Coronavirus is taking all the fun out of being president

Could the pandemic make the presidency so dull Trump wouldn't want it at all?

President Trump.
(Image credit: Illustrated | iStock)

The best thing about being president, if you are Donald Trump, is the pomp and adoration: crowds, applause, fancy dinners, fawning interviews, viral tweets. A distant second is probably big trucks.

The trucks are still there for him — White House staff arranged a visit from 18-wheelers last week, reportedly to boost the presidential mood — but the pandemic has put the pomp and adoration in marked decline. Trump's June rally in Tulsa was poorly attended, and a subsequent rally in New Hampshire was canceled. Featured events on the re-election website are all virtual.

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.