Trump must hate the Coronavirus for reasons unrelated to the safety of Americans. It’s monopolizing the airwaves and stealing the media attention he craves. He is angry at having to sign an 8 billion dollar bipartisan bill for Coronavirus aid, lessening the amount of money he could siphon to build his unnecessary, racist border wall. He must be stressed about having to fake genuine caring about the expanding number of Americans and people around the world fearful and sick from the virus.
Since the US government organized a task force to deal with the virus expansion in America, Trump has made statements that are contrary to the information given by the CDC and members of the task force headed by VP Mike Pence. In other words, he is lying, minimizing, and lacking in knowledge about the scientific facts about the Coronavirus. As concern last week about the virulence of the virus increased, Trump said, ” it is no worse than the flu and will be better once the weather gets warm.” He also refuses to admit any level of worry or concern about it. His sycophants say he is “just trying to calm the public,” but many see these comments as ignorant, irresponsible, and self-serving. His obsession with talking about the stock market and his excellent economy during this health scare is disturbing. While so many lives are being threatened by this new virus that has yet to have a vaccine, the President is focused on how it affects him politically.
It is widely reported by White House insiders that Trump seems more angry than worried about the virus. He is blaming the press for ” unnecessarily scaring the public” to damage his bid for re-election. He blames Democrats for trying to destroy him politically by criticizing his handling of the crisis. He labels any justified criticism towards him as an unfounded conspiracy. These thought patterns and beliefs reveal his tendencies towards narcissism, sociopathy, and paranoia.
The criticism towards Trump and his Administration’s handling of the Coronavirus situation is founded in fact, not fake news smear tactics as he would like his supporters to believe. It’s a fact there are not enough tests available for diagnosing people who might be infected. Inaccurate narratives are coming from the White House to calm Trump’s anger and anxiety about the virus’s impact on some of his policies such as; winning re-election, building the wall, reducing legal immigration, and getting rid of Obamacare. For months this crisis has been coming, and our leader looked the other way.
We first learned of the threat of the Coronavirus in China over 2 months ago. Yet, the Administration did nothing to prepare for the health threat we are all facing. What Trump did is ignore it and, when forced to comment, either joked about it or minimized the facts. He has politicized a public health crisis, and by doing so, has slowed down the interventions, which may have resulted in earlier containment of the spread. His obsession with re-election has limited his ability to make sound decisions based on facts. His narcissism makes it impossible for him to not demonize or deny any situation that he fears could threaten his staying in power.
I can’t help but wonder if Trump’s fear of being in serious, potentially incarcerating legal jeopardy when he leaves office drives his mishandling of this dangerous public health crisis. His behavior is not presidential, and we must hope that professionals will make public health decisions without including him in the process. Voting for a lying opportunist who happens to be good at inciting high emotion in big crowds is not patriotic. Doing so in light of seeing how he is handling the Coronavirus is dangerous and will have widespread consequences to both Republican and Democratic Americans. Illness is party-blind.
