Trump trolls Biden (again), page-22

"The Absentee President.

Donald Trump rarely shows up to the West Wing—and when he does, he is too incompetent to effectively fulfill his oath of office.

The Marine guard posted outside of Trump’s office when he is in it almost never appears before noon and is rarely seen in the afternoon. There have been days when Trump has held press briefings where the guard wasn’t outside of the door even as Trump entered the briefing room—indicating that Trump may have walked straight from the residence to the briefing room. No guard on duty outside of the West Wing after a Trump appearance would indicate he walked straight back to the residence.

The image of the hard-working Trump that he and his supporters love to promote is false.

The lack of attendance leads to presidential inaction on key issues. Trump has promised infrastructure and healthcare reform since his first day in office. We haven’t gotten them.

His lack of engagement leads to him reading from notes and using visual aids in his briefings. It is often apparent—sometimes he even points it out himself—that he hasn’t read the prepared material he’s giving us. Thus he misquotes it and often doesn’t seem to understand what he’s saying.

His lack of attendance on the job also creates an atmosphere fertile for misinterpretation by his communication staff and allows White House stakeholders to create their own narratives to fill the void. Later, if Trump doesn’t like what’s going on he merely undercuts his underlings. They misspoke, we’re told. Or they didn’t understand. Or Trump doesn’t know them. The wise underling then quickly falls in line with whatever the absent president has said."

"The message coming out of the Trump White House could not be more muddled. It has been this way all along. Many of Trump’s lies are a symptom of his lack of engagement in the job he’s been elected to perform. The man in charge isn’t there. His pathological lying exists to cover up his lack of engagement. Everything becomes a political debate and Trump must always be right."

https://thebulwark.com/the-absentee-president/