In a Fox News Town Hall on Tuesday, President Donald Trump revealed that he wanted to scale back social distancing efforts in the face of the pandemic and reopen businesses by Easter, which is just 18 days away on April 12.
This was just the latest signal that Trump and his top advisors are more concerned with the faltering economy than the current global health crisis at its root.
Of course, Trump has been making the case for a while now that the strength of the economy should earn him reelection in November, and some have wondered if his haste to revive the economy—even if it puts public safety at risk—was putting his own political fortunes ahead of the health of the nation.
Well, now we have confirmation that that's precisely what is behind his effort to rush Americans back to work in less than 3 weeks.
In an ill-tempered tweet on Wednesday afternoon, Trump complained that the "LameStream media" were only urging for the continuation of stay-at-home policies in order to put his 2020 reelection at risk.
Once again, Trump said the quiet part out loud, in this case: that he is eager for businesses to reopen because he thinks their closure poses a threat to his reelection.
People were quick to call Trump out.
It's important to note that there's little Trump can do to reopen businesses across the country—because he didn't close them in the first place. The decisions were made by governors and mayors across the country who listened to experts and learned from the spread of the pandemic abroad—even as Trump repeatedly contradicted that information.
His narcissism is dangerous.
This is not normal.
You can purchase A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump's Testing of America by Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig here.
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