Donald Trump‘s advisers are reportedly trying to lift the spirits of the embattled president, who believes that he built a highly successful country only to have it battered by COVID-19 and the ‘sick, twisted’ officers who killed George Floyd.
Sources speaking to The Washington Post painted a picture of a man seething with resentment about turn of events in the spring and summer.
They described how the president rants about coronavirus destroying ‘the greatest economy’ – which he claims to have personally built.
Donald Trump, pictured on Friday at a briefing on counternarcotics in Florida, is said to be increasingly upset that his presidency is being ‘undone’ by forces beyond his control
He decries the unfair ‘fake news’ media, which he says never gives him any credit.
On Friday the death toll rose to 133,777
And he reportedly bemoans the ‘sick, twisted’ police officers in Minneapolis, whose killing of George Floyd on May 25 provoked the nationwide racial justice protests that have confounded the president.
On Thursday, the president erupted with a volley of tweets attacking the Supreme Court after they ruled that the Manhattan district attorney could have access to his financial records, and that Congressional committees could potentially see the documents too.
‘This is about PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT,’ he tweeted.
‘We catch the other side SPYING on my campaign, the biggest political crime and scandal in U.S. history, and NOTHING HAPPENS.’
Trump on Thursday vented his fury in a series of tweets, misspelling ‘caught’ in his haste
The president’s outburst was sparked by a Supreme Court ruling on his financial information
The court ruled that the Manhattan district attorney could have access to his documents
Barbara Res, a former executive at the Trump Organization, told the paper that his feeling of being victimized was a common trait.
When she worked for Trump, she said, he interpreted nearly everything in deeply personal terms.
Barbara Res worked for Trump Organization
‘Whatever bad happened, no matter what it was, it was always against him, always directed at him,’ Res said.
‘He would say, “Why does everything always happen to me?”‘
She added: ‘It was as if the world revolved around him. Everything that happened had an effect on him, good or bad.’
The paper said that his son-in-law Jared Kushner was attempting to soothe him, with the help of Hope Hicks, counselor to the president.
Hicks, with the help of communications adviser Dan Scavino, has reportedly tried to lift Trump’s mood with events they thought he would enjoy, such as celebrating truckers by bringing 18-wheelers onto the White House South Lawn in mid-April or creating social media videos that feature throngs of his adoring fans, according to aides speaking to the paper.
Advisers also tried to assuage his temper by presenting him with internal polling that shows him in a better position than public surveys, which universally show him trailing presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden.
Bodies are moved to and from refrigerated morgue trailers at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center, Brooklyn, in April. Trump is said to be maddened by the pandemic’s progress
Coronavirus has ravaged the United States, enraging Trump with its economic toll
There have now been more than 3.1 million cases of COVID-19 confirmed in the U.S.
White House spokesman Judd Deere said that Trump was focused on the ‘Transition to Greatness’, and was promoting a message of ‘resilience, hope and optimism.’
George Floyd’s death beneath Derek Chauvin’s knee sparked weeks of protest
‘The United States of America did not ask for this plague and every American has been affected from the closure of our economy to caring for the sick and mourning those tragically lost,’ he said.
‘But under the leadership of President Trump our Transition to Greatness has already begun, and the American people are showing tremendous courage to defeat the virus, responsibly open the economy, and restore law and order to our streets.
‘The President’s message has been consistent: resilience, hope, and optimism.’
Yet Jen Psaki, former communications director in the Obama White House, agreed with private assessments that the president’s complaining could be costly.
‘I don’t think he has many sympathetic ears to his claims that he’s been mistreated,’ Psaki said.
‘Leadership, as we’ve seen at many moments in history, is about not only accepting adulation when you do something great but also accepting responsibility.
‘That lack of accepting responsibility is seen as a lack of leadership and that doesn’t sit well with people who might be more open to supporting him again.’