The President Who Wasn't There: The Tireless and Tragic Push to Make Donald Trump Competent

Disinfectant.

On Thursday afternoon, President Donald Trump stood in front of the United States of America and suggested that injecting or imbibing disinfectant could cure the coronavirus.

Much attention has been paid to the reaction of Dr. Deborah Birx, Trump’s medical advisor, who struggled to restrain her disgust as it happened. Here was a trained and experienced expert having to sit quietly on a nationally televised event being viewed by several million Americans during a time of societal crisis as the president pushed murderous information.

It’s nothing new. Trump’s pushing of Hydroxychloroquine, a medicine unproven to actually treat the virus, killed multiple Americans and was shown in trials to actually increase the mortality rate among patients. It was hyped by Fox News, his propaganda arm, and treated like something besides a blatant attempt for Trump to profit off an investment and secure a public relations win.

Besides the experts who have remained largely stoic in the face of this madness, and the Republican Party which refuses to rein Trump in, there has been an odd and enraging trend among members of the journalist and media class to treat Trump as if he is anything besides an unhinged danger to himself and the entirety of America.

Notice the framing here in this unfortunate tweet by The New York Times. How awkward the phrasing is. Dash. Dangerously, in the view of some experts. Just an absolute disaster of written communication, and all because publications like The Times works overtime, to its detriment and the detriment of the people, to treat Donald Trump like a serious politician with serious ideas in order to wrestle with accusations of bias.

Certainly, The New York Times and Washington Post have engaged in incredible investigative journalism that has troubled the rampant corruption of the Trump Administration, but the editorial approach to exactly how to deal with it, how to consider, how to communicate it, has been disastrous.

Likewise, on cable news, even the most conscientious and capable personalities struggle with how to convey the danger of Trump. There is one segment after another about his grift and corruption and cruelty, all of it weaving together into an angry and crestfallen tapestry, but the coverage misses something. A certain declaration. A certain clarity.

Everyone always comes one step short of calling Trump what he is: a walking, talking, existential, political, social crisis. A madman equal parts incompetent, cruel, and insane.

But why?

What is that keeps people who damn well know the truth from calling it out in all its ugliness?

The modern presidency, unfortunately, took shape under the direction of Ronald Reagan and his campaign strategists. While Reagan has been portrayed for the past forty years as a historically great president, the truth is that the divide between the man lionized and the image presented is vast and disturbing.

In reality, Reagan was a disastrous president whose policies diverged from the figure lauded by members of both the Republican and Democratic parties. Even this week, former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry called for leaders like “Kennedy and Reagan,” drawing an unfortunate line between presidents who could not have been more different.

Though it is not pleasant, Reagan was used as a puppet by hypercapitalistic economists determined to radically alter the economy as a means to create obscene wealth and profits for the obscenely wealthy. White-identity, Neo-Confederate evangelicals used Reagan as a means to dominate cultural and political arenas. And the Republican Party, reeling after the disastrous scandals of Richard Nixon, relied on Reagan as a mythical standard-bearer despite his policies and actions.

The real Reagan presidency ran incredible deficits. Eschewed Christianity in favor of astrology and the occult. Delivered amnesty to immigrants. And, though portrayed as an active leader, Reagan avoided the intricacies of the presidency, preferring to take his briefings as cartoons and often keeping scant hours in the Oval Office.

How then, did Reagan become REAGAN, this institution by which politicians and journalists still guide their coverage and vision of America?

It was an intentional strategy by Reagan’s campaign staff to portray “RR” as “the personification of all that is right with or heroicized by America” and ensuring that “a vote against Reagan” would be “a vote against mythic America.” In this, they were wildly successful. They created the illusion of a president by means of televised briefings and scripted pseudo-events that would play out on television like a scripted show. Soon, the tarnished presidency of Nixon gave way to the glamorous spectacle of Reagan.

This informed the means by which the American presidency was viewed. Following Reagan’s disastrous presidency, all presidents would be clothed in the power of the office, demanding that journalists and politicians at least show deference to the occupant lest they be seen as unpatriotic. The executive transformed into a shining, happy mascot. It didn’t matter who entered the Oval Office and what they said or did. The office was the focus and the presidency a symbol.

With Trump, this relationship has taken an incredible hit. Every day there is new evidence that he is unhinged and incapable of the job. The coverage we see is a reflection of that and the veneer of the presidency is eroding. But the remnants of Reagan’s manipulation continue to play out day-by-day, even as Trump tells Americans they should drink bleach or take medicine that could kill them.

To attack Trump overtly, to call into question his competency, is unfortunately linked to calling into question the United States of America. The PR push to heroicize Reagan and link him to the mythical identity of America ensured this toxic connection and warped reality in a very real and very dangerous way. Because Trump sits in the Oval Office, because he speaks behind the Seal of the Presidency, because deference is still shown by people referring to him as “Mr. President,” the specter of Reagan and the American myth imbue him with power and protect him from open disrespect.

We are lost in a twisted reality that has been twisted intentionally for power and profit. We must unknot ourselves and recognize the very real and very obvious truth: the President of the United States of America is a madman and no amount of symbols or metaphors will protect us from his madness.

Jared Yates Sexton is the author of American Rule: How A Nation Conquered The World But Failed Its People, available for pre-order from Dutton/Penguin-Random House. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The New Republic, The Daily Beast, Politico, and elsewhere. Currently he serves as an associate professor of writing at Georgia Southern University and is the co-host of The Muckrake Podcast.