COVID-19 And The Need For Moral Leadership
Trump’s unfit to handle this crisis
--
Since Trump became the GOP nominee in 2016, many Republicans have been willing to overlook most of his offensive comments and egregious falsehoods. When the President told four Congresswomen-of-color to “go back” to their home “countries”, most Republicans overlooked it. When Trump threatened to jail his 2016 opponent - Hillary Clinton, most Republicans overlooked it. When Trump incorrectly claimed that millions of people voted multiple times in 2016, once again, most Republicans overlooked it. In short, they took Trump ‘seriously, but not literally’.
The calculation that countless GOP politicians and voters made was that Trump’s character was unimportant if he could deliver conservative Supreme Court justices as well as other policy goals, like the repeal of The ACA and, the building of a border wall. At times, this calculation had looked like it could backfire massively, with the President having taken the US to the brink of war with both Iran and North Korea during his first term. However, while America has managed to avoid war with both those countries and has been saved from some of Trump’s worst instincts due to his incompetence, the Coronavirus pandemic could be different.
Indeed, the current pandemic makes it impossible and irresponsible to view the President’s character as unimportant. No longer should Republican’s feel comfortable to overlook the President’s character defects because he delivers some of their policy objectives. A robust COVID-19 recovery requires a President who is intelligent, who listens to experts and, who is stable and empathetic. Trump is clearly none of these things.
A robust COVID-19 recovery requires a President who is intelligent, who listens to experts and, who is stable and empathetic. Trump is clearly none of these things.
Since this pandemic emerged at the start of the year, Trump has shown himself, once again, to be unafraid of indulging obvious falsehoods and crackpot conspiracy theories. From the very start, Trump has carelessly dismissed and denied the seriousness of the Pandemic in the name of protecting the stock market. Despite the expert consensus predicting an oncoming pandemic, in February, Trump was saying the virus would disappear by the end of April, even going so far to say the virus was already “contained”. This dangerous and unsubstantiated rhetoric from the President created a false sense of complacency and wasted valuable time that could’ve been used to plan a response to the virus.
With the stakes as high as they are right now, Trump’s rhetoric cannot be easily dismissed and ignored. While previous Trump lies, like saying wind turbines cause cancer, could be easily laughed off, the uncomfortable truth is that even the most seemingly comical things Trump says right now have very serious consequences. Even when the President made his much-ridiculed comments about bleach injections potentially helping cure Coronavirus, the consequences were deadly serious, with poison centres seeing a spike in calls after the remark, while Maryland alone received hundreds of calls about consuming disinfectant.
America is leading the world in Coronavirus cases, and it’s not even close
If it wasn’t clear before, it should be clear now, the President’s character is not a side issue, it is the main issue. At a time of crisis, Americans need a leader they can trust. Yet, Trump is not a person who can be trusted to tell the truth, listen to experts or show compassion for his fellow citizens. His divisive rhetoric, both before and during the pandemic, has contributed to an age of hyper-partisanship where neither party trusts the other side. This environment is always dangerous and corrosive to democracy, but is especially harmful when dealing with a deadly virus that doesn’t discriminate based on whether someone is a Democrat or a Republican, a liberal or a conservative.
Moreover, the President’s prioritisation of political self-preservation over the common good has had a tragic human impact. In prioritising his re-election chances (and therefore, prioritising the strength of the stock market) over all else, Trump has downplayed the threat of the virus while his experts have advised otherwise. It seems like Trump’s own narcissism and egotism may turn out to be his most harmful character traits. The ‘I alone can fix it’ attitude has created a situation where by Trump — a man who is uniquely unqualified to deal with this issue — has steadfastly ignored the advice of those who know best.
Ultimately, it should now be crystal clear that Trump’s character defects cannot reasonably be overlooked in the name of wider policy objectives. America is leading the world in Coronavirus cases, and it’s not even close — the USA has over 400% more cases than the second worst impacted country (Russia). Despite the insistence by Republicans that Democrats shouldn’t get so outraged over Trump’s unpresidential behaviour and breaking of norms, it’s clear now why we we’re right to do so all along.
