Playbook:
IN MOMENTS OF CRISIS - real or self-inflicted -TRUMP has attempted to paper over his relative political inexperience w unusual behavior that fired the imagination of his supporters & left his opponents so gobsmacked that they struggled to find words to meet the moment

HE TIPTOED INTO North Korea with its madman leader in search of a nuclear deal. He televised negotiations with congressional leaders. He levied costly tariffs on allies to try to change their behavior. He stepped in to try to broker peace between warring factions.

BUT NOW, with the nation in the middle of the most profound crisis in more than a century, TRUMP finds himself without his typical tools of diversion and showmanship.

He's at the mercy of a virus he can't control, governors who have their own power, a Constitution that has final say, a public relations campaign that is unusually flat and a public that will ultimately decide whether the stagnant economy will start to regain steam.

FOR A PRESIDENT who likes to assert power and project control, it appears to be an unsettling set of circumstances that has left him knocked back, uneven and searching for his bearings.

HE HAS said it is govs who are in charge of their states, but on Mon asserted that it is he who has final say. "The president of the United States has authority to do what the president has the authority to do, which is very powerful.” Of course, the Constitution says otherwise

EXPERTS SAY A VACCINE may be roughly 11 months away from being widely available, so, in reality, it will ultimately be the public that decides whether it feels safe enough to begin living their lives again.

EVEN THE THINGS THIS PRESIDENT usually can control seem to be spiraling away from him. His news conferences have been panned by Republicans, mocked by cable networks and dismissed by conservative thinkers. He no longer is afforded unencumbered airtime during political rallies.

And he has no physical escape from the White House, or psychic escape from the daily maelstrom of this pandemic.