The Terrifying Reality of Trump’s Incompetence as President
By Sagar Vellalath
“ I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts.”-Abraham Lincoln
Honesty is a quality of the utmost importance in any leader especially during a crisis. Now in the midst of the worst pandemic since the 1918 Spanish Flu, the United States has the most cases of Covid-19 in the world in part because of the incompetence of President Donald Trump.
When Trump was elected, many Americans hoped that Trump’s behavior as a presidential candidate would change as he realized the gravity of his responsibilities as president. However, Trump’s behavior as president has been far worse than what many Americans had feared. Not only has he continued undermining the press, his policies and the scandals that he and his administration have been involved in have repeatedly infuriated the American public.
According to New England Journal of Medicine, the first reported case of Covid-19 in the U.S was reported in Washington State on January 19th, 2020. However, it was not until the end of February that Coronavirus emerged as a nationwide crisis. Many people downplayed the concerns of the virus claiming it to be just another flu, however the reality is far more daunting. According to Vox, a Covid-19 patient infects 2–2.5 people on average, whereas a Flu patient infects 1.3 people. At first glance that may not seem like a major difference, however after 10 cycles of infection Covid-19 infects 2,047 people, while the Flu only infects 56 people after 10 cycles. Furthermore, Covid-19 is much more difficult to control since it has a longer incubation period than the Flu, 12–14 days compared to only 5 for the Flu. The virus’ fatality rate between 1 and 3% may seem low, however what is alarming is that the rate is 10 to 30 times more fatal than the Flu.
From the beginning of this outbreak, the Trump Administration has spread misinformation and repeatedly contradicted itself and federal health officials. The country needed to take precautions to avoid exacerbating the spread of the virus. However, the administration repeatedly downplayed concerns, many believe in an effort to bolster confidence in the economy. On February 24th, Trump tweeted “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA”. Per CNBC, around that same time the National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said “We have this contained. I won’t say airtight, but it’s pretty close to airtight.” As the number of cases grew, senior health officials warned that they expected the number of cases to increase, however just minutes later Trump claimed that the number of cases would go down to zero within a few days. The fact of the matter is that the misinformation and contradiction of the Trump administration lead to an underestimation of how significant of an issue the virus was and is. The Trump administration thus responded to the issue far too late after it had become much more severe. By the time Trump himself called for shutdowns of certain states the spread of the virus had gotten out of control. Despite being aware since last November of the potential threat that the virus posed, Trump waited until late March to enact the Defense Productions Act. The DPA is a mandate that allows the federal governnment to compel companies to mass produce certain goods necessary for “war time”, such as this pandemic. PPE and Ventilators are of the utmost importance and Trump’s reluctance to enact the DPA has likely resulted in many avoidable deaths. Furthermore, NOWTHIS News published a video in which a former Obama Administration Health Official claimed the Trump administration has completely disregarded the emergency/epidemic pandemic response book outlined following the Ebola epidemic.
Even more concerning is the way that the administration has dealt with state governments to respond to the issue. Quid Pro Quo is a favor for a favor and is precisely the method that Trump has used to deal with governors. Via The New York Times, “I say: ‘Mike, don’t call the governor of Washington. You’re wasting your time with him. Don’t call the woman in Michigan,’” he said, adding, “If they don’t treat you right, I don’t call.” He is only willing to talk to those who “treat him right”, or basically those who do not criticize him. Obviously these comments are concerning, government response to a pandemic should not be partisan. The federal government should support all states. This has resulted in governors being forced to praise Trump to receive federal aid for a pandemic response. Trump’s Campaign Team used the soundbite of governors praising Trump in advertisements for the November elections. The president is taking advantage of a global crisis for his political gain, and it is Americans who are suffering because of this. However, this behavior by Trump is not unprecedented. In a quote from The New York Times, Representative Adam Schiff said, “There are a lot of parallels between the president’s behavior now and during the whole Ukraine scandal. Certainly the most apparent is his demand that the governors basically pay fealty to him, praise him, or they’ll suffer consequences.”
Though the administration’s response to the virus has been by all accounts awful, Trump’s approval rating is at an all time high according to the WIRED. Presidents gain public support during crises such as war, major terror attacks, and now with the Coronavirus. The harm though is the potential for this to cause a snowball effect resulting in the re-election of a President who has now demonstrated his ineptitude as a leader during a crisis resulting in deaths which may have been preventable.
