After Donald Trump’s bipolar attack on Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker this morning — right after he tweeted out a self-congratulatory back pat for working so well with the nation’s governors during the CODID-19 national health emergency — the governor struck back at the president with a response that many Americans would fantasize about shouting at the president at top voice two inches from his face were we not so constrained by social distancing to avoid contracting the virus.
Here’s what Trump posted to Twitter earlier today:
.@JBPritzker, Governor of Illinois, and a very small group of certain other Governors, together with Fake News @CNN & Concast (MSDNC), shouldn’t be blaming the Federal Government for their own shortcomings. We are there to back you up should you fail, and always will be!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 22, 2020
The post, coming so soon after the president’s bragging about how much he plays well with others, showed that Trump’s vanity is his Achille’s heel when confronted with legitimate criticism and that he likely never learned the hoary proverb concerning people who live in glass houses and their habitual stone-throwing behavior.
Trump’s intemperate response to being held accountable for his massive failings in downplaying the coronavirus pandemic and failing to move quickly enough to prepare for its onslaught deserved the vicious reply that Governor Pritzker lobbed back at the president in response.
I want to thank the many public servants in the military, in @FEMA & other parts of the fed. government who are actually doing the work to keep people safe. My staff and I are grateful for your experience and your willingness to act courageously on behalf of your fellow American.
— Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) March 22, 2020
The contrast between the bravery of the federal employees whom Governor Pritzker praises for their dedication during the crisis and the petty blame game being played by the president could not be starker.
As the lives of people across the country are disrupted and their health and well-being in danger, the public servants that Governor Pritzker lauds are sacrificing their own safety to protect others while Trump continues to prove that he cares more for his image and his reelection campaign than about his responsibilities as the chief executive leading the country’s fight against the reverberations of the pandemic on our inadequate healthcare systems and our plunging economy.
Bravo to the Illinois Governor for his fearlessness in declaring that Emperor Trump is naked and shirking his responsibilities while frittering away valuable time that he should be using to work for the American people while trying to score political points on social media for his own benefit.
Trump’s inability to lead is made even more apparent when America is exposed to examples of how real leaders act in a crisis.
It’s time to oust Trump and elect someone who can take charge in an emergency and inspire the American people in their time of need. The coronavirus outbreak has given plenty of people the chance to demonstrate their qualifications.
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Original reporting by Zack Budryk at The Hill.