If the media’s attitude toward President Trump right now was reduced to a campaign ad, this would be the tagline:

“How can you save America from the coronavirus when you can’t even protect your own house?”

It’s an unfair formulation, but reporters and pundits are using it as a metaphor for Trump, in their view, being overwhelmed by the pandemic.

Oh, and comedians too. The president tweeted yesterday that “coronavirus numbers are looking MUCH better, going down almost everywhere. Big progress being made!”

Which brought this retort from the “Daily Show”: “Coronavirus numbers aren’t even going down in the White House.”

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Obviously, the situation at 1600 Pennsylvania is a cause for concern and needs to be covered. One of the president’s personal valets and Mike Pence’s press secretary, Katie Miller, have tested positive for Covid-19, as have a number of Secret Service agents.

“It’s scary to go to work,” economic adviser Kevin Hassett told “Face the Nation.” Of course it is, as everyone knows who has been in an office or building where someone has contracted the virus. The media are no different, with newsrooms in New York, Washington and elsewhere mostly emptied out.

“White House Aides Rattled,” a Washington Post headline said. There were conflicting reports on whether Pence would be self-isolating, until another spokesman said he’d be back at the White House yesterday.

We have a situation now where task force member Anthony Fauci and the heads of the CDC and FDA are self-quarantining for two weeks. All three were scheduled to testify before a Senate committee today, and all will do that by videoconferencing. In fact, the chairman, Lamar Alexander, will also join by video link because he’s self-quarantining after a positive diagnosis for one of his staff members.

What’s more, two members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have tested positive, although one of them had mixed results.

In short, this is one nasty virus, and while the White House is a heavily guarded fortress, no place can be fully fortified against what Trump calls the invisible enemy.

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But that doesn’t mean the president’s overall policies are failing, though they’re certainly subject to debate. Trump and Pence are now tested for the virus every day. And while he’s been a cheerleader for reopening the country--we’re at 14.7 percent unemployment, and Steve Mnuchin concedes the real figure could be 25 percent--it is the governors who are deciding when and how to lift restrictions.

Another line of media criticism is that Trump is setting a poor example by not wearing a mask; neither did Katie Miller, when she briefed reporters last week and joked about not having the virus. It’s true that this is a violation of CDC guidelines about wearing a mask in public places, and that perhaps the president is worried about projecting the wrong image. But there’s also a “gotcha” aspect to it.

The president hasn’t reprised his “LIBERATE” tweets for states with Democratic governors, but some Republican members of Congress are up in arms about the continued restrictions in their states.

Politico notes that Maryland Rep. Andy Harris complained that “the media has a vested interest in making things sound worse so that you tune in the next day.” The anesthesiologist also joined a “reopen America” protest, delivering a full-throated speech without a mask.

is fed up with being locked down.

Georgia Rep. Jody Hice, whose state is actually in the lead on lifting the lockdown, used some fiery rhetoric against the “ludicrous” and “arbitrary” restrictions. “It’s just abusive, dictatorial, tyrannical-type leadership,” he said.

“Excuse me: the restrictions may be abusive, but words like “dictatorial” and “tyrannical” have no place in this debate. The governors making these difficult judgment calls were duly elected and are trying to protect their states.

What’s happening is frustrations are rising as America tries to balance the Covid concerns, with the death toll having just passed 80,000, and economic concerns, with the highest jobless rate since the Great Depression. To say we can only do one or the other is a false choice, but that doesn’t make the choices facing everyone from Trump on down any more palatable.