I am not usually one to say “I told you so,” but I want to make an exception right here and now.
I told you that Donald J. Trump’s entire adult life was geared toward one selfish end: to further his own ambition. That history in my view disqualified him from seeking — let alone achieving — election as president of the United States.
He took an oath more than three years ago to protect Americans, to defend the Constitution and to provide for the general welfare of the nation he was elected to govern.
He has failed! Miserably, I should.
The coronavirus is just one more despicable example of this man’s unfitness for public office.
His hideous tap-dance messaging on the coronavirus outbreak illustrates that this individual’s primary objective is not to protect Americans against potentially fatal illness. It is to further his re-election effort.
He didn’t want that cruise ship to dock in Oakland, Calif., because he was afraid it would boost the number of Americans infected by the Covid-19 strain of the virus. He has sought to downplay the danger. He has contradicted the medical experts almost daily. He has boasted (falsely) about his “knowledge” of medical issues, while wearing a Keep America Great campaign gimme cap at the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention office in Atlanta.
Jennifer Senior, writing an essay in the New York Times, summed up nicely why that CDC press conference was so damning: That news conference was … the most frightening moment of the Trump presidency. His preening narcissism, his compulsive lying, his vindictiveness, his terror of germs and his terrifying inability to grasp basic science — all of it eclipsed his primary responsibilities to us as Americans, which was to provide urgent care, namely in the form of leadership.
Donald Trump cannot lead a nation of frightened citizens. He is incapable of exhibiting an ounce of the qualities we seek in our president at times like these.
Many of us saw it coming the moment he rode down that escalator in that shiny skyscraper to announce he would seek the presidency of the United States.
I told you so.