackre-
cordis to bulldogthroughwhatev-
er he’s doing,whether it’s Atlantic
City, whichwasafailure,orthe
PlazaHotel,whichwasafailure, or
EasternAirlines, whichwas afail-
ure.Hecanneverjustsay,‘Igot it
wrongandlet’stry overagain.’”
Anotherself-imposedhurdle for
Trumphasbeenhisrelianceona
positivefeedbackloop.Ratherthan
sitforbriefingsbyinfectious-dis-
easedirectorAnthonyS.Fauciand
othermedicalexperts, thepresident
consumes muchof hisinformation
aboutthevirusfromFoxNewsand
otherconservativemediasources,
wherehison-airboostersputaposi-
tivespinon developments.
Consideroneexample fromlast
week. About6:15a.m.thatTues-
dayon“Fox&Friends,”co-host
SteveDoocytoldviewers,“There
is alotofgoodnewsoutthere
regardingthedevelopmentofvac-
cines andtherapeutics.”The presi-
dentappearsto have beenwatch-
ingbecause, 16 minuteslater, he
tweetedfrom hisiPhone, “Tre-
mendous progressbeingmadeon
VaccinesandTherapeutics!!!”
It is notjust pro-Trumpmedia
figuresfeedingTrumppositive in-
formation.WhiteHousestaffers
havelong madeupbeatassess-
ments andprojectionsin anefforttosatisfythepresident.This,in
turn,makesTrump further dis-
trustfulof thepresentationsofsci-
entists andreports inthemain-
streamnewsmedia,accordingto
hisadvisersandotherpeoplefamil-
iarwiththepresident’s approach.
This dynamicwasondisplay
duringanin-depthinterviewwith
“FoxNewsSunday”anchorChris
WallacethatairedJuly 19.After
thepresident claimedtheUnited
Stateshadoneofthelowest coro-
navirusmortalityrates in the
world,Wallaceinterjectedto fact-
check him:“It’s nottrue, sir.”
AgitatedbyWallace’s persis-
tence, Trumpturned off-camerato
callfor WhiteHousepresssecre-
taryKayleighMcEnany. “Canyou
please getmethe mortalityrates?”
heasked.Turningto Wallace,he
said, “Kayleigh’s righthere. I
heardwehaveoneof thelowest,
maybethelowestmortalityrate
anywhere in theworld.”
Trump,relyingoncherry-picked
White Housedata, insistedthat the
UnitedStateswas“number onelow
mortalityfatalityrates.”
Foxtheninterruptedthetaped
interviewtoair avoice-overfrom
WallaceexplainingthattheWhite
Housechart showedItaly and
Spain doingworse thantheUnit-
edStatesbutcountrieslikeBrazil
andSouthKoreadoingbetter —
andothercountriesthatare doing
better,includingRussia, werenot
includedonthe WhiteHouse
chart.Bycontrast,worldwide data
compiledbyJohnsHopkinsUni-
versityshowstheU.S. mortality
rateisfar fromthelowest.
Trump isalso predisposedto
magicalthinking—anunerring be-
lief, at analmostelementallevel,
thathecanwillhisgoalsintoexis-
tence,throughsheerforceof person-
ality, accordingto outsideadvisers
andformerWhiteHouseofficials.
Thetrait is oneheshares with
hislatefatherandfamilypatri-
arch, Fred Trump.In herbest-sell-
ingmemoir, “Too Much andNever
Enough,” the president’s niece,
MaryL. Trump,writesthatFred
Trumpwasinstantlytakenbythe
“shallowmessage of self-sufficien-
cy”heencounteredinNorman
Vincent Peale’s 195 2bestseller,
“The PowerofPositiveThinking.”
Someclose to thepresidentsay
thatwhenTrumpclaims, as he did
twicelastweek,thatthevirus will
simply“disappear,” thereis apart
of himthatactuallybelievesthe
assessment,makinghimmorere-
luctant to takethepractical steps
requiredtocombat thepandemic.
Untilrecently, Trumpalsore-
fused to fully engagewiththemag-
nitudeof thecrisis. Afterappoint-
ingPenceheadof thecoronavirus
taskforce, thepresidentgradually
stoppedattending taskforce brief-
ingsandwaslulledintoafalse
sense of assurancethat thegroup
hadthevirusundercontrol,ac-
cordingtoonepersonfamiliar
withthe dynamic.
Trumpalsomaintainedsucha
senseof grievance—abouthow
theviruswaspersonallyhurting
him,his presidencyandhisreelec-
tionprospects—thataidesre-
countspendingvaluabletimelis-
teningtohis gripes, ratherthan
focusingoncraftinganational
strategytofightthe pandemic.
Nonetheless, some White
Houseaidesinsistthepresident
hasalwaysbeenfocusedonag-
gressivelyrespondingtothe virus.
Andsomeadvisersarestillopti-
misticthatifTrump—whotrails
Bidenin nationalpolls —cansus-
tainatleastamodicumofself-dis-
ciplineanddemonstraterealfo-
cusonthepandemic,hecanstill
prevail onElectionDay.
Othersareless certain,includ-
ingcriticswhosayTrumpsquan-
deredanobvioussolution—good
governanceandleadership—as
thesimplest meansofachieving
hisothergoals.
“Thereisquiteahighlikelihood
where people lookbackandthink
betweenFebruaryandApril was
whenTrumpburned downhis
ownpresidency, andhecan’t re-
coverfromit,”Rhodessaid. “The
decisionshemadethenensured
he’d be in hisendlesscycleof covid
spikesandeconomicdisruption
becausehecouldn’texhibitany
medium-orlong-termthinking.”
[email protected]
[email protected]Allies, foes agree on one Trump flaw
Newcoronavirus casesand deaths in the U.S., by day
CASES DEATHS145,05 4Total
4,272,TotalAs of 8p.m.Feb. 29 July 27 Feb. 29 July 2702,2,1,1,5001,54,010,20,30,40,50,60,70,7-day
average7-day
average