In the 19th century, as the game of poker became more popular and cheating more widespread, players decided to rotate the deal around the table. A marker, often a knife with a handle made of buck’s horn, was set before each dealer, who then “passed the buck” — and responsibility for an honest shuffle — to the player to his left.

In 1945, while working in a reformatory in El Reno, Oklahoma, U.S. Marshal Fred Canfil saw a sign that said “The Buck Stops Here” and sent it to President Harry Truman, with the inscription, “I’m from Missouri” on the reverse side. Truman, born and bred in the “Show Me” State, often kept the sign on his desk at the White House.

It’s a safe bet that “The Buck Stops Here” is not displayed anywhere in President Donald Trump’s White House. Passing the buck for everything that goes wrong — while taking credit for good news — is standard operating procedure there.

Trump played the blame game throughout his first term. Democrats, he claimed, had boosted the death toll in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria “to make me look as bad as possible.” His administration “did a great job” handling COVID-19. “If you take the blue states out,” he declared, in one of many non-sequiturs, “we are at a level [of fatalities] I don’t think anybody in the world would be at.” Asked about inadequate testing capacity, Trump responded, “I don’t take any responsibility at all.” In contrast, he emphasized that the World Health........

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