IT'S ALL FUN AND GAMES 'TIL YOU ACTUALLY NEED TO GOVERN:

For the 11 minutes he addressed the nation Wednesday, Trump turned in a laboring performance -- one intended to project calm competence that instead seemed to reveal uncertainty. Seated behind the Resolute Desk, the president struggled at moments to read the words on the teleprompter. He clasped his hands and twiddled his thumbs. He spoke with a curious affect, his voice sounding raspy and his delivery lacking the passion typically evident in his speeches. [...]

The stately Oval Office setting underscored the gravity of the crisis, but Trump's demeanor made clear how hemmed in he has become. For weeks now, Trump's handling of the growing crisis has invited intensifying criticism. He has contradicted the public health experts in his own government, spread misinformation, accused the media of overhyping the threat of the virus to hurt his presidency, sought to lay blame on Democrats and the Chinese, and erupted in private meetings with advisers.

The coronavirus is testing Trump's governing philosophy that gut instinct is better than traditional expertise, that preparation and careful study is no match for impulse and luck. And the outcome is threatening his chief claim for a second term: a booming economy.

Donald Trump attempted to mitigate investors' fears about the novel coronavirus and stop the stock market slide with an address to the nation Wednesday night.

However, following the address -- in which he announced a travel ban for most of Europe, getting facts about his own administration's policy wrong in the process -- the market slide more.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened down 1,696 points -- erasing another 7% from the market, according to trading data. It triggered yet another automatic stop to trading for the second time in two weeks.

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