Most of Trump’s own supporters think he’s self-centered. His coronavirus response helps show why.

Most of Trump’s own supporters think he’s self-centered. His coronavirus response helps show why.

A national survey published Thursday by the Pew Research Center showed that 73 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents believe “self-centered” describes President Trump either very or fairly well. Overall, 8 in 10 U.S. adults agree.

Eighty percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said they agree with Trump on many or nearly all of the important issues facing the country; the same percentage approve of his job performance in the poll. But only 31 percent said they like the way Trump conducts himself as president. Half said they have mixed feelings, and 16 percent say they don’t like his conduct.

Among the Republicans and GOP-leaning independents surveyed by Pew, 35 percent said he’s prejudiced, 49 percent said he’s even-tempered, 62 percent said he’s morally upstanding and 71 percent said he’s honest. But 87 percent said he fights for what they believe in. That’s the key to his reservoir of support on the right.

Trump’s town hall on Thursday night in Scranton, Pa., which aired live on Fox News and focused extensively on the novel coronavirus outbreak, captured these dynamics in miniature. The first audience question came from Katherine Pugh, an undecided voter, who said the Trump administration’s initial response to the coronavirus “seemed to some as being confusing or minimizing.” She wondered “what plans are being considered on a federal level for the possibility of a long-term disruption” from its spread. Rather than discuss what’s next, Trump focused on touting his initial response.

He credited his own moves with the relatively small death toll – he said 11 Americans have died, though the number is now 12 – compared to other countries. “Well, actually, we are being given really tremendous marks – you look at Gallup, you look at other polls – for the way we have handled it,” he said. “And one of the things I did is I closed down the borders to China and to other areas that are very badly affected. … And I closed them down very early against the advice of almost everybody. And we have been given rave reviews.”

There is no public evidence that there was widespread opposition to the travel restrictions in the administration. Moreover, the Gallup poll Trump referred to, conducted from Feb. 3 to Feb. 16, did not ask about Trump’s handling of the situation. Instead, it asked Americans about their confidence in the federal government’s ability to handle an outbreak in the United States. A lot has changed in the past three weeks, including the seesawing stock market and a spike in the number of confirmed cases in the country. The Dow fell 700 points Friday morning in the first few minutes after the opening bell.

An Economist-YouGov poll conducted earlier this week found that 41 percent of Americans thought Trump’s policies were not taking the risks seriously enough. Another 34 percent said his policy was appropriate. This poll finds that 68 percent of Americans are now either “somewhat” or “very” concerned about a coronavirus epidemic in the United States, up from 62 percent in an Economist-YouGov survey last month.

Trump himself has emerged as the administration’s greatest obstacle to sending a clear and consistent message about the coronavirus. Leading public health experts from across the government have found their messages undercut, drowned out and muddled by Trump’s push to downplay the outbreak with a mix of optimism, bombast and pseudoscience, Toluse Olorunnipa reports: “The president has repeatedly misstated the number of Americans who have tested positive for the virus and claimed it would ‘miraculously’ disappear in the spring. He has given a false timeline for the development of a vaccine, publicly questioned whether vaccinations for the flu could be used to treat the novel coronavirus and dismissed the World Health Organization’s coronavirus death rate estimate, substituting a much lower figure and citing a ‘hunch.’ On Wednesday night, Trump made an uncritical reference to people who continue to go to work while infected with the coronavirus — placing himself at odds with doctors who have strongly urged those with even minor symptoms to stay home.”

 

Fox News anchor Bret Baier told Trump during the town hall that, while he’s said he wants to take politics out of the crisis, the president also keeps blaming former president Barack Obama for delays in distributing test kits. “Well, I don't blame anybody,” he said, before blaming Obama. “I want to get everybody to understand they made some decisions which were not good decisions. We inherited decisions that they made.”

Trump added that his own performance will get criticized no matter what. “If we found a cure, and everybody's better tomorrow morning at nine o’clock, they would say, he's done a terrible job,” he said. “It's just automatic. … And we have done a great job. Again, we have gotten the highest poll numbers of anybody for this kind of a thing.”

Fact-checker Glenn Kessler awards Four Pinocchios to Trump for his “bogus” effort to blame Obama for sluggish coronavirus testing: “The administration has been under fire for its failure to quickly expand testing for coronavirus across the United States; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had distributed flawed tests to state and local health departments. The lack of tests, compared with countries like South Korea that have tested tens of thousands of people, has meant the possible spread of the virus in the United States may be hidden.

“Trump suggested the problem instead was an ‘Obama rule’ on testing that his administration had recently overturned. But this turns out to be completely wrong. …There was no Obama rule, simply ‘guidance’ that was never acted on because Congress stepped in and decided it would craft the necessary legislation, according to experts we consulted. The Trump administration, in fact, has been working with Congress on such legislation.”

Baier asked Trump why he didn’t expedite testing when the world learned of the virus spreading in January. “I'm thinking about a lot of other things too, like trade and millions of other things,” the president answered. “I mean, we are doing some job with the economy and all. So I'm not thinking about this. But as soon as I heard that China had a problem, I said, what's going on with China? How many people are coming in? Nobody but me asked that question. … And we were given A-pluses for that. … Saved a lot of lives.” 

Later in the town hall, a self-described “big supporter” of the president – identified by the network only as Robert – thanked Trump effusively for “everything that you have done for this country and continue to do for this country.” But then he lamented how “insult politics have become a staple of this political environment.” And he wondered: “Could there be a way that we can deliver your message without the controversial rhetoric in efforts to reunite this country during these divisive times?”

Trump’s answer boiled down to no. “When they hit us, we have to hit back,” he said. “I wouldn't be sitting up here if I turned my cheek.” He added that Fox News wouldn’t be interviewing him if he wasn’t a counterpuncher because it’s good for ratings. “We get hit so hard,” Trump added. “If we don't fight back, you won't be a fan of mine very long. But I appreciate the question. Thank you.” The crowd cheered. Robert applauded. And the Trump campaign war room quickly blasted out the clip.