“Typically, presidents run for reelection on the achievements of their first term: the policies deployed, the gains notched, the victories achieved, the goals to fully realize in the next four years” writes Ashley Parker in The Washington Post.
“But Trump has, from that first golden-escalator ride, campaigned, governed and wallowed in grievance, never once wavering from his outsider ethos. He is relentlessly on brand about the forces arrayed against him. He warns his supporters not to trust the ‘FAKE NEWS’ and demands that states and districts ‘OPEN THE SCHOOLS!!!’ He suggested this spring that Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia ‘LIBERATE’ themselves from the restrictive coronavirus protection measures his own public health officials had suggested. It is not unusual to run for office on those terms, from the outside. But Trump appears unwilling — or unable — to abandon his burn-it-all-down cri de coeur, even when the establishment he lambastes is run by himself and his appointees. He insists firmly, and implausibly, that while he may be in Washington, he is not of it. Refusing to take ownership of his own administration’s record allows Trump to jettison responsibility.”