The Lunatic in the White House Must Be Voted Out

Let us never normalize the craziness around President Donald Trump. The presidential election this fall must be the end of this American tragedy.

Even the most hardened reporters were astonished during Donald Trump’s press conference on Monday, running over two hours long. While the death toll reached 23,500, he showed a video boasting about his own achievements.

According to Trump, his decisive campaign against the virus has been a success, saving perhaps “hundreds of thousands” of American lives. According to the president, the problem is that the media are not acknowledging this, but instead spreading fake news, as he sharply criticized the journalists and well-respected media companies present.

As if that wasn’t enough, Trump claimed to have ”total authority” to lift restrictions when he feels like it. But the president doesn’t have such unrestricted power, according to the Constitution.

A Dangerous Normality Is Appearing around Trump’s Abuse of Power

It is easy to become numb to the walking spectacle that is Trump. The White House is constantly producing outrageous new lies and infringement of rights. Eventually, one won’t be able to face one more pointless confrontation.

But it’s a dangerous habit. We are, after all, talking about the president of the United States, the leading nation of the free world. While he humiliates the office of the president, turning lies into a virtue and declaring war on the free press, it destroys norms across the world.

The fact that Trump is yet again shocking the world with his lapse of judgement shows how stressed he is about the spread of the coronavirus in the United States. He knows that the presidential election in November could very well become a public vote on how he handles the crisis.

In March, 49%, or nearly half of all Americans, thought that Trump had handled the crisis well. However, compare this to the 90% of voters who supported former President George W. Bush after the Sept. 11 attacks. There are already signs that Trump’s popularity is declining, as unemployment grows and people feel the effects on the economy more strongly.

Trump Is Fighting for His Political Survival

The coronavirus is not an enemy that suits Trump. It has no face that you can taunt and there are no military measures the U.S. can use to show its superior power. Quite the opposite, as the virus demonstrates America’s weaknesses, for example, the country’s lack of a working universal health care system.

Trump also reacted too late to the seriousness of the epidemic. For a long time, he reassured the American people that the the outbreak was a mild version of the seasonal flu, and that the virus would one day disappear like “a miracle.” In addition, the Trump administration has generally made the threat of epidemics less of a priority.

Trump, in other words, is fighting for his political survival. He must, at any cost, convince his own voter base that he has handled the crisis in the best way possible. The first line of defense in such a strategy is to argue with journalists who ask critical questions.

Let us hope that American voters see through this dirty campaign. They deserve so much better than this poor president.