Trump may be stepping back from managing the pandemic.
White House disagrees, says president ‘has been leading every step of the way’ in nation’s response
Washington — President Donald Trump has proclaimed the latest phase of pandemic response the “transition to greatness.” But Trump appears poised to preside over the eventual transition more as a salesman and marketer than a decider.
Many consequential actions are being done by others. The nation’s governors are overseeing their states’ plans to reopen their economies. Business leaders are making their own choices about how their employees can safely and responsibly return to work.
Treasury officials are negotiating with Congress the details of financial stimulus packages.
And scientists and public health officials are leading the race for a vaccine.
The United States under Trump has also retreated from its historic position of global leadership, declining, for instance, to participate in a coronavirus summit with other nations earlier this month.
Amid a once-in-a-century deadly pandemic, Trump has inserted his ego squarely into the U.S. response while simultaneously minimizing his own role — deferring critical decisions to others, undermining his credibility with confusion and misinformation, and shirking responsibility in what some see as a shrinking of the American presidency.
Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, who studies presidential leadership, said Trump has diminished the influence of his office relative to the outsized responsibilities past presidents have taken on during crises, most notably Franklin Roosevelt amid the Great Depression and World War II.
“You just yearn for that kind of leadership coming from the presidency,” Goodwin said. “Right now, we’re looking to the leaders in the states for carrying the major burden of how to deal with both the science and the economics. We’re looking to private industries about how to reopen.”
White House spokesman Judd Deere said “the media refuses to acknowledge or report accurately the incredible work of this president to protect and support the American people throughout this pandemic,” including a newly announced initiative aimed at developing and distributing a vaccine by the end of the year, ahead of most predictions.
“The president has been leading every step of the way, and his actions, not only to protect public health but also the economy and workforce, will ensure we emerge stronger than ever before,” Deere said.
Many Democrats disagree. “It seems that the most important decision the president makes every day is whether he does a press conference and, if so, what time,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said.
But with the U.S. death toll at more than 87,000 and rising, Murphy said he prefers a leadership vacuum in the West Wing to what he views as Trump’s unhelpful meddling.
“At this point, I think the president has proved to be so incompetent that most of us in Connecticut don’t want him or the people that work for him micromanaging our response,” Murphy said.
“At this point, I think the president has proved to be so incompetent that most of us in Connecticut don’t want him or the people that work for him micromanaging our response.” SEN. CHRIS MURPHY, D-CONN.