President Donald Trump has been accused of many things over his years in office – pundits and journalists and lawmakers have wondered about everything from his seeming inability to tell the truth to his seeming trouble reading . As critics scrutinize his response to the coronavirus crisis , some are now wondering whether the president is even capable of showing empathy.
As critics scrutinize his response to the coronavirus crisis, some are now wondering whether the president is even capable of showing empathy.
On Wednesday night, CNN presidential historian Douglas Brinkley asked this very question, musing that Trump might suffer from “ empathy deficit disorder .” At issue was the way the president’s constant White House briefings failed to focus on the individual Americans suffering because of the pandemic. “I’ve never seen a president unable to speak like a human being to people on the front lines,” Brinkley said.
A similar sentiment was expressed Wednesday morning on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” by Mika Brzezinski, who played a clip of Trump’s response to a reporter who asked whether he had spoken to the families of those who lost loved ones to the coronavirus. “I’ve spoken to three – maybe, I guess, four,” Trump replied before veering off to talk about the need to reopen schools. Brzezinski noted that the president seemed hard-pressed to sympathize with the victims. “He’s uncomfortable or it’s impossible for him,” she said, “and I’m not sure which is worse, actually.”
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