President Harry S. Truman famously kept a sign on his desk in the Oval Office that read, “The buck stops here.” The sign embodies the principle that the President is the ultimate authority and must accept responsibility for all the decision made by him and members of his administration.

A president can’t and shouldn’t be expected to run the executive branch by himself; he delegates tasks and responsibilities to Cabinet members and trusted aides best suited to tackle projects.  

A wise president will accept responsibly for all the triumphs and failures of his administration; the electorate doesn’t expect perfection from their commander-in-chief, but they do expect a modicum of humility and honesty.

Which brings us to Donald Trump, a narcissist who never accepted any blame for his failures and bankruptcies when he was a real estate developer, and has never accepted any blame for the myriad failures of his administration.

In three tumultuous years in office Trump has survived impeachment, numerous scandals by Cabinet members and general incompetence, without acknowledging any mistakes or failures.

Now the Trump administration, and indeed the entire world, is dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, and the stable genius has utterly failed in handling the crisis, but true to form he praises himself for his excellent management.

In the daily coronavirus task force press briefing Trump passes the buck, he spends almost all of his time trying to burnish his image and lying about his belated and faulty response to the emergency. He’s blamed the media, Democrats, China and the WHO for failing to contain the pandemic, everyone but himself.

A president who is so weak and insecure that he never takes responsibility for his failures is unfortunate in a time of peace and prosperity, but it’s a disaster during an existential crisis.