The escalating coronavirus crisis is presenting President
Donald Trump with a challenge for which he appears ill-equipped, his
favorite political tactics ineffective and his reelection chances in
jeopardy.
A rare
crisis battering the White House that is not of the president’s own
making, the spreading coronavirus has panicked global financial markets
and alarmed Americans, many of whom have turned to the Oval Office for
guidance and reassurances. But what they have found is a president
struggling for a solution, unable to settle Wall Street and proving
particularly vulnerable to a threat that is out of his control.
In
an address to the nation Wednesday night, Trump announced a sweeping
travel ban for much of Europe as well as a package of proposals to help
steady the teetering economy. But he continued to play down the severity
of the situation, painting it as a foreign threat that soon will be
banished rather than focusing on managing the growing number of cases at
home.
“This is the most aggressive and comprehensive effort to confront a foreign virus in modern history,” Trump declared.
Addressing
the economic costs, he added, “This is not a financial crisis, this is
just a temporary moment of time that we will overcome together as a
nation and as a world.
But the virus has appeared impervious to the president’s bluster.
The
virus does not have a Twitter account and, unlike so many previous
Trump foes, is resistant to political bullying or Republican Party
solidarity. It has preyed on his lack of curiosity and fears of germs
while exposing divides and inadequacies within senior levels of his
administration. It has taken away Trump’s favorite political tool, his
rallies, from which he draws energy and coveted voter information.
And
eight months from Election Day, it has endangered his best reelection
argument — a strong economy — just as Joe Biden, the candidate emerging
from the Democratic field, seems poised to take advantage of a political
landscape upended by the virus.
