Trump’s incompetence in managing the COVID-19 crisis is on display every time he speaks. He cannot put a cohesive, informed sentence together when talking about the science of the epidemic or a long term plan to manage it. Even when he talks about re-opening the country, he speaks in child-like, optimistic generalities to cover-up the fact he has no idea how to reduce current restrictions without causing a dangerous spike in the numbers of infection and deaths.
Because his failed presidency is based solely on the economy ( a strong one that he did not build, but inherited from Obama), he focuses only on restarting businesses without a plan that limits a potential resurgence of the virus.Trump’s entire life has been defined by money. He inherited wealth, made money, lost money, and indulged in gross excesses that even amid a pandemic which has taken tens of thousands of lives, he still mainly talks about money. This kind of leadership is dangerous as the goal is not to save lives, it’s to secure outcomes for political or personal gain.
The chronology of Trump’s incompetent management of the pandemic reveals indisputable evidence that he knew the coronavirus was dangerous but denied it to the American people in his efforts to keep the economy and job numbers favorable to him. This is an example of how his narcissism directs a pattern of decision-making, which is contrary to prioritizing the health and lives of the general population.The Associated Press writer Evan Vucci reported this week “Trump wasted three key weeks between February and March that could have been spent enacting mitigatory measures against COVID-!9”.
In another article on March 02, 2020, CNN Politics presented a timeline of Trump and his Administrations’s response to warnings about the “pneumonia-like” virus spreading in China. The article cites on January 21, 2020, CDC official Nancy Messonnier, who leads the responses to respiratory diseases, told reporters, “We do expect additional cases in the United States and globally.” The next day at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump announced he wasn’t worried the outbreak could turn into a global pandemic. He said, “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. It is going to be just fine.” This statement is a perfect example of Trump having horrible “gut instincts” and a master at lying and spreading disinformation.His narcissism is in full view as he appears at the COVID-19 task force briefings and says the world is following the lead of the United States in combating the pandemic because of the great job he is doing.
Meanwhile, we lead the world in cases of infection and death, and the majority of citizens and healthcare workers lack the PPE they need to protect themselves from the virus.On January 24, despite the CDC’s frustration about China not releasing full information about how contagious the virus was, Trump tweeted thanks to China for its transparency, and said, “it will all work out. “By January 29, the Chinese government revealed that people infected with the disease can spread it before they show symptoms. On the same day, the Trump Administration announced the forming of the coronavirus task force. However, during February, Trump continued to downplay the danger of the virus making ill-informed statements about it such as “China will be successful in stopping the coronavirus,” “the virus will probably disappear as the weather gets warmer,” and “don’t worry it will all be fine.”
Despite reports by the World Health Organization’s reporting of the increasing numbers of people infected with the virus in the U.S. and worldwide, Trump continued to resist the extreme methods of mitigation that are now the norm throughout the world. Many jests about Trump not liking to read, but these statements indicate that he is either utterly ignorant on the subject of the science of the virus or knowingly endangering lives for his personal and political gain.Dr. Fauci has reported that if the federal government had enacted mitigating strategies earlier, lives would have been saved, and the rate of infection would be much lower. Trump expressed frustration at hearing this announcement and made sure that he trotted Fauci out the next day to make complimentary statements about directives that Trump has agreed to follow.
This strategy by Trump does not change the fact that the world knows he did nothing from February to mid-March to mitigate the spread of the deadly virus.The bottom line is from all of the reporting, Trump knew the virus had made it to the United States. He ignored warnings by the CDC and the World Health Organization to begin enacting measures to stop the spread of the virus. He continued to downplay the danger of COVID-19, and at times lied about the imminent threat of a pandemic.Trump’s unwillingness to believe and act on warnings he received between February and March may stand out in history as one of the most incompetent and loss-of-life decisions any U.S. president has ever made.
