Donald Trump disagrees with his experts: The coronavirus and its spread in the U.S. are under control. The background.
In light of growing fear about the new coronavirus in the U.S., President Donald Trump has addressed the public, trying to give the impression that his government is “totally prepared” for a potential epidemic. Previously, the Democrats accused his administration of being ill-prepared for the virus.
When critical times occur, one thing is of even more value than usual: the word of those who possess power and hold responsibility. It has to be truthful and clear, it must not conceal, whitewash or dramatize anything, and it must not pretend to be infallible. Only this can prevent panic and overreaction. Only this can establish the trust of those below in those above.
President Trump has shown that he will barely be able to fulfill that role in the coronavirus crisis emerging in America. While all the experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emphasize that it is only a matter of time before the virus will create major problems in the U.S., Trump is playing down the issue out of concern about the stock market, which has been in freefall for days.
Coronavirus: Why Trump Claims that America Is in Control of the Situation
Trump claimed that America was in control of the situation, that the danger of infection was low, and that basically the virus was already neutralized. Apart from that, he promised what no reputable epidemiologist would say with certainty today: that the virus problem would vanish due to rising temperatures in the oncoming spring.
On Wednesday, the president even disagreed with his top advisers in front of the cameras at the White House, when they calmly stated that contagion from the virus in the U.S. was inevitable, and that an increase of the still manageable number of infections was very probable. “Nothing is inevitable,” said Trump. Previously, he asserted that irresponsible media and hostile Democrats were the ones who were negligently fueling hysteria and who had thrown Wall Street into turmoil.
Can Trump establish trust in his leadership with this behavior? Or can’t he structurally do that?
The Danger of the Coronavirus: Trump Despises Science
It is a fact that Trump has made a name for himself as someone who despises science and globally verifiable facts. His denial of the proven fact that man has played a part in causing global warming with its life-threatening impact is official government policy, which is noticeable even in the most minor ramifications of national environment protection legislation.
That is why America is no longer part of the Paris climate agreement. That is why, for years, American agencies have lacked hundreds of specialists well informed about climate change and global epidemics and who could reliably take countermeasures at an early stage. That is why the administration has drastically cut or withdrawn the budgets of these departments altogether.
Trump Made Vice President Mike Pence the Boss in the Fight Against Coronavirus
Currently, the nomination of his stand-in Mike Pence as chief coordinator for all efforts against the spread of the coronavirus speaks volumes. Pence, as well, has been at odds with science for decades. As just one example, while serving as Indiana governor, Pence fought against providing drug addicts with clean syringes during the start of the HIV crisis, which led to an increase in the infection rate.
Trump does not see scientists and experts as a authorities of empirically proven reason and neutral policy advice. Instead, he thinks of them as the tools of sinister forces; in plain language, Democrats who want to thwart his instinctive and impulsive politics at all costs.
Coronavirus: Trump Has No Plan; Conspiracy Theorists: ‘Coronavirus Is an Invention by the Deep State
The Hurricane Dorian scandal in 2019 made apparent the extent of Trump’s disregard for people who understand issues better than he does because of their professional backgrounds. At the time, Trump gratuitously declared that Alabama would probably be severely affected. When specialists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration objected to this based on their findings, Trump presented a casually manipulated map on which he used a black marker to depict a low pressure front reaching into the southern state. Nobody will be surprised to hear that Alabama escaped the storm.
In these transgressions which border on true satire, the president lets himself be manipulated by reckless gamblers like Rush Limbaugh. A few days ago, this right-wing populist and racist radio host, who Trump recently awarded the country’s highest civil medal, told his audience in the double-digit millions that the coronavirus danger was probably a new invention by the “deep state” in order to bring Trump down. Conspiracy theorists use the expression “deep state” to describe a kind of shadow government that allegedly tries to undermine or bring down the rightfully elected government.
How a Coronavirus Wave Could Have an Impact on Trump’s Chance of Reelection
In the opinion of analysts and commentators, the truth might look different. What Russia and the Ukraine affairs and dozens of other scandals could not achieve, the still unpredictable coronavirus crisis may accomplish if it gets out of hand and causes severe economic damage.
If stock markets continue to collapse, if global production chains are interrupted and investments are cancelled, if consumers start to rein in out of fear of infection, if, as a result, jobs become dispensable and the historically low unemployment rate rises, if epidemic numbers take on Chinese proportions to some degree while we still have to wait 12 to 18 months for a vaccine, if hardly anyone among the public still trusts what is being announced in the White House, then Trump himself may be considered dangerously contagious on Nov. 3 and be voted out of office.
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