An Inadequate Man in Full
Well, that went well, said absolutely no one in the Trump White House.
A president on track to a second term should be exuding confidence, or at least be able to forcefully articulate (1) his record of success in his first term, and (2) his vision for the next four years.
Instead, we got that interview with Chris Wallace.
As I asked after Trump's press conference last week: who thought this was a good idea?
The answer, of course, is Trump, whose ignorance blends seamlessly with his narcissism to form a calcareous shell of arrogance. He thought he could handle this. He thought this might help his sagging re-election prospects, Instead it gave us a portrait of an Inadequate Man in Full.
You can tell how badly it went from the strategic silence of his usual chorus of fluffers and explainers.
For the moment, let's pass over the most disturbing aspects of the interview, including his refusal to say he would abide by the outcome of the election, his ignorance and disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic, his crude racial dog whistles, and the absurdity of his boast about passing a cognitive test that asked him to identify an elephant.
Near the end, Chris Wallace serves up what should have been a easy question: "Whether it's in 2021 or 2025, how will you regard your years as President of the United States?" This may have been the most revealing moment of the interview.
TRUMP: I think I was very unfairly treated. From before I even won, I was under investigation by a bunch of thieves, crooks. It was an illegal investigation. Russia, Russia, Russia.
Wallace tries to give him a chance to say something less whiny.
WALLACE: But what about the good -- what about the good parts, sir?
TRUMP: No, no. I want to go this. I have done more than any president in history in the first three and a half years, and I've done it suffering through investigations where people have been -- General Flynn, where people have been so unfairly treated.
The Russia hoax, it was all a hoax. The Mueller scam, it was all a scam. It was all false. I made a bad decision on - one bad decision. Jeff Sessions. And now I feel good because he lost overwhelmingly in the great state of Alabama.
Here's the bottom line, I've been very unfairly treated. And I don't say that as paranoid. I've been very - everybody says it. It's going to be interesting to see what happens. But there's tremendous evidence right now as to how unfairly treated I was.
President Obama and Biden spied on my campaign. It's never happened in history. If it were the other way around, the people would be in jail for 50 years right now. That would be Comey, that would be Brennan, that would be all of this - the two lovers, Strzok and Page, they would be in jail now for many, many years. They would be in jail. It would have started two years ago and they'd be there for 50 years.
The fact is, they illegally spied on my campaign. Let's see what happens. Despite that, I did more than any president in history in the first three and a half years.
WALLACE: Mr. President, thank you.
Given a chance to define his presidency and his legacy, Trump wallows in self-pity. Given a chance to rehearse his successes, Trump defaulted to his many grievances. Offered an opportunity to talk about his record, Trump chose instead to indulge his own Festivus of complaint.
There are just 105 days until the election.
**
Trump's answer to Wallace about his first term book-ended his answers to questions about his plans for a second term. Asked by Sean Hannity about his plans for a second term, Trump responded with a bizarre word salad.
Given a second chance, a few days later, he also struggled. He had nothing. So here we are, a few months from an election that he seems to be losing by double digits and Trump cannot articulate his first term record, nor can he provide a coherent rationale for a second.
Once again, the president also raised questions about whether he is unwell.
Make sure you read JVL's piece in today's Bulwark, which focuses on Trump's "ability to retain information as seen in the opening exchange on the state of the COVID-19 pandemic." It's not reassuring.
The Fox News Sunday interview shows:
Trump cannot remember what his briefing book told him about mortality rates, so he flips back and forth between “one of the lowest” and “the lowest” in the world.Trump cannot correctly interpret the simple graph handed to him by his own staff.Trump cannot recall what Wallace said to him less than two minutes prior.I’m not sure that there’s any explanation for this exchange that isn’t deeply worrisome for America.
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