On Thursday evening, Trump called in for a chat with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, and in that conversation he demonstrated that just because the nation is in the midst of a catastrophic epidemic where normal life has been destroyed, millions have already lost their job, and thousands are going to die—it can always be worse. Because there was absolutely nothing in the conversation with Hannity that demonstrated that Trump had the slightest sense of what was really happening in the world around him, or that he was going to lift a finger to help.

It’s never a good sign when Trump begins a conversation with his best pal/propagandist by informing the world that he told the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party to chill for a couple of hours while he got out his on-air whining. But that’s exactly how Trump’s conversation began, with Trump telling Hannity that he put a scheduled call to President Xi Jinping on hold.

"Because of you, I made it at 10:30," Trump said, explaining how he had put off the call. "That just shows you the power ... that just shows when you have the number one rated show in television.” Because there is never anything in the world that Trump thinks about more than television ratings. Really. Even now. The purpose of that call with Xi was supposed to be discussing the pandemic, how China brought the virus under control, and whether they might be able to provide material assistance now that the United States has taken over the #1 spot as the world’s most-infected nation. All of that went on hold.