On Wednesday night, March 18,
2020, Donald Trump spoke to the American
people from the Oval Office about the COVID-19 pandemic. He announced that most air
travel from Europe would be suspended for 30 days as well as all cargo
shipments from Europe, and that health insurance companies would waive co-pays
for all coronavirus treatments. These were attempts by the administration (and its
Task Force) to deal with the lowering of the curve of active cases and to
address some of the needs of people dealing with the coronavirus.
Unfortunately, although partially
substantive, much of what the president said off-script simply wasn’t true or
was self-aggrandizing. Trump’s team had to work hard the next day to roll-back
the questionable verbiage uttered by their leader.
That was not the first time,
nor the last, when Trump led the nation astray from the truth (and consequences)
of the coronavirus (or some other glaring issue). Here is a brief look at some
of the exaggerations and contradictions that have served no one but Donald
Trump himself, and which tend to raise the stakes and push the rest of us
toward disastrous outcomes.
1) His administration didn’t have enough early warning
about the virus – mainly because,
he claims, the Chinese did not share early information. He has blamed China for the virus, calling it
“the China Virus.” (To be fair: he has also talked about aid to China and other
countries because, he says, “We’re all affected and one death anywhere is too
much”).
ON the OTHER HAND:
31 December 2019: the World Health
Organization (WHO) China Country Office was informed of cases of pneumonia with
unknown cause detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. The Associated Press was one of the first English language news accounts to report that
China was investigating an “outbreak of respiratory illness in the central city
of Wuhan.”
January 11 & 12, 2020: WHO received detailed information from the Chinese
authorities that identified a new type of coronavirus, which was isolated on 7
January 2020.
January 12, 2020: China shared the genetic sequence of the novel
coronavirus for countries to use in developing specific diagnostic kits.
January 21, 2020: first case
confirmed in the USA
WHO sends update: “There is now more evidence that 2019-nCoV spreads from
human- to- human and also across generations.”
On January 22, 2020: TRUMP declares: “We have it totally under
control. It’s one person coming in from
China.” He also says that “a plan is in effect” but does not offer
specifics.
January 24, 2020: Senior officials from the CDC brief senators about the virus. Later, Trump posts his first tweet about the coronavirus. praising the Chinese government for its “transparency” handling the outbreak and says, “it will all work out well.”
January 24, 2020: Senior officials from the CDC brief senators about the virus. Later, Trump posts his first tweet about the coronavirus. praising the Chinese government for its “transparency” handling the outbreak and says, “it will all work out well.”
January 29, 2020: Trump announces the creation of the President’s Coronavirus
Task Force to lead the “United States government response to the novel 2019
coronavirus”
January 31, 2020: The Trump
administration suspends entry into the United States by foreign nationals
who traveled to China within the last 14 days.
March 13th – after two months go by, the Administration
finally declares a National Emergency, in the face of:
132,758 confirmed cases (7499 new) and 4955
deaths (342 new). Global Risk: VERY HIGH
with 123 countries affected (reported by the WHO).
2) The
threat is low, and it will go away, perhaps like a miracle. Throughout
January and February and into March, Trump utters such sentiments, like on
January 22 as quoted above, along with:
January 31st:
“we think it's going to have a very good ending for it…that I can assure
you.”
February 25:
“CDC & my administration are doing a GREAT job of handling Coronavirus” “I
think that’s a problem that’s going to go away.
They have studied it. They know
very much.”
February 26:
“The 15 cases within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero”
February 27:
“One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.” And, as recently as
March 10: “It
will go away. Just stay calm. It will go
away.”
ON
the OTHER HAND:
By February
1, 2020: WHO had by this date
produced all manner of reports, protocols; public health measures in keeping
with its Mission and Strategic Plans, to:
• Interrupt human-to-human transmission including
reducing secondary infections among close contacts and health care workers,
preventing transmission amplification events, and preventing further
international spread*
[ *This can be achieved through a combination of public
health measures, such as rapid identification, diagnosis and management of the
cases, identification and follow up of the contacts, infection prevention and
control in health care settings, implementation of health measures for
travelers, awareness-raising in the population and risk communication.]
