As head of White House speechwriting during the George W. Bush administration, I was convinced that presidents generally give too many speeches. The multiplication of events on the presidential schedule tends to weaken any president’s voice. If a president doesn’t have anything urgent or thoughtful to say — if his words do not serve an irreplaceable purpose — it devalues the currency of presidential communication. The weight of the words is diminished.
So it was that I initially was opposed to the president giving an address to Congress nine days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. I thought the gravity of the rhetorical moment required presidential actions of commensurate magnitude. It was only when I was handed the ultimatum to the Taliban for incorporation into the speech that I knew the threshold of significance had been crossed. “They will hand over the terrorists,” Bush said, “or they will share in their fate.”
Looking back at Bush’s rhetoric during a crisis, there were words of praise for rescuers. Words of unity directed toward Congress. Words of explanation about the nature and aims of al-Qaeda. Words of solidarity with Muslim citizens and allies. Words of sympathy for victims and their families. Words of personal and national resolution: “We will not tire, we will not falter, we will not fail.”
The Trump presidency has been an experiment in prolix, extemporaneous, unfiltered presidential communication. More than any other commander in chief in history, we know what is on Trump’s mind at any given moment. The words come in unhindered torrents. Some have found this a refreshing change from the scripted messages and formal speeches of the past. Now, we are seeing Trump’s form of rhetoric tested in the crucible of crisis. It is a pathetic disservice to the country.
The New York Times recently analyzed the more than 260,000 words spoken by Trump during the pandemic, most of them found during his interminable briefings-cum-tirades. The Times identified roughly 600 instances of self-congratulation — by far the largest category of presidential expression. This dwarfed the 160 instances of empathy or appeal to national unity. By the Times’s count, Trump gave credit to others more than 360 times. But he also placed the blame on others more than 110 times.
Trump’s rhetoric is often loosely connected to the needs of the nation. But it provides unprecedented insight into the state of the president’s mind and soul. What does it say about a leader — what does it say about a man — who, when presented with a massive scale of death and suffering, talks mainly about himself? It indicates self-centeredness to the point of solipsism and bottomless insecurity.
If I had a relative confined like Trump to the dark little dungeon of his or her ego, it would be cause for pity. In a president, it is both pitiful and dangerous. The country stands in urgent need of information, exhortation and reassurance. But the president’s arrogance has not acted as a spur to action. Trump seems less concerned about his performance than about the public perception of his performance. He seeks praise without accomplishment. So the only reliable source is self-praise (other than Vice President Pence’s tireless sycophancy). With Trump, self-congratulation mandates deception.
Trump unbound has left his country with many unfilled gaps. To a grieving nation, he has been stingy with comfort. To a confused nation, he has spread misinformation and false hope. To a nation in need of stability, he has been a cyclone of chaos.
This is the problem with unfiltered presidential rhetoric. It requires a president, intuitively and consistently, to know exactly what the country requires off the top of his head. It demands a fitting word without deliberation. In a crisis, it calls for inspiration without forethought. This would be difficult for any leader. For Trump, it is like presenting a third-grader with a calculus problem — if the wrong answer were to cost tens of thousands of lives.
The president’s words during the coronavirus crisis have been a monument to his mediocrity. He does not have the skills, knowledge, inclination, experience or insight to provide extemporaneous rhetorical leadership. And because of Trump’s manifold defects of judgment and character — his inability to value others or question himself — even his considered leadership is not much of an improvement.
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