President Donald Trump is not exactly succeeding in his apparent ambition to convince observers that he’s well-equipped to handle the Coronavirus, which is slowly but surely creeping into the United States. He’s even put Vice President Mike Pence in charge as the virus response coordinator — although he’s a religious extremist who presided over an HIV outbreak in Indiana, where he rolled back public health infrastructure. The New Yorker has now revealed their latest cover, and it depicts the just about perceptible reality of the situation — in the image, a self-confidently shouting Trump has a medical mask over his eyes.
An early look at next week’s cover, “Under Control,” by Brian Stauffer: https://t.co/jbWDbmDyRl pic.twitter.com/mBpv1VYMsX
— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) February 27, 2020
The cover art, of course, suggests Trump’s self-blinding to both the realities of the situation and his administration’s already falling apart response to it. He has baselessly insisted that the virus poses little to no threat to the United States and will soon be gone — and his administration reportedly sent people in to handle Coronavirus sufferers without proper precautions in place, and the seemingly first community-transmitted case of the illness has now been reported in the U.S. — and it’s in the vicinity of the bungled quarantine.
The magazine’s art editor Françoise Mouly commented, explaining the latest cover image:
‘Coronavirus claimed its first victims in China, and the illness has now appeared in at least forty-eight countries, with cases soaring in Europe and the Middle East. On Wednesday, in response to criticism about his Administration’s response, President Trump held a press conference addressing the epidemic. His performance—as Brian Stauffer’s cover for next week’s magazine suggests—was not entirely persuasive.’
For now, the Trump administration’s other response efforts — besides Pence — include a request for $2.5 billion in emergency funding, which members of Congress on both sides of the aisle have said isn’t enough.