•
Identify, isolate and care for patients early, including providing optimized
care for infected patients
• Communicate critical risk and event information to
all communities and counter misinformation
• Minimize social and economic impact through
multisectoral partnerships.
Perhaps, had
the Trump administration paid more attention to the planning and strategies of
the World Health Organization, there could have been a much earlier and
effective response to this pandemic and its consequences.
3) He inherited a “broken, ineffective system” and his “talented” administration had to start over
and make a great new system
What
system is he talking about?
The healthcare system? That’s
been broken for a long time and the Donald Trump administration has broken it
further by destroying the ACA, cutting scientific research and generally
denigrating scientific method and inquiry; as well as ignoring the closing of
rural hospitals and the need for increasing professional and non-professional
staff almost everywhere.
ON
the OTHER HAND – the Obama
administration -- having learned something valuable about pandemics with the
Ebola scare – established a pandemic unit connected to the White House to deal
with such threats under the umbrella of the National Security Council. That
unit had been warning about the next pandemic for years and criticized the
Trump administration’s decision in 2018 to dismantle that NSC directorate
charged with preparing for when, not if, another pandemic would hit the nation.
Not only was
there a mechanism, but in 2017, the Obama administration offered training to
incoming Trump administrators, holding a conference and simulation exercise
that few Trump people bothered to attend.
Trump (plagued by inbred racism toward President Obama) under the
guise of ‘efficiency’ got rid of that mechanism early on, called the pandemic
idea a “Hoax” and didn’t come up with his
own Task Force on this new virus until too late to deal effectively with its
effects and its threat.
The vast
delay in obtaining and distributing effective test kits and safety gear (PPE)
and ventilators out to the local medical establishment (now turned over to the
states to manage) made this new (‘non-delivery’) system look like a joke. But it’s no joke, because the disease will
continue to spread and people will die because this administration did not (and
does not) have the will or the organizing skills to get it done, putting
everyone of us in danger.
4) “Federal government is not a ‘delivery service’” – according to Trump, it is simply a “support” for
states, regions and municipalities who are responsible for management of
resources. This trumped-up definition
(and attitude) can and does lead to blaming those other entities if respirators
and PPE are in short supply or remain undelivered.
ON
the OTHER HAND – in a national
emergency like this one, the federal government must lead: it must find resources
and deliver supplies and equipment as well as extra funds. It must be totally
committed to the business of taking care of people. The fabricated tripod of
federal government giving ‘support’; local states and municipalities ‘managing’
and the people following necessary guidelines is nothing more than a way to get
out of doing what the federal government must do in emergencies: it must act as
the manager of the crisis and facilitator of responses; it must organize and
support the local states and their populations and it must enlist, organize and
utilize the local governments, the private sector, and people-power in every
corner of this nation.
One of the
main reasons we have a strong central government is to provide a nationwide
response when that is necessary.
While Trump
should be commended for caution in how government uses corporations and smaller businesses to aid in this crisis, for him to depend entirely
on voluntary offers from public and private entities for beds, equipment and
protective gear is probably going to prove not to be the best strategy because
the need is so great and the situation so dire.
The Emergency
Powers Act of 1975 grants broad powers to the President to mobilize all sectors
of society, including the business sector.
Use of the Defense Production Act will also be of great advantage in
using military resources to fight this virus. A crisis like this one demands that some such
mobilization be carried out under national leadership and authority. Using FEMA
as the central point of assistance to states, for example, is probably a
helpful action as is use of the military in NYC to convert the Javits Center to
accommodate hospital beds.
Of course,
the states and municipalities must act at their level to use resources
effectively, but we should not expect them to find all the resources they need
on their own when what is needed is national purpose
and implementation.
