Trump fights to keep a job Dems say he isn’t doing
Critics say President ill-equipped to lead the nation through tough times, or outright absent in moments that demand leadership
has fallen short rather than rising to the moment.
He’s all but declared the pandemic over and has focused aggressively on reopening the economy, even as some Republican allies in key states start rolling back those efforts in a bid to contain outbreaks.
Just 37 per cent of Americans say they approve of Trump’s handling of the pandemic, down from 44 per cent in March, according to a recent poll from The Associated PRESS-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research.
The president has also been largely absent from the discussion of systemic racism in America following the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died when a white police officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for several minutes.
Trump has focused much of his energy on the subject of racism on defending the prominent placement of memorials to Confederate figures.
Democrats also say the revelations over the past week that the president may not have read or absorbed intelligence briefings have put a finer point on the questions they are raising about his basic competency.
The White House insisted Trump was unaware of assessments that Russia had put a bounty on US servicemembers in Afghanistan, though intelligence officials told The Associated Press the matter was included in at least two written briefings over the past year and that senior advisers alerted the president to the intelligence.
“At best, our commander in chief is utterly derelict in his duties, presiding over a dangerously dysfunctional national security process that is putting our country and those who wear its uniform at great risk,” Susan Rice, who served as President Barack Obama’s national security adviser and is under consideration to be Biden’s running mate, wrote in a New York Times opinion piece.
To Democrats, what’s transpired in the White House was foreshadowed during the 2016 campaign, when Hillary Clinton argued Trump simply wasn’t prepared for the presidency. Voters still chose him over the experienced former senator and secretary of state.
Now, Democrats believe their case about competency is more compelling given that Trump has a record in office to defend.
“His actions and inactions directly impact people’s lives now,” said Josh Schwerin, spokesman for the Democratic super PAC Priorities USA. —AP