Trump Is Guilty of Dumbing Down

Human lives or economic vitality—for the U.S. president, the choice is obvious. But the coronavirus crisis cannot be declared over with a decree from the White House.

Who other than Donald Trump would have asked the question of all questions and also immediately answered it. The “polarizer in chief” knows how to incite and how to divide societies. Human lives or economic vitality—for the U.S. president, the choice is obvious. It is all about the economy and those in society who will survive. He wants to draw the line in two weeks. There will be a resurrection on Easter. It will not get that bad.

If Trump were an autocrat of average talents in a less significant country, for instance in the Philippines, then one would just smile at him and pity his electorate. But as the president of the United States, Trump is establishing a trend that many in the world will follow. If he now gives hope to the uninformed and the distressed and declares the scare to be over in two weeks, he will instigate a war of belief; he will lead people to believe in an alternative that, according to all our scientific understanding, simply does not exist. As the president of the Robert Koch Institute just confirmed, it is too early for a reliable prognosis.

Trump does not even care about a prognosis. He casts the alternative in the most extreme terms possible. Life or work: should we not just accept a few more deaths to preserve economic strength for the survivors? Whoever reduces the coronavirus to this alternative is guilty of dumbing down. The large centers of infections in places like Wuhan or Bergamo demonstrate that the dynamics of the outbreak cannot, of course, just be sat out and weathered with a few more deaths. The breakdown of a healthcare system costs much more than human lives. The devastation encompasses everything: psyche, society, politics, economy.

No one besides Trump and a few crazies still believes in the theory of rapid, mass immunity. But Trump’s attention span was apparently not made for significant decisions about virology and social policies. One can be sure that the president is driven by the fear that he will not be reelected. By Election Day, America’s economy, like all economies, will be badly damaged. Trump will surely not be able to step away from this dynamic, not with a presidential decree or bumbling promises. This pandemic defies his power of suggestion.

Whoever is currently talking about the end of restrictions or envisions a rosy future in just a few weeks is guilty of criminal foolishness. Yes, people are hungry for hope. They want to hear good news. But the conditions of isolation in China and Italy should instruct the entire world about the havoc that this pandemic can wreak. The magical powers of Trump will not be enough to spare the U.S. from this fate.

Political leadership at this time is a delicate business. Above all, it requires modesty. If a Bavarian prime minister cannot provide enough masks for hospitals and assisted living facilities, he should not play the tough guy. If the American president does not understand the crisis, he should at least be quiet. That would at least save more lives.