海角大神

All presidents shade the truth, spin, dissemble, over-promise, or outright lie at times. Sometimes they lie to protect national security or to hide embarrassing personal conduct.聽

But with just four weeks until Election Day, as President Donald Trump himself faces down the coronavirus that has killed 209,000 Americans, a long-building lack of credibility with a majority of the public may be his biggest weakness.聽

Only 34% of American adults believe President Trump has relayed truthful information about the virus, according to taken after his own diagnosis was revealed last Friday.聽

Mixed messages coming from White House officials, including Mr. Trump鈥檚 chief of staff and physician, muddied public perceptions about the president鈥檚 own health status early in his three-day stay at Walter Reed Medical Center. Dr. Sean Conley, the White House physician, later acknowledged that he withheld certain specifics to lift the president鈥檚 spirits.聽聽

By Monday evening, Mr. Trump had made a triumphal return to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, despite an acknowledgment from Dr. Conley that he 鈥渕ay not entirely be out of the woods yet.鈥� The White House has its own medical unit, staffed 24/7, the doctor noted to reporters as he defended the decision to allow the president to go home.聽

On Tuesday, Mr. Trump that he was 鈥渓ooking forward鈥� to debating Democratic nominee Joe Biden in Miami on Oct. 15, the latest sign of a president projecting good health, and that he鈥檚 eager to return to the campaign trail.

Nearly four years into the Trump presidency, chronic credibility challenges聽have made the president鈥檚 health situation 鈥� and larger public messaging around the pandemic 鈥� all the more potentially destabilizing. From misstating the crowd size on Inauguration Day to claims that Mexico will pay for the wall on the U.S. southern border, Mr. Trump has racked up thousands of false statements, some merely comical or obvious exaggeration, others more consequential.聽

As a showman and salesman, Mr. Trump can be excused some hyperbole and imprecision, his defenders say. But there can be larger consequences to feeding the American people a steady diet of false or misleading claims, intentionally or not 鈥� including potentially leading the public not to believe the president during an emergency such as a 9/11-style attack, communications experts say.聽

鈥淚n past presidencies, there was a presumption that what you were being told was at least accurate, even if incomplete,鈥� says Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. 鈥淭he presumption has now shifted to doubting everything that one is told.鈥�

An atomized media environment already marked by political polarization, disinformation, and freewheeling social media has made efforts to keep the public accurately informed all the more difficult.聽

A mutual distrust between the White House and its press corps can also lead to misfires.聽

鈥淭he messaging around Trump鈥檚 health wasn鈥檛 as crisp as it could have been because [officials] didn鈥檛 know who they could trust,鈥� says a GOP strategist regularly briefed on White House and campaign strategy. 鈥淭hey felt it would be irresponsible to give out too much information, because it could be misinterpreted.鈥澛�

Still, in the presidency 鈥� the American institution with the biggest megaphone on the planet 鈥� perhaps the most precious commodity of all is credibility.聽

鈥淭here are three keys to credibility,鈥� Republican strategist Whit Ayres says he tells clients. 鈥淣ever defend the indefensible, never deny the undeniable, and never lie.鈥�

Anyone who violates one of those guidelines, much less two or three, will destroy their credibility, Mr. Ayres says. He points to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation鈥檚 top epidemiologist, and Republican Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio as public figures with 鈥渆normous credibility and resulting popularity鈥� 鈥� both examples of how it鈥檚 possible to maintain credibility during a pandemic.聽

It鈥檚 also essential, Mr. Ayres says, to remain fact-based when making highly consequential decisions, such as whether or how to reopen the economy and schools before a vaccine becomes widely available.聽

The vaccine question itself has become politicized as Mr. Trump urges government approval of a vaccine by Election Day.聽On Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration released tough new guidelines for the emergency release of a coronavirus vaccine, which are designed to boost public confidence in the vaccine 鈥� but will make it unlikely that a vaccine is released before Election Day. The White House had reportedly blocked the new guidelines for two weeks.聽

Mr. Trump鈥檚 push for a vaccine, under Operation Warp Speed, has met with growing skepticism by the American public. An NBC News/Survey Monkey poll released in mid-September showed only said they would be willing to get the vaccine, down from 44% the month before.聽

鈥淭his White House has been challenged from the beginning on its credibility,鈥� says Martha Joynt Kumar, a political scientist who has observed White House operations from inside the building鈥檚 press quarters for decades. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a sad situation that people believe they can鈥檛 believe a president.鈥澛�

鈥淭here appears to be little understanding of the difference between President Trump and the presidency as an institution,鈥� adds Ms. Kumar, an emeritus professor at Towson University in Maryland. 鈥淭he White House staff is responsible to the presidency as an institution, not just to Donald Trump.鈥澛�

Mr. Trump鈥檚 decades running privately held businesses that don鈥檛 answer to shareholders have likely fed his impulse as president to treat White House staff the same way 鈥� as employees loyal only to him and not as public servants, she suggests.

That said, among White House staff there鈥檚 frustration that some information about infections within the building was not reported in a timely manner. Some staff have become infected themselves, as have some members of the press corps. Mask-wearing is now more common within the White House, but still not universal, staff say.聽

Mr. Trump himself still sets the tone on the mask question. Upon his return to the White House on Monday, he pulled his mask away from his face and entered the building, maskless, with staff standing nearby.

Staff writer Story Hinckley contributed to this report.聽