Trump’s White House is bizarre as it has been since he assumed office, three years ago.
But this coronavirus is no laughing matter, and Trump has much to answer to for his mishandling of the pandemic and the loss of thousands of American lives.
In less than a week he has got rid of the inspectors-general of the intelligence community and the watchdog overseeing the $2 trn federal stimulus. The Navy fired the captain of an aircraft-carrier for sounding an alarm about the coronavirus positive numbers soaring among his sailors. One sailor has since died. The Navy secretary resigned.
But the virus is bigger than Trump.
As of the writing of this this piece, 40,000 Americans have died.
When Trump assumed office in January 2017, he inherited among other things, plans to make cheaper ventilators and 20m reusable face masks should the country need them. Nobody followed up.
In 2018, John Bolton, the cantankerous national security adviser ”streamlined” the National Security Council and, in the process, closed its pandemic preparedness office. I am NOT making this up.
Look, the consequences of these decisions, like Trump’s assertion that Covid-19 is less serious than a common seasonal flu are as stupid, dangerous as they are irresponsible and defy science and common sense. And they should not be coming from the President of the United States with access to an army of the best scientists on the face of the globe.
Some portion of the exceptional excess mortality will have to be attributed to Trump’s often ridiculous public-health advice and to decisions he avoided until too late. There is no other way to look at this.
Watching the daily White House briefings on the pandemic, one has to feel sorry for Dr Anthony Fauci, the scientist in charge of managing this pandemic, who stands next to Trump listening to illogical utterances and outright lies about the situation, all along advancing un-scientific cooked up theories.
At the end of the day, how this pandemic ends will be Trump’s legacy, and it will be damning.
What is baffling however, is that polls slightly reflect Trump’s incompetence, a worrying trend as the country approaches a general election come November. One has to wonder how this guy, masquerading as a leader was elected in the first place, and might get re-elected.
The fact that Trump did not get the majority of the popular vote, 3 million votes less than Hilary Clinton, begs the question: Is this American democracy for real? In our situation, One Man, One Vote is a farce.
Countries get the president they deserve, and DJT is our nightmare that gives us sleepless nights, without an end in sight. Alas!
