(Leah Millis/Reuters)

When NBC White House correspondent, Peter Alexander, asked the President what he says to the millions of scared Americans during this global economic and health crisis, Donald Trump lashed out, telling Alexander, “You’re a terrible reporter.” His response was illustrative of the fundamental problem Donald Trump and the Republican Party face: the continuation of his chaotic style of politics is at odds with the needs of the country during this public health emergency and the ongoing economic disaster to come. Since his party’s share of seats in Congress relies on his performance in November and his performance rests on his ability to meet the country’s needs, it would be in their best interest for Donald Trump to bow out before it’s too late.

The window of opportunity for the United States to be proactive in stopping the spread of COVID-19 has passed. A ProPublica report from late February details how the CDC “lost valuable weeks that could have been used to track [COVID-19’s] possible spread in the United States,” by choosing to develop their own testing kits instead of using the recipes provided by the World Health Organization. Within weeks of the initial outbreak in Wuhan, China, multiple Korean healthcare companies manufactured tests from the World Health Organization recipe. South Korea quickly had developed a system that could test 10,000 people a day. Months after the initial outbreak in Wuhan, and weeks after the first case of COVID-19 has been confirmed in the the United States, mass testing is still unavailable to Americans. Any improvements from this point forward will be merely damage reduction.

By not focusing early efforts on mass testing like South Korea, which has made them a model of effective coronavirus response, the United States is facing the trajectory of Italy, which as a death rate higher than that of China. That’s not to say Italy didn’t act swiftly, however. Italy instructed the public to engage in social distancing in February, quarantined 12 towns on February 23rd, and ordered all schools to close nationwide on March 4th. We’re plunging in the direction of Italy (below), and things are likely to end up worse as a result of our late efforts and incomplete understanding of the true scale, since few Americans have been tested.

(Johns Hopkins CSSE/Vox)

Regardless of the causes partisans may cite, the United States unnecessarily missed the window of opportunity to avoid a serious catastrophe, despite the President’s claim that our 15 cases on February 26th would be “down to zero within a couple of days.” The point is rather simple: his ever-changing and often hostile messaging throughout the pandemic, coupled with his failures in the early stages of the outbreak, has further limited the relevant successes Donald Trump is able to tout in his re-election campaign; ironically bearing the slogan, “Keep American Great.” Now that a historic crisis in the United States is underway for the months the come and his chaotic response prolongs the path to certainty in markets and reduction in cases, the 2020 election puts Donald Trump and the Republican party in a very difficult situation. Trump is revered for his anti-PC, snowflake-melting, “fuck your feelings” attitude. While that can energize his base during times of economic prosperity, it can not ease a panicked country in crisis. He’s in a corner; he can either step aside and allow his party to offer Americans a clear unifying message of change and improvement or drag the Republican ticket down with him in a November defeat.

In times of crisis, America looks to the President. When suburban voters in Pennsylvania or Michigan are unemployed, drowning in medical expenses, or caring for their sick relatives, the last thing they want to hear their President ramble about is the fairness of MSNBC’s questions or arguments about Chinese food. They want answers and they aren’t getting them. That’s not to say answers aren’t available, but Trump is not the guy to give them. That’s a job for a traditionally experienced public servant, not the Twitter trolling former host of the Celebrity Apprentice. The Republican party has tied itself so closely to Trumpism, they will need time to recreate an image of traditional conservative values. If Donald Trump steps down and allows the traditionally experienced public servants to take the wheel and calm a panicked country, he could perhaps save the party from the electoral disaster the Republican party faces this November. The longer Trump mishandles this crisis, the worse off Senate and House Republicans will be at the ballot box.