However, independent
and innovative action is what the capable Governors of New York and California
have performed when they needed to fill the gaps of response from the federal
government. Kudos to Andrew Cuomo of New
York and Gavin Newsom of California, as well as others like Inslee in
Washington State, and those of other states who have made their constituents
proud of their abilities and their humanity (not including the Governor of
Texas, Greg Abbott, who has expressed his perverse willingness to exchange a
certain percent of lives for the rejuvenation of the business sector).
5) Trump uses
his power to blame others for any problems or errors --presenting the stark image of a team with one member
who does little of the project work but takes all the credit for successful
outcomes; or, the picture of a demoralizer who exacerbates the burden of
anxiety and fear rather than helping to lift it off others.
The ‘buck
stops here’ is pertinent to the way the Founders set up the office of the
President. After all, to legitimately claim the title of Commander-in-Chief
or President of the United States, or to effectively make use of the executive
powers of the Office to the advantage and the welfare of the people, one cannot
escape taking responsibility for presidential actions, or the lack thereof.
Moreover,
since the President has the solemn duty to “take care that the Laws be
faithfully executed,” he can distribute responsibilities to departments and
other entities, but he cannot place the blame for his own missteps and errors
on others who work for him or who act for him.
Such an attitude is always counterproductive because it makes people too
timid and cautious (as well as intimidated and compliant), reducing their
creativity, their objectivity, their honest opinions and their level of
commitment.
This kind of
national emergency requires a team leader who values all team members, who
invites their opinions and information, and who provides constant recognition
and positive (and honest) feedback to each member. He accepts total responsibility for the
efforts and welcomes the contributions of every member. Such a leader does not relegate anyone of
value to the trash heap just because they express views that disagree with his
own (i.e. where was Dr. Tony Fauci at the last Task Force press briefing?). And
why is Trump beginning to talk about “getting back to work” by Easter which
will surely cause new cases to spike dramatically. It sounds suspiciously like
the attitude of the Texas Governor willing to trade a certain number of lives
to save the economy.
Trump needs
to stay away from those press briefings and let the scientists lead the
presentations based on scientific facts and method. But mostly, he needs to focus
his administration on the primary concern of protecting and saving lives by
following the very guidelines from his Task Force, using all the time it takes to lower the threat of
this pandemic.
) 6) We must bail out Big Business (and small) in order to give them the boost needed to
come back strong after this is over. The Party line is that we:
a.
can’t let them
disband which would mean a much longer process of recovery
b.
can’t nationalize
businesses now because might lead to national-run corporations after the
pandemic is over
c.
workers will be
all right if we cut their payroll taxes, increase time period for receiving unemployment
and delay income tax submission
On the OTHER HAND:
Has anyone asked what the outcomes
are that need to take priority in this emergency? Exactly what problems most need to be
resolved? Where will government
(taxpayer) money best be spent to bring about the best results for
circumstances made unlivable or untenable by this health crisis?
The point might be put this
way: contrary to that infamous SCOTUS
decision in Citizens United, corporations are not individuals, and should not
be treated as such – they don’t catch viruses.
This legislation should be all about the human victims of this virus,
and that includes the employees of corporations and small businesses. We need to protect them, and in protecting
their health, realize that health can be affected by economic stress.
The first two bills related
to this virus, that originated in the Democratic House, have reasonable
economic and humanitarian purposes. This third Republican-sponsored Senate bill
appears to be serving as a safety net for the Republican party by enabling its
candidates to provide monetary awards without strings to their sponsors who can
then distribute that money as they see fit.
Here’s what I understand this 3rd bill originally included:
· small business retention loans at very low interest
· $500 billion fund for businesses that would be under
the control of Secretary Mnuchin
· $1200 relief checks sent directly to citizens in need
However, even as I write, reports
are that the bill is undergoing basic changes so the final product could end up
to be much more acceptable.
Here’s a thought for consideration anyway: first, concentrate financial help on workers/employees –get relief checks to them
through the payroll system and other payment systems that already exist.
