Background Briefing: April 21, 2020
Having the Toddler-in-Chief in Charge During a Real Crisis
We begin with the toddler-in-chief on display at Monday’s White House briefing whose reaction to a question from a female reporter revealed his sociopathic lack of empathy and pathological narcissism when he responded to whether he feels any responsibility for the loss of 40,000 plus American lives by congratulating himself on how many people all over the country love him. Daniel Drezner, a professor of international politics at Tufts University whose latest book is The Toddler in Chief: What Donald Trump Teaches us About the Modern Presidency joins us to discuss his latest article at The Washington Post “Am I in Denial About November?” in which he argues the mainstream media is going out of its way to give Trump’s campaign the benefit of the doubt about his chances for reelection in November, although campaign tactics are meaningless when the administration has bungled its pandemic response and the economy is cratering. In his book Drezner predicted months ago that the idea of the toddler “coping with a true crisis – a terrorist attack, a global pandemic, or a great power clash with China – is truly frightening”. But while the toddler throws tantrums all the time inside the confines of the White House, Drezner concludes that although Trump comes close to meltdowns in public when challenged by female reporters, if he were to have a tantrum on camera, it would not hurt him any more than the “Access Hollywood” tape did.