A Complete Analysis Of Trump’s 165th Unpresidented Week As POTUS

President Trump's character flaws are being highlighted in his press briefings. These same flaws are what caused his early coronavirus response to fail.
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by: Ahmed Baba on March 23, 2020

President Donald J. Trump, joined by Vice President Mike Pence and members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, delivers remarks at a coronavirus (COVID-19) press briefing Friday, March 20, 2020, in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

President Donald J. Trump, joined by Vice President Mike Pence and members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, delivers remarks at a coronavirus (COVID-19) press briefing Friday, March 20, 2020, in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

Trump’s first major typo after winning the election was spelling Unprecedented incorrectly. He infamously tweeted “Unpresidented.” This typo is emblematic of his administration: An impulsive, frantically thrown together group of characters with virtually no oversight. After Trump was sworn in, I started writing the weekly “Unpresidented” column, analyzing every week of his presidency. This is week 165.

NBC reporter Peter Alexander: “What do you say to Americans who are watching you right now, who are scared?”

President Donald Trump: “I say that you’re a terrible reporter, that’s what I say… I think that’s a very nasty question.”

President Trump’s attacks on Peter Alexander were a microcosm of his egomaniacal presidency. Before Alexander asked his question, he highlighted the number of cases and deaths in the United States. Trump is so thin-skinned and insecure that he sees any facts he doesn’t like to hear as a personal attack. It’s why he doesn’t read his presidential daily briefings. It’s why he didn’t move fast enough to get ahead of the coronavirus. It’s all about him. He sees coronavirus as a political inconvenience not a threat to real lives. This week, there were multiple developments that proved just how dangerous his character flaws are.

The United States could’ve been months ahead of this. We could’ve prepared testing kits, stocked up on respirators, ventilators, and put processes in place to limit the spread once the first case was detected here. Unfortunately, we didn’t. We were unprepared, and now we have over 45,000 COVID-19 cases in the United States and over 500 deaths. All because Donald denied reality.

The Washington Post reported that Trump, who now says he always thought this would be a pandemic even though he called it a hoax in February, was told about coronavirus on January 18th by HHS Secretary Azar. Rather than take the threat seriously, Trump interjected to talk about vaping. President Trump then went on to downplay the threat to prop up the stock market, and the CDC rejected WHO tests, setting us back, as we’ve covered here for weeks.

Meanwhile, reports revealed that several senators sold stock after learning of the dangers of coronavirus in a January briefing, the most damning were Republican Senators Burr and Loeffler. They learned how bad the coronavirus outbreak was going to be and then used that info to trade stocks and avoid the incoming market crash, all while Trump downplayed the threat.

After selling other stock that would later drop in value due to the coronavirus pandemic, Loeffler bought teleworking stock knowing we could likely be in quarantine, and people would work from home. Loeffler profited from the coronavirus with insider info. This has the makings of a major insider trading scandal.

We also learned from a Reuters report that in July, the Trump Administration eliminated the CDC role responsible for detecting disease outbreaks in China. If this position was still active, we likely would’ve been aware of COVID-19 earlier, Reuters reported.

Trump was asked about the Reuters report and The Washington Post report in his press briefings and launched into an attack on the media broadly and called the reports inaccurate without addressing any of the central allegations. That means they’re true.

In perhaps the most disgusting question I think I’ve heard in the White House Press Briefing Room, an OANN propagandist accused the mainstream media of teaming up with communist propaganda, Islamic radicals, and cartels (lies). Trump agreed. Trump also claimed coronavirus drugs had been approved by the FDA, only to be contradicted directly by the FDA.

There was also another telling moment from these briefings. When Trump was read quotes of health workers on the frontline talking about shortages, rather than offer words of reassurance and say they’re working to rectify this, he blamed Obama.

When it comes to his messaging strategy, it appears Trump has found his gaslighting footing on coronavirus. Trump called this a foreign virus during his Oval Office address and now calls it the “Chinese virus,” and keeps talking about limiting border crossings. It’s a typical Trumpian ploy to fit this pandemic into his nationalist agenda.

As anticipated, this is having discriminatory effects throughout the country. Many people of Asian descent have reported an increase in racist attacks. A man walked up to up to CNN correspondent Kyung Lah hurling a racial slur. She said: “That is something that I have not experienced in a very, very long time in this country.” This anti-Asian bigotry is on Trump. Given how we’ve seen Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric trickle down to inspire white nationalist violence, I think we need to be concerned about the safety of Asians in America. Trump needs to stop calling it the Chinese virus.

President Trump’s week culminated in a rambling press conference on Sunday that he made all about himself. Trump talked about how he doesn’t take his six-figure presidential salary when he’s spent his entire presidency funneling millions of taxpayer dollars into his properties. Trump also bragged about when he announced his bid for the presidency and talked about how much money it cost him to run.

But there were worse developments that embodied Trump’s poor character. Showcasing his lack of patience and obsession with the economy and stock market, President Trump is now sending tweets and retweeting others who are calling for people to go back to work next Monday. If Trump calls for the end of self-isolation and social distancing too soon, then this will lead to further spread and significantly more deaths.

We’re walking into a consequential week as Democrats try and prevent Republicans from turning the new coronavirus relief package into a corporate-only bailout, so let’s take a look back at the Unpresidented week we just left behind.

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Abdication Of Leadership

Day 1,152: Monday, March 16

President Donald J. Trump addresses the nation from the Oval Office of the White House Wednesday evening, March 11, 2020, on the country’s expanded response against the global Coronavirus outbreak. (Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian)

President Donald J. Trump addresses the nation from the Oval Office of the White House Wednesday evening, March 11, 2020, on the country’s expanded response against the global Coronavirus outbreak. (Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian)

Monday’s top stories:

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Day 1,153: Tuesday, March 17

Bernie Sanders (Michael Vadon/Creative Commons), Joe Biden (Kuhlmann/MSC/Creative Commons)

Bernie Sanders (Michael Vadon/Creative Commons), Joe Biden (Kuhlmann/MSC/Creative Commons)

Tuesday’s top stories:

First Coronavirus Aid Signed As Grim Milestone Reached

Day 1,154: Wednesday, March 18

President Donald Trump signs an executive order (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Donald Trump signs an executive order (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

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Day 1,156: Friday, March 20

President Donald J. Trump speaks with reporters after disembarking Air Force One Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019 at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

President Donald J. Trump speaks with reporters after disembarking Air Force One Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019 at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

Friday’s top stories:

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Unpresidented // Coronavirus / Donald Trump
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by: Ahmed Baba

Ahmed Baba is the Co-Founder and President of Rantt. Writer of Unpresidented, Ahmed documented and analyzed every day of the Trump presidency. He's also a columnist at The Independent and his work has been cited in The New York Times, The Washington Post, BBC, Rolling Stone, BuzzFeed, The New York Post, The Huffington Post, Yahoo News, Blavity, Newsweek, The Telegraph, and more. He can be reached at [email protected] or found on Twitter @AhmedBaba_.

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