Evan Vucci | AP Evan Vucci | AP
Updated: March 22, 2020 12:13 pm
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In a time when protecting the nation’s public health demands clear, truthful and compassionate leadership, President Donald Trump has offered exactly the opposite. He is a clear and present danger to the nation’s public health, and he should resign immediately.
Trump has dissembled about the seriousness of the coronavirus epidemic, either because he refuses to accept the truth or fears the effect on his political fortunes, or both. Months too late, he has finally started to acknowledge that the crisis is real, serious and likely to persist. Even so, as late as March 15, he untruthfully claimed that the U.S. government has the virus under “tremendous control.”
Trump repeatedly has refused to make science-based recommendations (e.g., older people should avoid cruise ships and plane travel) or to declare a public health emergency, reportedly out of fear about the effect on the stock market. It turns out that denying the truth visible to all doesn’t fool the market; and, in fact, when Trump did finally declare a public health emergency, markets reacted positively. …
Trump has presided over an administration that inexplicably has failed to deliver vitally needed coronavirus tests to health care providers around the country and then repeatedly lied to or misled the American public about remedying the problem. Instead of taking responsibility for the problem and fixing it, Trump has bizarrely blamed it on his predecessor, Barack Obama. “No, I don’t take responsibility at all,” says Trump.
This testing failure may be the single most consequential human factor responsible for the spread of the disease. It has been impossible for public health authorities to calibrate appropriate responses without a clear understanding of COVID-19 incidence in the United States. Even now, public health experts are merely guessing about the actual extent of disease spread in the United States. Nearly two months into the start of the disease in the United States, South Korea is testing 161 times more people per capita than the United States.
Beyond the testing debacle, there has been a shocking lack of leadership from the federal government under Trump. Governors and local authorities have stepped into the gap, but they are all clear that they are desperate for federal leadership. It has not been forthcoming. With states seeking federal assistance in providing the equipment needed to treat COVID-19 patients, Trump replied, “Try getting it yourselves.”
Even for Trump, this Marie Antoinette response was shocking.
Crisis moments typically give rise to inspirational words from our leaders. Whether naturally gifted orators or not, they typically rise to the moment. They understand the need to share the truth with their compatriots. They understand the need both to calm and galvanize the nation in the face of fear and great challenges. And they understand the need to bring people together for shared national purpose, to spark kindness and solidarity.
Leaders do these things because they care about their people and their country — and because they understand that honesty, calm, shared purpose and solidarity are necessary to meet fearsome national challenges.
That Trump is doing the opposite of all this is not just a shortcoming or just another example of his boundless self-absorption.
Trump’s failings have nothing to do with political ideology or legitimate areas of policy disagreement. They are intolerable failures of leadership in a time of national crisis that have endangered the lives of all Americans. Trump should step down immediately.
Robert Weissman is the president of Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization. He wrote this commentary for InsideSources.com.
Rancheros-Hit on March 22nd, 2020 at 14:09 UTC »
And I still don’t know a single Trump supporter who thinks he’s done anything wrong. I work closely with twelve and more remotely with another eight and they all think he’s handled things perfectly. The scary part for me is hearing them say this could have gotten “serious” if “the Kenyan” was still the President.
8to24 on March 22nd, 2020 at 13:36 UTC »
Republicans, and most lay political observers, assume that everything that happens is unavoidable. That one just drives the car fast and hard as they can and when it breaks it breaks. Things like putting oil, coolant, new filters, etc in the car don't occur to them because they have no idea have the car runs in the first place.
Bush presided over calamity after calamity. We had the Tech bubble, 9/11, Katrina, Housing market collapse, etc. It was never Bush's fault. Everything was always some magically unavoidable disaster that Bush was just unlucky enough to get burdened with. Meaning it created 2 recessions and increased deficits by records.
Obama on the other hand dealt with a collapse economy (inherited), Hurricane Sandy, Boston Marathon Bombing, deepwater horizon, refugees crisis, Benghazi, etc and the economy never dipped and deficits continued to go down. On the pandemic front Obama managed Swine Flu, Avian Bird Flu, and Zika virus. Obama better managed those unavoidable disasters that overtook Bush's administration.
Now Trump is President and we are back to being told every terrible thing in the world is unavoidable. Trump fumbled the response to Hurricane Irma and Maria, was on Twitter insulting the west coast during wild fires instead of helping, and after being briefed back in JANUARY about COVID19 spent 2 months ignoring his own agencies and claiming it would just blow over.
Leadership matters. These calamities aren't unavoidable. Republicans simply do not take the precautions required to avert them.
LolAtAllOfThis on March 22nd, 2020 at 13:24 UTC »
But, he'll never resign. The raging narcissist is not capable of putting the good of the country above himself.