Frank Rich: “What we’re seeing now isn’t the old Trump salesmanship. It’s mania. His latest, short-lived attempt to follow a script written by the hacks in his bunker — those ‘coronavirus briefings’ two weeks ago when he fleetingly acknowledged the pandemic’s severity — was probably the last. He doesn’t believe he can or should ‘pivot’ or change his ‘tone’ — as some in the press are still inclined to describe these brief interludes. He may even recognize that, for all his television experience, he still can’t competently read a teleprompter.”

“So, in the three-month countdown to Election Day, it’s come to this: Trying and failing to foist misleading White House–prepared bar charts about America’s coronavirus response on Jonathan Swan. Announcing that the nation’s children are ‘almost immune’ to COVID on Fox & Friends. Telling another Fox News personality, Geraldo Rivera, that a vaccine will arrive by November 3. Hailing Arizona as a ‘model’ for COVID response even as infections and deaths spiral. Promising to sign a nonexistent health-care bill to replace Obamacare. Declaring that Joe Biden is ‘against the Bible’ and ‘against God.’ Undermining his own party in its negotiations with congressional Democrats, then vowing to come to the rescue with executive orders of questionable legality and minimal practical value in aiding the millions of suffering Americans who are losing their jobs, their homes, and their lives. Trump has been more forceful in trying to eradicate TikTok than a disease that has so far taken 160,000 lives on his watch. Since the facts are not on his side, and the lies he’s spewing to counter them get more maniacal by the hour, it’s unlikely (if not impossible) that he can win reelection by once again drawing an inside straight in the Electoral College. His most plausible paths to victory depend entirely on lawlessness and subterfuge.”