Donald Trump exposes his leadership incompetence ... Debacle of Trump's coronavirus disinfectant comments could be tipping point

[Denizen]

Dopey Donald Trump has been child-like in his patter in the Covid-19 press conferences choosing to insult, slander, ramble, blither and lie and then double down on lies.

His comments on injecting or ingesting disinfectants have done him considerable harm as even Trumpies could see that was arrant nonsense.

The performance has damaged Dopey Donald Trump so severely even Republican groups have started to campaign against Dopey Donald Trump.

Donald Trump's minders have now convinced him he is overexposing his gaffs and should appear less and speak less.

The damage is done. Dopey Donald Trump may not recover from the disinfectant gaff which exposed his leadership incompetence.

Debacle of Trump's coronavirus disinfectant comments could be tipping point

Debacle of Trump's coronavirus disinfectant comments could be tipping point

The US president plans to ‘pare back’ his daily coronavirus briefings after falsely claiming his suggestion to inject cleaning products had been ‘sarcastic’

David Smith and Kari Paul
Published onSat 25 Apr 2020 14.07 BST

For Donald Trump, it was the strangest and most news-making thing he could have done: instead of taking questions from journalists, dominating the nation’s airwaves yet again, the US president gave a short pre-written statement and then stalked off the stage.

The abrupt end of Friday night’s daily press conference, which has become a ribald, unruly and often shocking ritual in America during the coronavirus pandemic, was probably the clearest sign yet of how badly Trump’s bizarre statements over disinfectant have shaken his administration.

Instead of going on the offensive after the world reacted with shock and horror to his Thursday night suggestion that the coronavirus might be treated by injecting disinfectant into a human body, Trump claimed he was being “sarcastic” and then retreated from public view.

The New York Times reported that some officials in the White House thought “it was one of the worst days in one of the worst weeks of his presidency.”

But it was Trump’s silence on Friday night that spoke volumes.

White House coronavirus taskforce briefings are often two-hour primetime marathons but on Friday Trump turned on his heel as reporters shouted questions in vain. Perhaps it was a fit of pique, or perhaps revenge on the reporters that he sees as persecutors. He may also have reached a tipping point, with his own advisers warning that the televised briefings are hurting him far more than they help.

Right on cue, minutes later, the Axios website reported that Trump plans to “pare back” his coronavirus press conferences, according to four of its sources. Next week, it said, “he may stop appearing daily and make shorter appearances when he does”.
...

On Thursday, Trump had suggested that doctors study the idea of people receiving injections of disinfectant to combat the virus. He also extolled the potential and unproven benefits of ultraviolet light. Medical experts, politicians and even disinfectant makers denounced the suggestion and warned the public against consuming the product. Trump’s comments generated internet memes and headlines around the world.

...

From almost the moment the words left Trump’s mouth it was clear some sort of damage limitation was needed.

But, as shock and amazement traversed the globe, it was slow in coming. When it did arrive, on Friday lunchtime, it was a clean-up attempt that clearly could have gone better. At a White House event Trump tried to justify his dangerous comments, falsely claiming that he was “asking a question sarcastically to reporters”.

...

When Trump posed the question about the efficacy of disinfectant injections, he had turned to his right and was looking in the direction of Bill Bryan, the acting homeland security undersecretary for science and technology, and Deborah Birx, the coronavirus taskforce coordinator.

Donald Trump turns to the homeland security official William Bryan during the briefing at which the president extolled the virtues of ingested disinfectant.
...

But Trump’s familiar turf of attacking the media was not working. In the middle of a pandemic, with Americans dying in their hundreds every day, the leader of the administration trying to guide the nation back to safety and normality had put even more lives at risk. His jumbled, inaccurate assertions only deepened concerns about Trump’s embrace of flawed science that could endanger public health.

...

The scandal exploded just a day after a New York Times report that detailed how Trump is coping with the pressures and isolation caused by the coronavirus pandemic. In a lengthy piece it portrayed a US president who has become cut off from many of his former friends and associates as he lives and works in the White House, unable to leave and travel and hold the campaign rallies that he appears to crave.

It described Trump bingeing on cable news for many hours each morning and often late into the night, surveying the wreckage of a once-booming economy that he had planned on being the main plank of his reelection strategy. ...

 

[Mac1958]

Meanwhile, Trump & his Trumpsters are absolutely convinced that he has been absolutely brilliant since Day One of this.

 

[Auld Phart]

already threads