The virus was a marvelous opportunity for Trump to redefine himself as a “wartime president” and win the country over with his competence and leadership ability. To put it mildly, he has failed miserably. Why?
It all comes down to his personal shortcomings. Part of it is his childish lack of patience. Part of it is his unwillingness to actually do the hard work of governing. Part of it is his incredibly selfish desire to take credit for successes and to shift blame for failures. But I think a big part of it is his lack of imagination. He had decided that he was going to run as the man who brought the Trump economic boom to America. When the switch flipped, he simply didn’t have the mental flexibility to change his message. He insisted on keeping on in a dramatically different world, and he’s going to pay the price for it.