Trump is throwing Georgia under the bus

President Trump's leadership has always been inconsistent and erratic. He takes a position one day, only to reverse himself the next. This has been frustrating since the beginning of his tenure, but now, it is positively dangerous to Americans trying to survive during a global pandemic — and it is a threat to the futures of local politicians trying to follow his lead.

Trump's tendency to flip-flop was on display Wednesday at his daily news briefing. After days of signalling his support for protesters who are trying to get their states to lift quarantine conditions, the president suddenly reversed course, criticizing Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R), who earlier this week announced his state is lifting its lockdown.

"Would I do that? No," Trump told reporters. "But I'm going to let him make his decision, but I told him, I totally disagree."

You couldn't blame Kemp for being confused. Last week, Trump unveiled his administration's official guidelines for states to return to normalcy when the pandemic subsides, but then almost immediately undermined those guidelines by tweeting his support — "LIBERATE Michigan!" — for anti-lockdown demonstrators in states run mostly by Democratic governors.

"They have got cabin fever," Trump said about the protesters Sunday. "They want their life back. Their life was taken away from them."

Considering Trump's comments, plus congressional Republicans' refusal to approve aid for states and cities — an attempt to incentivize local leaders to reopen their economies — you could almost understand why a GOP stalwart like Kemp thought the smart political thing to do would be to go ahead, despite the recommendations of health experts, and try to put this state back to business.

But Kemp should've known better.