The Rose Garden
The White House Rose Garden has been a place of ultimate success. Kennedy welcomed Alan Shepard, John Glenn and the rest of the Mercury astronauts there. Richard Nixon’s daughter was married there. It was there that Jimmy Carter shook hands with Begin and Sadat after the Camp David Accords were signed. President Obama trumpeted the Affordable Care Act there, and announced the recovery of an American soldier captured in Afghanistan.
So the Rose Garden is a special place for the Presidency. And I have to admit; President Trump’s use of the Rose Garden is jarring to me even on a good day. I know I carry the grudge, the resentment of his presence in the White House in any shape. But his use of the Rose Garden, the place where John-John played, always seems to be a special form of defilement.
In the Times
Yesterday, President Trump used the COVID-19 crisis to launch a campaign attack against his favorite target: the New York Times. Not only did he literally rant for more than an hour against the Times and the rest of the Media from the podium, he even presumed that the nation should watch a televised campaign advertisement while we waited for real information on the crisis.
He also used Dr. Anthony Fauci to “lure” us into the briefing. Fauci went on early, telling us of his “regret” at answering a hypothetical question from that other archenemy of the President, CNN. Fauci’s thinking with that statement is pretty clear: he used “…all his well-earned politesse…*”. What he’s doing now is so much more important than Trumpian politics. Fauci swallowed his honest words in order to stay on the job. He knows the Nation needs him there, and he’s right.
We have known for a while that the President’s “daily briefs” have taken the place of the Trump campaign rallies. He can’t go out on the road, but he can captivate millions of Americans, sheltering in place in their homes, by promising them information about the crisis, and the government’s efforts to stop the virus. As those briefings have continued, we have heard less and less substantive information from him, just a repetition of the same litany, with various compliments to those who praise him, and insults to those who don’t.
The Daily Disaster
And yet we watch. Dr. Birx and Dr. Fauci have serious things to say, and even Vice President Pence shows an understanding of the seriousness of the moment. The President does not. He serves as what might be called “entertainment”, kind of like watching that NASCAR racer flip over and over at the finish of the Daytona 500 in what seems like decades ago (but was only February).
Monday’s wreck was pretty amazing. Not only did he, without any regard for legality, use a government employee produced campaign video to broadcast on national free media, but he then claimed that as President, he has virtually “unlimited power” to open the country, regardless of what the state governors say.
This is from a man who has hidden behind an antiquated version of “states’ rights Federalism” to dodge responsibility for any of the tough decisions in this crisis. The President “let the Governors” take responsibility for closing down their states, and more importantly, has provided cover for those governors who have failed to do so. Looming catastrophes in Florida and South Dakota are only two examples of where the President failed to take action.
It’s the Election, Stupid
But now, when the country is tiring of “social distancing” and “sheltering in place”, it’s the President who wants to take responsibility for “lifting the quarantine”. That he might also be taking responsibility for resurgence of the corona-virus, and the need for those government body bags, is a calculated risk. It’s all about the election. Either he gets the economy back before Labor Day, or face overwhelming defeat.
By the way, looking at the Wisconsin results from last week, in an election done literally under the “shadow of death;” Republicans didn’t fare well. A “liberal” Democrat defeated a Republican State Supreme Court member, one endorsed strongly by Trump. That does not bode well for the President in that pivotal electoral state for November.
So today we wait, watching the reporters seated randomly in the Garden, looking like students serving time in in-school suspension. The Rose Garden still looks lovely, a place of success and tranquility. The President hasn’t come out.
Maybe it will rain.
Postscript
It didn’t rain, and the President showed up. He found a new scapegoat – the World Health Organization. The President got to praise half a hundred American businesses. And he backed away from his “Kingship” – the Governors will make the call on what their states do.
Testing is his bête noire. If he had tested at the beginning, back in January and February, we could have contained the virus. We did not – and because of that, the President won’t take on testing now. He says – it’s the States’ problem.
But the roses are still lovely.
*Postscript – Script
Please allow me to introduce myself, I’m a man of wealth and taste…
Use all your well earned politesse, our I’ll lay your soul to waste –
Sympathy for the Devil – The Rolling Stones – “Hoo – Hoo”
