NOBODY'S SMARTER THAN ME

Shortly after Donald Trump somehow won the White House, he had a conservation with former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg.  Bloomberg told him that Trump's ascension into the presidency was not unlike his own ascension into becoming the Mayor of New York City.  He advised the soon to be president to surround himself with people smarter than him and listen to them. Trump quickly replied, "Nobody's smarter than me."
In February the president held a conference of the nations's governors at the White House, and after the opening music played, he mentioned that   "Believe it or not, a long time ago, I was told I have a great ear for music by somebody.  I took a test.  They said, 'He has a wonderful aptitude for music.'"  This kind of empty boasting is par for the course for a man who has repeatedly called himself a genius.   Recently during a press briefing discussing the coronavirus, Trump pushed his boasting even further, stating that when it came to the global pandemic  that "People are surprised that I understand it. Every one of these doctors said, 'How do you know so much about this?' Maybe I have a natural ability."  Yes, we have a national leader who thinks that he needs to take time during the discussion of  a virus that could kill millions of people all over the world to stop and tell everyone how all the researchers think that he's smart.
I mention these  examples of Trump's ridiculously bloated ego not just to illustrate  how narcissistic he is (that's been obvious for years), but also to show that his swaggering self confidence has become outright deadly in our new age of pandemic.   With Trump, we have a man who believes that has been and always will be right in every way.  And if his view of the world contradicts that of experts around him, well then he'll just ignore them.  And, according to eye witness accounts, if those experts persist in their opinions, he will often call them names and throw a tantrum.  (According to Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig's book,  "A Very Stable Genius", he once yelled at a room full of military personnel:  "“You’re a bunch of dopes and babies!”)
And today, after already publicly downplaying the dangers of the virus last month in a way that surely helped it spread around the country, (on February 26th. he said  "... you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero"), Trump is already saying the country should return to business as normal as soon as Easter Sunday.  This despite multiple experts, many in his own administration, who have said that that is nowhere near long enough.  It's obvious why he wants Americans to return to work: he views a strong economy as vital to his reelection effort, and in his mind, if some people have to die in order for him to get a second term, who cares?  He is putting a strong economy over human life.  If that sounds harsh, consider that he has not once publicly shown the tiniest bit of sadness or remorse over what is happening.  Think of George W Bush addressing the nation somberly after 9/11, or Barack Obama tearfully talking about the children gunned down at Sandy Hook.  And now think of Donald Trump, insulting the press and bragging about the great job he is doing while discussing the coronavirus. He is clearly incapable of caring about any other person in the world other than himself.  Even a pandemic can't change a psychopath.