The Atlantic

The Slow-Fingered President

Donald Trump has been eager to tweet on many subjects—but notably reticent to emphasize public health.
Source: Win McNamee / Getty

President Donald Trump has warned his Twitter followers six times as often about the threat from mail-in ballots as he has urged them to protect themselves from the threat of COVID-19. Since March, when the stay-at-home orders started, he has written a little over a dozen tweets encouraging mask wearing and social distancing, and warning about the virus. In April, he started tweeting about the danger of voting by mail, and he has now done so more than six dozen times. He may very well be doing so again as you read this.

When it is in his interest, Donald Trump is a virtuoso of the touch screen, sounding the alarm repeatedly and with escalating panic. When it is not in his interest, he is slow-fingered and tardy, even if quick action is in the public interest.

Bob Woodward revealed that the president knew privately about the dangers of the pandemic for weeks but sent the opposite message to the public, before finally stating the danger out

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