A Complete Analysis Of Trump’s 164th Unpresidented Week As POTUS

With the coronavirus, Trump has finally met a challenge he can’t tweet or lie away. This week, he further proved he's incapable of rising to the moment.
profile avatar

by: Ahmed Baba on March 16, 2020

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)

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 164.

“I don’t take responsibility at all.” – President Donald Trump

That quote defines Donald Trump’s presidency. For real leaders, the buck stops with them. For President Trump, it stops with anybody but him.

That was President Trump’s response to a question about whether he takes responsibility for lagging testing in response to the coronavirus outbreak, which has now been characterized as a pandemic by the World Health Organization. But of course, it is his fault.

At the time of this writing, there are over 170,000 cases of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, in at least 155 countries/regions. There are now over 3,600 confirmed cases within the United States, which is only because of the lack of testing. US cases are accelerating at a faster rate than Italy did at this point in their epidemic, and we all know where their situation is now. This hasn’t stopped President Trump from deflecting blame away from his administration’s failures to contain this virus.

Let’s start with Trump’s Oval Office address on Wednesday. President Trump praised his response to the coronavirus but failed to mention the fact he disbanded the National Security Council’s global pandemics team in 2018, made cuts to the CDC, limited testing after rejecting WHO tests, and spread disinformation that undercut his own administration’s health professionals.

In his address, President Trump also called this a “foreign virus” as if he was trying to fit this crisis into his nationalist agenda. Trump also announced a European travel ban that led to crowded airports which could only lead to further spread. That was the only major measure he announced in that address, which worried many. The problem with that is the fact the virus is spreading within the US.

Throughout this week, President Trump also blamed President Obama for his coronavirus testing failures, citing “red tape.” Did Obama make Trump fire the NSC team responsible for global pandemics? No. Did Obama force Trump’s CDC to deny WHO tests, create their own, and restrict testing criteria? No. The American people are tired of Trump’s repeated deflections of blame to Obama or whoever else is his scapegoat of the day. This is a crisis taking lives and destroying families. They want action.

Luckily, by Friday, President Trump declared a National Emergency. You heard that right. President Trump went from declaring coronavirus a Democratic “hoax” to declaring it a National Emergency in 14 days. If enough people are paying attention right now, this is the week Donald Trump lost re-election. Just an absolutely stunning failure in leadership amid one of the greatest crises this world has faced in the 21st Century. Luckily governors around the country are filling that leadership vacuum, painting a stark contrast that highlights President Trump’s incompetence. Also, props to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi for working around the clock to get a bill passed in the House to address this but there are still major issues with their paid leave policy that need to be addressed.

Now, we’ll touch on the dangers of Trump’s disinformation. On MSNBC, Mayor Francis Suarez just said that he was asymptomatic when he tested positive for coronavirus. In his Friday press conference, President Trump said he doesn’t have symptoms and that’s why he hadn’t been tested yet (as he shook hands with everyone). He’s since been tested and the results came back negative, but that’s beside the point. Asymptotic people can spread the virus and Trump’s mixed messaging has proved dangerous.

This is where the dangers of right-wing gaslighting meets the immovable sturdiness of objective reality. People who are parroting Fox News disinformation that the coronavirus pandemic is “hoax” are putting everyone at risk. This is also why Trump’s attacks on the media are corrosive. Now is when Trump supporters should be trusting the media most. Instead, there have been far too many people believing dangerous disinformation, as polling indicated Republicans are less worried about this pandemic than Democrats. It’s not hyperbole to say this could get people killed.

If millions of people think the coronavirus pandemic is a hoax or just another flu and aren’t taking precautions, it extends this crisis. Everyone who isn’t taking this seriously is doing the opposite of flattening the curve. We saw that attitude run rampant over the weekend as young people around the US packed bars for St. Patrick’s Day celebrations or took advantage of cheap flights to visit beaches.

If testing really does ramp up as Vice President Mike Pence has announced, we’re about to see an enormous surge in the coming days as we finally begin to understand exactly how widespread this is. In the meantime, people need to be taking massive precautions and assuming the virus is everywhere. Combating this pandemic is more than just testing and stimulus from the government, it’s about every single American taking the precautionary steps to social distance, wash their hands, and stay home.

If you’re a young person reading this, listen up. I get that you want to go out, but you have no idea if you have COVID-19 or not until you’ve been tested. Asymptomatic people have been tested positive and studies show that they are responsible for massive spread in multiple countries. I’m 27 myself and I’m currently staying in my house at all times unless I need groceries. If we all make short-term sacrifices we can drastically reduce the spread and shorten the time of this crisis. But if we have people not social distancing, ignorant of the fact they could be asymptomatic and spread it to the vulnerable, we’re in for a long, deadly ride.

Recent event cancelations, school closings, and restaurant closings in various states are a great start, but we need the federal government to get money into the hands of average Americans to offset the damage done to their livelihoods and the damage to the economy. We will beat this, it’s just a matter of how quickly and how much less deadly we make this crisis. If every American takes this seriously and does their part to stay at home and if the federal government does their part to make that possible, we will rise from this stronger than before.

Let’s dive into another Unpresidented week.

Jump to

Looking to make a difference? Consider signing one of these sponsored petitions:

Take Action To Protect Voting Rights With The ACLU Sign Now
Demand Equal COVID-19 Economic Support And Healthcare For African Americans Sign Now
Support The Switch To 100% Renewable Energy Sign Now
*Rantt Media may receive compensation from the partners we feature on our site. However, this in no way affects our news coverage, analysis, or political 101's.

Coronavirus Crisis Worsens

Day 1,145: Monday, March 9

President Trump and Vice President Pence, joined by members of the Coronavirus Task Force, meet with representatives from pharmaceutical companies Monday March 2, 2020, in the Cabinet Room of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian)

President Trump and Vice President Pence, joined by members of the Coronavirus Task Force, meet with representatives from pharmaceutical companies Monday March 2, 2020, in the Cabinet Room of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian)

Monday’s top stories:

Super Tuesday 2: Biden Wins Big

Day 1,146: Tuesday, March 10

Joe Biden speaks with attendees at the 2019 Iowa Federation of Labor Convention hosted by the AFL-CIO at the Prairie Meadows Hotel in Altoona, Iowa. – August 21, 2019 (Gage Skidmore/Creative Commons)

Joe Biden speaks with attendees at the 2019 Iowa Federation of Labor Convention hosted by the AFL-CIO at the Prairie Meadows Hotel in Altoona, Iowa. – August 21, 2019 (Gage Skidmore/Creative Commons)

Trump’s Oval Office Failure

Day 1,147: Wednesday, March 11

President Donald Trump poses for a portrait in the Oval Office in Washington after an interview with The Associated Press. April 21, 2017 (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

President Donald Trump poses for a portrait in the Oval Office in Washington after an interview with The Associated Press. April 21, 2017 (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Wednesday’s top stories:

Global Pandemic

Day 1,148: Thursday, March 12

Civil protection volunteers engaged in health checks at the “Milano Malpensa” airport. – Milan, Italy, 5 February 5, 2020 (Dipartimento Protezione Civile/Creative Commons)

Civil protection volunteers engaged in health checks at the “Milano Malpensa” airport. – Milan, Italy, 5 February 5, 2020 (Dipartimento Protezione Civile/Creative Commons)

Thursday’s top stories:

National Emergency

Day 1,149: Friday, March 13

Friday’s top stories:

Rantt Media and ZipRecruiter


Unpresidented // Coronavirus / Donald Trump
profile avatar

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_.

  All Articles