OK, I have seen, in my life, Eisenhower and Kennedy and Johnson and Nixon botch Vietnam.

I have seen Reagan botch the Euromissile crisis alongside the AIDS outbreak.

I watched George Bush the Younger and Dick Cheney utterly botch Iraq.

But in my lifetime I have never witnessed any U.S. president botch anything so disastrous as Trump has botched the response to Covid 19. I didn’t know so many mistakes were even possible and he just won’t stop.

His coronavirus denial was lethal and health care experts knew that, and were trying to advise him, but Trump takes no advice. That, he believes, is the mark of a leader. No, it is the mark of a loser. Sadly, it is the American people — suffering from the worst outbreak of this virus of any country on Earth — who are the actual losers. They are losing their lives, losing jobs in record numbers not seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s, and losing any chance at a meaningful comeback, thanks to Trump.

The U.S. was, for decades, the power to whom everyone in trouble would turn. Now they know better. There is no help to be had from the U.S. They can’t even get help to themselves.

This is all on Trump.

Naturally, being the gaslighting malignant narcissist that he is, he attempts to shift blame onto everyone and everything else. Ah, sorry, fat boy, it’s on you.

[Trump whining]: I was distracted by the dirty Democrats impeaching me.

Fact: Everyone on planet Earth knew the McConnell-run Senate would never vote to remove Trump. He literally could shoot someone on 5th Avenue in broad daylight, as he bragged about, without fear of consequence. Since he and his people refused any and all cooperation with every aspect of the process, and since the outcome was never in doubt, we must call BS on this excuse.

And the list of claims versus reality just grows by the day.

* Trump claimed, again and again, utterly falsely, that Covid 19 testing was widely available to anyone who wanted it. BS. This is an ongoing gaslighting.

* Trump lied about the idea of a cure or preventive, as though his wish list were reality. Ah, sorry, no, shoving a UV light up your tush or injecting yourself with Lysol — not helpful to anyone and harmful, possibly lethal, to everyone who tries.

* Opening the economy? Trump wants. Trump must be satisfied. Give Trump what Trump wants. Yeah, there is no federal leadership except the uber stupid sort that kills more Americans. He is buck naked about killing more of us to help his stock market. We. Say. Hell. No.

The quality of leadership is abysmal in the U.S. Either we switch out the Republicans who will not stop supporting this lethal loser, or we witness the demise of many Americans and of our democracy.

Some days it feels like we are at the Woody Allen crossroads:

“More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.”

Yeah, this used to be humor. Now the humor is as absent as Trump’s sense of empathy, which he seems to be born without.

Dr. Tom H. Hastings is PeaceVoice Director and on occasion an expert witness for the defense in court.