Throughout the coronavirus crisis, President Donald Trump has dished out dangerous “cures,” played down the severity of the pandemic, pushed to reopen the economy and bragged about the job he’s doing.
There has been a central theme running through his response: his seeming utter lack of empathy for the people who are suffering from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
On April 26, The Washington Post analyzed the 13 hours Trump had spent talking in his daily coronavirus briefings, which were stopped after his own aides intervened to argue that the appearances were hurting his popularity.
Of the 13 hours that Trump spent talking, Trump spent two hours attacking people and 45 minutes praising himself.
He spent just four and a half minutes expressing condolences for coronavirus victims.
Trump has acknowledged that he knows some people who have died from COVID-19, expressing amazement at the “speed and viciousness” of the “horrible” disease. And he’s said he’s talked to three or four families who have had someone die from the virus. But he generally has not lingered on talking about what people are going through.
And it’s not just that he’s not showing empathy publicly. In his desire to move along, he’s pushed remedies that are not only unproven but are often dangerous.
Trump’s focus right now is on getting businesses back open, no matter how much medical experts warn that doing so could lead to more deaths. | 
