What the coronavirus means for Trump's presidency

A poor response to the coronavirus could be politically devastating for President Trump, and so far his administration has given the strong impression that it’s still scrambling as the risk of a pandemic mounts.

Why it matters: There’s only so much any president can do to stop a virus from spreading, and for now the coronavirus is still very much under control within the U.S. But if the disease get worse in the months ahead, and if the administration seems to be caught off guard, that spells trouble for public confidence in Trump.

Case in point: Last night’s coronavirus press conference was all over the map.

Trump was surprised at how deadly the annual flu virus is, but accurately emphasized public health officials’ advice to treat the coronavirus like the flu.
He downplayed the likelihood of a widespread U.S. outbreak, even though public health officials, including the CDC, have said such an outbreak is pretty likely.
A new U.S. case — one that may have been transmitted locally, a key indicator of a potential pandemic — was confirmed while Trump was downplaying the likelihood of a outbreak within the U.S. to the press last night.
“This is such a s--tshow. Thank goodness the markets are closed,” a former Health and Human Services official who’s close to the White House said during the briefing.

What we're hearing: Sources familiar with the decision tell Axios that the call to put Vice President Mike Pence in charge was made just yesterday.

It had loosely been a subject of discussion among staff, but it was unclear how many — if any — officials knew beforehand that Trump was going to announce it at the press conference.