Facing Two Crises in Second Week, He Spreads Blame Around
It was early on the second week in office and already the President was facing two crises, one at home and one abroad. While Washington was consumed by a torrent of bad news, the President hit the road, using the familiar playbook of blame-shifting to deflect criticism and shift the attention away from his administration’s ineffective response to the unfolding catastrophes.
The two crises, one a growing epidemic and the other an unfolding economic disaster, had left the country reeling, with many Americans struggling to make ends meet and wondering how much worse things could get. But instead of taking responsibility for the failures of his own administration, the President and his team were blaming everyone and everything but themselves for the mess.
At a rally in a swing state, the President launched into a tirade against his political opponents, claiming that they were the ones who had created the mess and were now trying to shift the blame. “These people are trying to take advantage of the situation to score cheap political points,” he said. “They are more concerned with scoring political points than with finding solutions to the problems facing our nation.”
The crowd of supporters applauded, seemingly convinced by the President’s claims, but many others at home were left scratching their heads, wondering if this was really the best the President could come up with in the face of such dire circumstances.
The blame-shifting didn’t stop there, however. The President’s surrogates on social media launched a campaign to attack the media, claiming that the press was just as responsible for the crisis as the President himself and his administration. “The media is so biased it’s like they’re trying to take down our country,” tweeted a top aide to the President.
Meanwhile, the two crises continued to worsen, with the epidemic spreading and the economy teetering on the brink of collapse. The President’s approval ratings, already low, continued to plummet, and many Americans began to wonder if this administration was up to the task of leading the country out of the darkness and back to prosperity.
