Trump’s Downward Spiral

As 2020 rolled around, things were looking pretty good for Donald Trump’s reelection bid. The all-important economy, for which he grabs total credit, was humming along nicely albeit modestly. 

Unemployment was at historic lows. The stock market indices were raging at record highs. Trump and the Republicans had amassed a huge war chest advantage over their rivals heading into the election season, and the Democrats were trying to sort out a gigantic field of candidates to determine who would challenge the insufferable incumbent. #hocopolitics

With all his personal flaws, character deficiencies and other foibles, Trump, by all accounts, was in fine shape. Impeachment? No worries. He somehow managed to win the message war. The same could be said for last year’s Mueller report. His flop photo-op diplomacy with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, his embarrassing performance in Helsinki with Russia’s President Putin and Charlottesville were all in the rear-view mirror.

Pundits marveled at Trump’s good fortune in not being confronted with a crisis, which would have tested his leadership abilities. That ended abruptly with the onset of the coronavirus or Covid-19 at the beginning of the year, which launched a downward spiral that has put his reelection in grave danger.

If Trump could have handled the coronavirus any worse, I can’t figure out how. He has written the book on how not to deal with a health crisis.

The more than half-empty arena in Tulsa was disturbing to Trump.

Denials of its existence, minimizing the effects of the virus, delays in response, politicization, refusal to accept science, prescribing his own dangerous treatments, politically-motivated pressure on governors to open the states’ economies prematurely, urging schools to re-open without a specific plan to do so, having no national strategy on testing and contact tracing and distribution of equipment, not urging face coverings—all while the toll keeps mounting and the number of cases and deaths leads the world as Trump denies the existence of surges of cases in the Sunbelt and refers to them as embers.

As a result of the stay-at-home orders stemming from the pandemic, the economy tanked. Tens of millions of workers lost their jobs and the country was pushed into a recession.

In addition, Trump has shown no empathy towards those who have suffered and to the loved ones who lost family members. He claims (falsely) that he has done a great job and has saved millions of lives. Trump blames everyone but himself for the epidemic’s carnage, and in particular, China.

While this tragedy continues to play on, Trump was equally inept following the disgusting murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands (or I should say knee) of a police officer. If there was any doubt that Trump is a racist,  this episode and what transpired since should have erased such misgivings.

Again, Trump showed a lack of empathy though he characterized the murder as “terrible.” He cracked down on protesters, assailed those who engaged in arson and looting as agitators and radical Democrats, sided with law enforcement, and for some weird purpose, he embraced the Confederacy.

No wonder former Grand Wizard of the KKK David Duke endorsed him for president (again). He called the growing Black Lives Matter movement that experienced a resurgence in the aftermath of the killing of Mr. Floyd as a statement of hate. And, of course, he wants to preserve the monuments of those traitors who fought against the U.S. to preserve slavery.  

The nexus of these two crises was exemplified by white armed militia types at Trump’s urging entering the state capitol in Lansing, Michigan to protest the lock down of the state due to the coronavirus are untouched. Black men who are unarmed get killed.

Political observers wonder why Trump has been so overt in his racism. It certainly will not expand his base of support. As former Senator Al Franken noted in an interview with Joy Reid, “He already has the racists.”

Besides the devastating political toll these crises has had on Trump as evidenced by diminishing poll numbers in key battleground states, Trump was hampered by an onslaught of other political missteps and bad press.

In no particular order, tell-all books by former Director of National Security John Bolton and Trump’s niece Mary Trump painted a horrific portrait of Trump as president and as a man. Former cabinet members and military leaders weighed in as well. Trump’s widely criticized photo-op at a church near the White House did not help matters. Even worse, law enforcement tear-gassed peaceful protesters at Lafayette Square to clear the way for this misguided event.

Then the story surfaced whereby our intelligence agencies concluded that Russia was offering bounties to kill American and coalition forces in Afghanistan. Trump stumbled on this one, too. First he said he was never briefed. Then he claimed the intel was not actionable. Nonetheless, he still has not called Putin to at least complain about it. It is more evidence that Trump still owes the Russian president for helping him win the election in 2016.

It just goes on and on.  The debacle in Tulsa. Several Supreme Court decisions stunned the president. The firing by Trump fixer Attorney General William Barr of U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman in the Southern District of New York.   The commuting of the sentence of convicted felon Roger Stone because Stone had the goods on Trump and was protecting him. Everything that he disagrees with is either a hoax, fake news or a witch hunt. 

All these events and more have seen the president in a free-fall emotionally and politically. He is in a hole and he keeps digging. What worries me most is that the desperate Trump will challenge the results of the election from those states allowing mail-in ballots. He has already paved the way for this excuse by alleging (without any evidence) that this method of voting is rife with voter fraud. And we can expect more interference from Russia to whom Trump is beholden.

But as of now, Trump is definitely in a downward spiral and he can only blame himself for that but won't.