“The new Trump is the same as the old Trump. He can’t help it. He’s incapable of taking responsibility for his role in this crisis — and thus incapable of leading us out of it,” wrote Conway, who is a fierce critic of the president even though his wife, Kellyanne Conway, has a senior role within the administration.

Conway said the president’s apparent sudden shift “can’t conceal the fact that Trump has shown himself to be wholly inept at dealing with the pandemic. It doesn’t change the fact that he puts himself first, always.”

“It doesn’t dissolve Trump’s compulsion to lie, even when truth would serve him best,” he added. “It doesn’t diminish his incompetence, ignorance or propensity for administrative chaos.”

Trump has been widely criticized for initially downplaying the threat of the virus. The federal response to the public health crisis has also come under fierce scrutiny.

“The nation needs a credible, competent president, now more than ever. The surest and best thing Trump could do to come to the aid of his country — to save lives — would be to go, as the hapless Chamberlain did,” Conway concluded. “But that won’t happen. Because that would be taking responsibility, something Trump has never done and will never know how to do. It’s too bad for us.”