Trump is a life-long New Yorker. He really does see the country in terms of what affects the city.
The coronavirus has abated in NYC, therefore Trump is through with it. The Dow Jones is doing well, therefore the economy is fine. "Black Lives Matter" has been painted on 5th Avenue, therefore it is a crime against humanity (on the street in D.C.? Meh, he doesn't really live there.)
He keeps insisting everything is fine, "just a few fires to put out" because those bonfires blaze well beyond the horizon established by the Hudson.
I am very serious about this. This is how Trump sees the country: as an adjunct to the city, in the land beyond the river. He knows it's there, he's been to it. Does it matter? Does Florida even matter?
Is it in Manhattan? Then, no.
The joke in "Greater Tuna" was that a nuclear reactor had released a toxic gas cloud across several states, but: "Texas not included!" So no further news for the Tuna radio station to report. That's Trump, except it's not a joke. He really can't comprehend anything of importance not affecting NYC. Really.
Trump doesn't know about this one, but I grew up with it. I know it's a joke. Trump grew up with the view from 9th Avenue. He doesn't know that's a joke.
So why is the coronavirus still a problem?
A provincial NYC guy is the most provincial of human beings, probably matched by those from Paris, London, but by no one else in the United States. I've had direct experience of that, especially in the past decade. And they can be even astonishingly provincial about other boroughs of the city than the one they sit on.
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