Even in the face of a national health crisis that threatens hundreds of thousands of American lives, President Donald Trump has consistently signaled that he's incapable of rising to the urgency of the moment, choosing instead to pick fights with governors over Twitter and to brag about the ratings of his press briefings.
That string of behavior continued with a letter to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), which read more like one of the President's Twitter screeds than a letter from the President of the United States.
CNN congressional correspondent Phil Mattingly posted the letter on Twitter:
Trump began with his trademark pettiness:
"Thank you for your Democrat public relations letter and incorrect sound bites, which are wrong in every day."
Trump proceeded to list vague accomplishments and praises for his own administration's response to the pandemic, while criticizing New York—the epicenter of the virus—for what he called a lack of preparation.
He then went on to repeat bogus Republican talking points:
"If you spent less time on your ridiculous impeachment hoax, which went haplessly on forever and ended up going nowhere (except increasing my poll numbers), and instead focused on helping the people of New York, then New York would not have been so completely unprepared for the 'invisible enemy.' No wonder AOC and others are thinking about running against you in the primary. If they did, they would likely win."
After accusing Schumer of only being in action when talking to the press, Trump concluded:
"I've known you for many years, but I never knew how bad a Senator you are for the state of New York, until I became President."
The Senate Minority Leader responded, but instead of stooping to Trump's level with immature smears, he offered the President a sobering reminder of just how dire the situation is.
Schumer reminded Trump that Americans are dying and losing jobs—and he's right.
The U.S. has seen over 6,000 deaths due to the virus, and over nine million Americans have filed for unemployment in the past two weeks. Both of these numbers are expected to grow.
Many Twitter users reacted with disgust.
Some echoed Schumer's rebuttal.
Feeling safe yet?
For a deeper look into Trump's ineptitude from people who were there, check out A Very Stable Genius, available here.
