Trump Isn’t ‘Out of the Woods,’ but We’re in the Dark

There is just so much we don’t know: When did the president get sick and how sick did he get? How many people did he interact with after receiving his diagnosis or showing symptoms of the virus? And what is the administration’s plan if his condition deteriorates?

It’s not clear how Mr. Trump’s team could clear up the confusion at this point. Certainly, more transparency about the president’s health and clear guidance on the White House’s contingency planning, as much as it exists, would help. But the reality is that the stream of falsehoods from this administration over the past four years has eroded public trust both at home and abroad.

Often the deceptions and exaggerations spread by Mr. Trump and his allies have been about the president’s image and self-regard: the size of his rallies, for example, or his net worth or charitable foundation.

His health is a far more serious matter, one that puts national security at risk.

The world is watching right now, and this is what people see:

The American president is hospitalized with a serious illness, in the final stretch of an election whose results he won’t promise to accept. The number of infected people in the White House and in Congress grows daily, potentially hampering the operation of government. All the while, the country is facing a largely uncontrolled pandemic, a struggling economy and civil unrest over racial justice. And, don’t forget, Russia is already meddling in the election.

It’s not a picture of a country ready to fend off foreign interference, warn national security experts, who say adversaries probably see the United States as distracted and weakened.

The threats are real, they say. Maybe the White House response should be so, too.