washington one month from election day president donald trump is facing a credibility crisis as yawning as his health crisis at a moment when he needs the publics trust the mostthe presidents coronavirus infection as well as the illnesses of several aides and allies has imperiled the highest levels of the us governmentthe white houses efforts saturday to project calm backfired in stunning fashion resulting in a blizzard of confusing and contradictory information about the health and wellbeing of the commander in chiefits a moment months in the making the collision of trumps repeated defiance of his own administrations guidelines for staying safe during the pandemic and his wellknown disregard for factsthe result deep uncertainty for americans over who and what to believe about the health of the nations leader at a perilous moment in us historythis is bigger than donald trump its about the institution of the presidency said robert gibbs who served as president barack obamas first white house press secretaryfor any president credibility in a crisis is paramount the ability to rally americans of every political persuasion around a commonly accepted understanding of the situationfor a president on the brink of an election particularly one held in as tumultuous a year as 2020 it could be the difference between serving one term or twoyet trump has squandered widespread credibility from the very start of his presidency spending his first full day in office disputing official tallies of the crowd size at his inauguration and asking americans to disregard photographic evidence showing that he drew fewer people to the national mall in washington than his predecessorthe episode set the tone for the rest of his administration with trump creating alternate realities around issues big and small amplified by the help of friendly media outlets he frequently touts records and milestones that dont existhe spreads baseless rumors about his political opponents including declaring without evidence that joe biden his democratic rival in the 2020 presidential campaign might be on drugs in their debateyet trumps credibility has come under even greater scrutiny during the pandemic the single biggest test of his presidency hes repeatedly downplayed the threat of the virus in public despite telling journalist bob woodward privately in february that covid19 was more deadly than the fluhes floated unverified and harmful treatments including suggesting americans could inoculate themselves by injecting bleachin april just weeks after the pandemic took hold in the us only 23 per cent of americans said they had high levels of trust in the information the president was providing the public about the virus according to a poll from the associated pressnorc center for public affairs researchas election day draws near trump has increasingly flouted public health guidelines and many of the scientists advising his administration eager to make the case to voters that the worst of the pandemic that upended nearly every aspect of american life is behind themfor weeks trump has been traveling across the country holding large rallies and hosting events at