Donald Trump will be remembered as the worst President the country has ever had. The list of his infractions are many: ranging from nepotism, to paying hush money, to strong arming those who dare to disagree with him, to obstruction of justice, and subversion of our Constitution. But what he will be most remembered and reviled for has been his failure to exhibit any leadership in addressing the pandemic. He has been unable to even muster comforting words. Instead, perhaps as a diversion tactic, he has been politicizing public health and working to divide Americans on the issue of how to respond to the virus.
On Dec 31,2019 the World Health Organization announced the existence of the COVID-19 virus to the world. It is clear the US knew about the virus before this date and some postulate as early as November 2019 (ABC) US intelligence provided a briefing on the outbreak. The US did nothing to prepare. There was no stock piling of protective equipment, purchasing of test equipment, training of medical personnel, or updating of the all hazard plans that were developed after 911.
On Feb 24, 2020 there were 50 known cases in the US and 0 deaths and Trump tweeted (NPR):
“The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. ”
By March 10, 2020 there were 959 cases and 21 deaths in the US and Trump told reporters (NPR):
“This was unexpected. … And it hit the world. And we’re prepared, and we’re doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.”
By April 15, 2020 cases has exploded to 636,350 and 28,338 deaths in the US and Trump said during a task force briefing (NPR):
“We think some of the states can actually open up before the deadline of May 1. And I think that that will be a very exciting time indeed.”
The messages sent by the administration over the next few weeks were that we needed to open up the economy, that we had turned a corner on the virus, and were ready to put social distancing behind us.
As late as June 20,2020 Trump, at his Tulsa, OK rally that aimed to bring many thousands of people together in an indoor event, Trump appeared to be in denial of where things stood with the virus. He told those who attended that people should wear masks only if they wanted to (VOX):
“You know, there was a time when people thought it was worse wearing a mask,” he said. “I let people make up their own decision.”
So now we find ourselves in July and cases are exploding again and we are having a second peak of infections. This is in comparison to western Europe that experienced a peak in cases in April but have been able to bring the infection rate down substantially.
As of July 2020 the US has 2,935,779 cases and 132,318 deaths. The number of new cases in a single day hit 45,182, a new daily record (Worldometers). When it comes to Coronavirus, we are clearly number one.
Donald Trump has misunderstood this pandemic at every juncture, making misstep, after misstep He appears to have chosen to do absolutely nothing to fight against the virus. His abulia, will be our death, literally.