Second, treat businesses like any other
group, organization or entity that wants to use federal taxpayer money to ‘bail
them out’ or to ‘fund their enterprise.’ Treat corporations and businesses not as individuals, but
as grant applicants. In a free market economy, it is not government’s business
to bail out businesses. Not when we already agree with, and have in existence,
the grant process. Let’s use it, and
apply what we ask of most federal grantees:
· an application form that spells out the reasons for
the grant and contains a pledge to operate the grant within specific guidelines
and rules;
· a Plan that details its use and expected outcomes
· a Budget that shows how the Plan will be funded in
order to accomplish the aims of the Plan
· a brief plan for annual Assessment of program goals
and outcomes, plus an Audit of spending of the grant
A SLUSH FUND
for corporations and their Republican friends is totally UNACCEPTABLE.
All efforts must KEEP FOCUSED
on the needs and protection of front-line workers, wage earners, and vulnerable
people. Continue to provide payments directly to workers to substitute for
salary but under no circumstances should taxpayer money be given to
corporations (or businesses) for bail-out without parameters for use and
requirements for payback or giveback in the form of grantee benefits and
outcomes that enhance their employees and/or communities, and help to mitigate
this disease.
7) The unspoken (but not hidden) truth: It’s all about
Donald Trump and his re-election.
Donald Trump
should never be out front speaking for the Task Force
The
scientists and experts should be the ones to answer reporter questions and to
address the public. Why?
Because
Trump has no understanding of the depth of this disaster and cannot restrain
from making statements that attempt to enhance his status rather than the
welfare of those directly affected
Donald Trump
is running for another term as POTUS; everything he says or does must be seen
in that context
Moreover, he
is afflicted with what is described in some psychiatric textbooks as a
personality disorder: “Narcissistic personality disorder is a clinical
mental illness characterized by clearly maladaptive patterns of narcissistic
behavior, such as obsessional ego-centricity or total lack of empathetic
behavior.”(yourdictionary.com) This
disorder untreated makes for behaviors that are not suited to a person with
total responsibility for the welfare of millions of other people. Vital decisions are apt to be made on the
dangerous basis of what is beneficial to that one person’s status and needs.
Donald Trump
is not only ill-prepared for his position and thus incompetent, he is mentally
unfit and completely unable to carry out the responsibilities, the obligations
and the duties of that office because he cannot put the needs of other
individuals above his own.
In conclusion, then, I must
assert that the stakes have changed.
This is no longer merely a question of delay or inadequate actions or
lack of federal administrative planning and implementation. This is now a matter of life or death.
Each of us -- particularly
those who are elderly with vulnerabilities – are now, because of the lack of
supplies and equipment, subject to someone deciding who gets the benefits of a
respirator and who doesn’t; of who gets a strong multi-use drug and who
doesn’t; of whose life rates greater attention and whose doesn’t. Without a universal vaccine – which is
probably 1.5-2.5 years away – there will be a decision-making process that brutalizes
us and threatens our lives.
Donald Trump has not
protected us and will not protect us if he continues his goal of getting people
back to work by Easter. He is too busy
saving businesses, making sure he benefits, seeking re-election, and enhancing
his status and power as President of these United States. Which means that those who vote for him and
support him monetarily are not only supporters of death by the flip of
someone’s coin but are complicit in the neglect and loss of our safety, our
rights, and our welfare. Most of all, they
are complicit in the actions of a man with a personality disorder that can lead
to a disastrous consequences.
The stakes have changed. We are
approaching the point at which decisions about who lives and who dies may be
forced upon us. While Trump supporters
are part and parcel of bringing this about, they are also potential victims who
could be next on the gurney that gets shoved to the side where their lives will
not be saved.
The number of victims is climbing,
and the hospitals and medical front lines are screaming for help. Approval of -- or Voting for -- Trump (and
his minions) is a potential vote for death -- maybe that of a stranger, a friend, a neighbor, a loved
one – or maybe your
own!
DON’T
GAMBLE WITH YOUR LIFE – REJECT TRUMP!
