At least Trump’s current rhetoric indicates he’s willing to treat the coronavirus seriously (“the invisible enemy”). Of course, he’s also willing to depict reporters and undocumented workers and Democrats as the enemy.

Clearly Trump is backpedaling (“we had no way of knowing…”) in order to excuse his documented nonchalance about the dangers of the novel virus, and his motive is to protect his political reputation in an election year. I think his internal calculator has decided that a high death rate will hurt him more at the polls than a high unemployment rate, hence the conversion.

The tell that Trump hasn’t enlisted as a commander in the war on the coronavirus is his continuing tendency to vilify others (governors, healthcare workers, the media) rather than seeing them as on the same side in this battle.

I don’t want Trump to look bad. If he were to bring the country together, I would gladly praise his leadership skills. But in the meantime, his acceptance of the wisdom and experience of scientists over shills like his son-in-law reads more like a case of CYA (granted, he didn’t even do that until recently) than humility and deference to authorities.