President Donald Trump at the final debate against Joe Biden on October 22. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Trump almost took responsibility. Then he didn’t.

President Donald Trump seemed poised to take responsibility for his failure on Covid-19 at Thursday’s presidential debate — and then he didn’t.

“I take full responsibility,” Trump said. He immediately continued: “It’s not my fault it came here. It’s China’s fault.”

It’s a big contradiction, but it’s emblematic of Trump’s approach to the coronavirus. Time and time again, Trump has tried to downplay the coronavirus and dodge responsibility, all while failing to embrace the kind of messaging and policy approach that experts recommend.

Asked about failures on testing early on, Trump said in March, “I don’t take responsibility at all.” Asked about the 1,000 Covid-19 deaths a day in the US at the time, Trump said in July, “It is