According to Playboy magazine senior White House correspondent Brian Karem -- who has seen it first hand -- Donald Trump is an absentee president who puts in little time at his job and, when he does, has no idea what he is supposed to be doing.
Writing for the conservative Bulwark, Karem said Trump is more than just "Putin's puppet," he is "incompetent" and therefore dangerous.
As Karem sees it, the public is inundated with reports about the president's "bombast, wild claims, misogyny, racism, lies, greed and avarice" but what should be more concerning is his inability to fulfill the basic responsibilities of his office.
That is when he bothers to show up and enter it.
As he explains, "The Marine guard posted outside of Trump’s office when he is in it almost never appears before noon and is rarely seen in the afternoon. There have been days when Trump has held press briefings where the guard wasn’t outside of the door even as Trump entered the briefing room—indicating that Trump may have walked straight from the residence to the briefing room. No guard on duty outside of the West Wing after a Trump appearance would indicate he walked straight back to the residence."
Pointing out the staff aides' claims that the president is a hard worker are patently false, Karem said the president has neither the attention span nor the interest in dealing with complex issues that affect the country.
"His lack of engagement leads to him reading from notes and using visual aids in his briefings. It is often apparent—sometimes he even points it out himself—that he hasn’t read the prepared material he’s giving us. Thus he misquotes it and often doesn’t seem to understand what he’s saying," he charged. "Last Wednesday he was at it again. He used visual aids and misled us about their significance to try and explain away the fact that we lead the world in coronavirus deaths."
According to the journalist, Trump's disinterest in his job has allowed his close advisers to run wild and the White House communications shop to botch announcements only to be followed with claims of "they misspoke" or "they didn’t understand."
Providing an example, Karem wrote, "That was on display again last Wednesday. Early in the morning a pool reporter tweeted out that an administration official said a couple of staffers had tested positive for the coronavirus. In her afternoon briefing, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany refused to say how many, if any, of the White House staff had tested positive," and that what followed was the president saying he was unaware of it -- then disputing it.
Karem noted that that incident was not the only fruit of White House chaos that day with the president later disputing comments made by his own CDC director, with the White House correspondent writing, "The message coming out of the Trump White House could not be more muddled."
"At the end of the day, if there is a second term for President Donald Trump, then last Wednesday is a template for just how screwed up the administration can and will be," he explained. "If Trump gets a second term and doesn’t have to face another election in his lifetime, does anyone honestly think he’ll spend more time at the office?"
Adding "His speech at the National Archives last Thursday shows where we’re headed: Stephen Miller-driven national policy," Karem wrote. "That couldn’t be more hideous. As for Trump, he disengaged long ago and all the chaos and lies are symptomatic of a man who just doesn’t care anymore—or was never really even capable of doing so."
You can read more here.
