Presidents generally see a significant bump in approval rating during a national crisis, but that does not seem to be happening with Trump.
Why? There are two answers to that question.
The first is that he is under fire from every outlet, with most mainstream media channels focusing on everything negative and refusing to report anything positive.
The second, and probably far more damaging aspect of this equation, is that he simply cannot accept the fact that he is not perfect.
Just Tell the Truth
If I were an advisor to President Trump right now, my main piece of advice would be to simply tell the truth, good or bad.
At this point, you would have to be a fool to think that everything is coming up roses during this pandemic.
American people accept that there will be bumps in the road, well, everyone but die-hard Trump supporters.
Post something that is 100 percent factual but even remotely hints at a Trump failure and you are tagged as fake news, a liberal hack, etc. It doesn’t matter if the previous 99 posts were pro-Trump or pro-conservative. The moment you say something that is negative in their eyes, you get destroyed.
Trump’s diehard base would rather eat their own and alienate more people from the party than dare admit that Trump made a mistake or something he did was not working well.
Trump has bought into this, knowing his base will defend him at all costs, even when he is 100 percent wrong, so he continues down this path.
President Trump has done a very good job for conservatives to this point, not perfect, but very good.
If he was handling this pandemic with any success, he would be a lock for re-election, but he is slowly but surely letting it all slip away because he refuses to accept facts as truth.
Trump tells everyone the small business program is highly successful, but it has met with challenges.
I know this because I am a small business owner that has experienced the problems of a program being rushed through before they were ready to go.
Most of us would have gladly waited an extra day or two for the bugs to be worked out rather than having delays that could now take weeks before funding goes through, if it goes through at all, as many of us will get lost in the shuffle.
Trump claims testing has always been great, but that is far from the case, but there is a reason for it. Rather than continue to say we have done a wonderful job, just explain the challenges and why they happened.
Now he is challenging reports from his administration on the challenges hospitals are facing.
He is saying the report is “just wrong.” Again, we expect some hospitals to face challenges, so just tell the truth and how these problems are being addressed as we move forward.
Honestly, these press conferences are showing someone that is starting to fall apart at the seams. Monday’s press conference was atrocious, as he seemed completely unhinged because there was honest, negative news.
Again, we expect there to be negative news during a crisis, so just tell us the truth and stop saying everything is perfect because it is not perfect.
My small business relies on other small businesses, and I lost about 60 percent of my business in 48 hours when the shutdown was announced. Of the customers I had, I know at least three of them that will lose their businesses because they were fairly new businesses and had sunk everything they owned into them.
This is the reality and it is probably going to get worse if this shutdown is extended beyond April 30.
I will say it again, Trump needs to just tell the truth, regardless of what it is. More importantly, his base needs to demand more from him or he will never change. As long as they defend everything he does, he will continue down this road to his ultimate undoing.
I already know what most of our readers are going to say about these statements, and they will not be kind.
The sad reality, though, is that if Trump continues doing what he is doing, pretending everything is perfect as the death toll rises and small businesses are shuttered forever, we are going to see a Democrat in the White House come January.
There will be no need for me to sit back and say “I told you so,” because everyone blasting me now will be hit with a much harsher reality when Democrats take over White House and possibly even the Senate, which will happen if this continues.
Save your presidency, Mr. Trump. First, accept the truth, then tell the truth to Americans. We are tough, we can handle it.
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