Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic could be his undoing

Editorial: The president’s chaotic response to this global crisis may well mark the moment that the normal rules of politics are restored

President says he got tested on Friday night (Getty)

Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus outbreak has been confused and chaotic. His early comments were that it was a “hoax” and that “it will go away”. This week he addressed the nation on TV and announced a ban on travel from Europe; then he announced a national emergency.

His TV address on Wednesday was a shambles. Among other things, he said the shipment of goods from Europe would be banned, and White House officials had to scramble to “clarify” his remarks, saying the ban applied only to people.

The ban on travel from the Schengen passport-free area made no sense in any case. It was as if he had wanted to ban travel from Europe but not from the UK, because we speak English. After it was pointed out that most Schengen countries had lower rates of infection than the UK, the ban was extended to Britain.

With the federal government’s handling of the pandemic coming under criticism, nearly all the president’s TV statements have had to be followed by a caravan of official “clarifications” and corrections. Yesterday he went back to simply shouting at people on Twitter, writing: “SOCIAL DISTANCING!”

None of this inspires confidence, and there are two striking contrasts. One is with Joe Biden, who seems certain to be President Trump’s Democratic opponent in the election in November. Senator Biden gave a speech this week in which he did the things Mr Trump has not done: he expressed sympathy for people who were worried, and insisted: “We will be led by the science.”

The other contrast is with Boris Johnson, who has sometimes been compared to Mr Trump, but whose handling of the crisis has been serious, focused and shared with impressive medical and scientific advisers.

We cannot be sure how US public opinion will react to the president’s confusion. In the past, every time Mr Trump has fallen short of the standards of competence (or indeed propriety) that would be expected of his high office, his supporters have rallied to him.

It may have been premature to argue, as Andrew Feinberg did in our pages after President Trump’s TV address: “Mr Biden became president today.”

But this is different from Mr Trump’s usual bluster, in that people are worried about their families’ health, the stock market has crashed, and the US and world economy is likely to go into recession.

President Trump has defied political gravity, and the conventional assumptions about the kind of leader who succeeds in a democracy, for a long time. But his inability to reassure the American nation at this critical time could mark the moment that the normal rules of politics are restored.