Mike Pence's moment to shine over coronavirus just makes Donald Trump look worse: columnists
If there's one thing that has been revealed by the coronavirus crisis is that President Donald Trump had never been tested and wasn't prepared for it. Vice President Mike Pence, however, is earning praise for remaining calm, reassuring Americans and not screwing anything up. The bigotry of low expectations, combined with Trump's failed leadership made it clear the president wasn't prepared for a crisis.
An Axios piece highlighted the praise for Pence's keen ability not to destroy the country and keep the stock market from falling when he speaks.
"I actually think he's done a reasonably good job," said anti-Trump commentator Scott Galloway on his Pivot podcast.
Whether Pence does well or not, he couldn't possibly do worse than the president has done in the press availabilities in the past several weeks.
Pence "acted less like the 'coronavirus czar' and more like a good old-fashioned White House press secretary. He was calm. He was direct. He was polite in face of shouted, competing questions," wrote Politico columnist Jack Shafer.
The vice president "has an understanding of what people are looking for" -- like facts that are "straightforward, not alarmist," his chief of staff Marc Short told Axios. "There's a lot of misinformation and probably some hysteria in the news. He's very consistent in saying that all the health experts tell us the risk of severe illness is small."
Short likely didn't mean to imply that the president doesn't know what everyday Americans are looking for in a disaster, but the contrast is obvious.
Leave a Comment
Related Post