That only makes sense if you feel that Trump’s actions are helping him stay in office. And I think they’re pretty obviously having the opposite effect.
The Covid19 crisis could have been a golden opportunity for Trump if he had half a brain. It was a major international crisis and all he really needed to do was sit back, do what the experts told him to do, and then stand in front of a camera and present himself as a leader who was rising above politics.
He would have been like Bush or Giuliani after 9/11. People would have forgiven him for all of the screw-ups earlier in his term as long as he looked competent during the crisis. People want to trust their leader in a crisis and believe he knows what he’s doing. All Trump needed to do was meet them halfway and say the right things. Trump could have had 75% approval ratings and he’d be coasting towards his second term now.
Instead Trump seemed to intentionally take the worst possible approach to the medical crisis. And then, when a few of his supporters tried to suggest that maybe he shouldn’t be held responsible for a virus, he decided to promote a race war.
This isn’t the way a man who’s trying to survive acts.