With only months left in his first term, President Donald Trump's average approval rating has never risen above 50 percent.
The President's response to the current pandemic facing the United States is the latest continuation of a tenure plagued by missteps, scandals, and an endless stream of petty tweets.
Despite years of examples, there are still some who expect Donald Trump to suddenly rise to the level of decorum and steadfastness his office demands.
A tweet from the Wall Street Journal paraphrasing one of its conservative columnists appeared to express that misguided belief.
The tweet said that Trump could be remembered as a great President if he rose above the "pettiness of our times" in his response to the current pandemic.
It overlooked the fact that much of the "pettiness of our times" can be traced back to Trump himself.
Even before Trump ascended to the Presidency, he bickered about his penis size on a national debate stage, publicly called for Russia to spy on his 2016 opponent, and made illegal hush payments to an adult performer with whom he had an affair.
That behavior hasn't changed much, if at all, and is only exacerbated by his botched response to the global pandemic.
People found the idea that Trump would be remembered as a great President laughable, and soon began offering up all the equally absurd ways they themselves will be remembered.
Daniel Henninger writes in the op-ed:
"Ironically, Mr. Trump's path to presidential greatness may begin by doing something small but desired by virtually all Americans: Separate himself from the pettiness of our politics."
People soon pointed out that "our politics" aren't the source of the pettiness—the pettiness is part and parcel of Trump's personality.
It's unclear who will be writing the history of our current times, but it's hard to imagine one in which Donald Trump is remembered as great.
For evidence of Trump's ineptitude from people who saw it firsthand, check out A Very Stable Genius, available here.
