#BePresidential: Mark Ruffalo asks Trump to act like a president as he shares photo of dejected Prez Johnson
Actor Mark Ruffalo took to Twitter on Tuesday, April 21, to slam President Donald Trump and his response towards the coronavirus crisis, by asking him to "be presidential."
The actor also compared the Republican's response to the Covid-19 deaths in America with President Lyndon B Johnson's response during the Vietnam war, stating that the latter was "devastated by the loss of Americans on his watch". The 'Avengers' actor suggested that while Trump "looked to blame someone else" for the current crisis unfolding in the country, President Johnson owned his leadership.
"Dear @realDonaldTrump, This is what a leader looks like that has humility and compassion," Ruffalo wrote while sharing a picture of a visibly distressed President Johnson with his face turned down, one hand on his forehead, and the other outstretched on a chair beside him. "He is devastated by the loss of Americans on his watch. He is not looking to blame someone else. He owns his leadership. You could try this. We would appreciate this. #BePresidential," the actor added.
Ruffalo wrote the message while sharing a tweet from a user @glennwsmith, who shared the same picture, stating: "This is a photo of President Johnson in 1968 about the time American deaths in Vietnam reached 40,000, the number of Americans dead so far from COVID-19."
The particular picture of President Johnson, taken by presidential photographer Jack E Kightlinger in the Cabinet Room of the White House on July 31, 1968 , has gone viral on social media, with people comparing his apparent reaction to the news of 40,000 soldiers dying in the Vietnam war to Trump's response till now to over 42,000 people dying of the novel coronavirus.
There are some who, while agreeing on Trump's lack of leadership during the crisis, also claim that President Johnson in the famous picture was not as visibly moved as he appeared to be. Some claim that the captured moment in history showed President Johnson actually straining to listen to a speaker kept in front of him. Johnson was listening to an audiotape by his son-in-law Captain Charles Robb who was in a battlefield as gunshot sounds emanated from the speaker.
Other pictures taken moments prior to the historic one shows the former president attempting to focus better to listen to the audiotape. The pictures are available at the US National Archives and LBJ Presidential Library websites.
The novel coronavirus has infected nearly 789,000 people in the United States, with the death toll of over 42,000, according to Johns Hopkins University. President Trump's response to the coronavirus crisis has been severely criticized by many. The Republican, last month, during a press conference, had said that he does not take the responsibility for the missteps that led to the spread of the deadly infection.
The president, when he was asked on March 15, at a White House press conference by an NBC News reporter whether he should take responsibility for the failure to disseminate larger quantities of Covid-19 tests earlier, refused outright, saying: "I don't take responsibility at all."