As Trump tweets and taunts, America's true leaders take over - Dana Milbank
As the virus continues to ravage the nation, Donald Trump continues to be Donald Trump.
But here’s the good news: The nation’s leaders are coming together without him. On Wednesday alone, Trump used his tweets and retweets to heap disdain and ridicule on Joe Biden, Adam B. Schiff, Robert S. Mueller III, Michael Avenatti, Mitt Romney, the “LameStream media,” “CORRUPT & FAKE NEWS,” “Trump Derangement Syndrome” and liberal “snowflakes” — and to celebrate his own magnificence and the “Trumpbux” he gets to spend in the economic rescue package.
Juxtapose that with the bipartisan scene on Capitol Hill, where, after days of strife, senators neared a vote on a massive stimulus bill that spends more than Congress typically designates for domestic programs in a year. On the Senate floor Wednesday, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) said that the “Washington drama” acted out in the chamber in recent days “does not matter anymore. The Senate is going to stand together, act together and pass this historic relief package today.” (really?)
(snip)
Meanwhile, as Trump pits states against each other and announces a reckless plan to reopen American workplaces by Easter with the virus still raging, Democratic and Republican governors, filling the leadership vacuum, have united in rejecting his ludicrous plan. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican and head of the National Governors Association, dismissed “this imaginary clock,” while Republican governors in Texas, Arizona, Ohio and South Dakota joined Democratic governors coast to coast in insisting that public health come first.
A better president could unify us in common purpose. But while Trump declares himself a “wartime president,” he seems most skilled at civil warfare. He contributes false assurances, disinformation and attacks on Democratic governors. It’s a blessing, then, that, as The Post’s Philip Rucker reports, Trump has been playing “a back-seat role” in key areas that “belies his omnipresence in the national media.” The president largely left the stimulus bill to lawmakers and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. This suggests a welcome, if tacit, recognition that Trump doesn’t have what it takes to lead in crisis. His greatest service would be to get out of the way. While our head of state plays talking head, our headless state would carry on better without him.
(snip)
While Trump used the power of the presidency for self-aggrandizement and petty grievances, the governors governed. Cuomo, in his daily news conference, thanked Trump for his “cooperation” and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner for being “extraordinarily helpful” in their “common challenge.” He proposed a nationwide plan to share scarce medical supplies, invoking the words of his late father, Mario Cuomo, on “what a proper government should be: the idea of family, mutuality, the sharing of benefits and burdens for the good of all.”
(snip)
And while Trump salivates over the “Trumpbux” he’ll get to spend in the emergency legislation, lawmakers blocked him from spending the funds on his own business. While Trump lobs political grenades, senators are speaking like statesmen.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/25/nation-comes-together-without-trump
= new reply since forum marked as read
