Donald Trump has come up against an enemy that he does not know how to fell. He tried lying about the coronavirus (COVID-19). That approach did not make it five minutes after it was born. Then, he tried to torch it with his hottest exaggerations. POTUS wanted to ignore it, but the virus would be heard.
Right now, Trump is enthusiastically shaking hands with his fans, but he spoke about screening those people. The problem is that this wiley virus is a stealth fighter. It attaches itself to a person and rides along for several days before its host begins to show symptoms.
As Wall Street Journal columnist Walter Russell Mead wrote:
‘The coronavirus pandemic is the greatest challenge Donald Trump has ever faced. As he has done in other crises, the president is stalling for time as he processes the nature of the threat and tests rhetorical and policy responses to it. But unlike human political adversaries, the coronavirus isn’t something he can bluff, threaten or placate.’
Shortly after take-off on Air Force One, wunderkind politician and Trump go-to boy Matt Gaetz (R-FL) discovered he had been exposed to the coronavirus. He tried to self-quarantine himself on the jet. Wonder how that worked out. Trump gave another supporter, Georgia’s own Doug Collins (R-GA) a 20-second extended handshake only to discover that the representative had been exposed, too.
The president tried closing the borders and refusing to let cruise ships offload their human cargo. After all, the sick individuals would look bad for Trump’s numbers [of sick people] he said. He has tried to hide the information. For instance, when the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that the White House announce people 60-years-old and up should not fly. This president tried to squelch that life-and-death information.
Mead acknowledged the growing pandemic was serious business. He said Trump “can’t spin” the “disease and its economic consequences” into nothingness. He said:
‘If the epidemic follows the course medical experts believe to be largely inevitable, both the disease and its economic consequences will be immune to Mr. Trump’s standard tactics. He can’t spin them away, divert public attention by creating another drama, or blame them on President Obama.’
The columnist continued trying to bring home the idea the virus was “a serious ideological and political struggle,” not a reality show:
‘The president’s basic political method is theatrical. Many Americans have come to believe that what happens in Washington is mostly fake news, more like professional wrestling than a serious ideological and political struggle with major consequences for their lives.’
The journalist continued saying “The Trump Show” is “potentially disastrous:”
‘He approaches politics as entertainment and has repeatedly foiled opponents by turning potentially disastrous developments—impeachment, for example—into thrilling new episodes of ‘The Trump Show.’ But a pandemic will affect voters more than scandals and pratfalls in the faraway capital. If a recession comes as well, will voters lose patience with Mr. Trump’s sizzle and spin?’
Mead added that the growing pandemic could take the Trump administration and render it helpless. Coronavirus can “bring the economy to a grinding halt:”
‘The coronavirus, if it continues on its present course, will soon become the most powerful adversary the Trump administration has yet faced. Mr. Trump’s other opponents, from Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer to the Iranian mullahs and Kim Jong Un, have nothing on a disease that can threaten the lives of Americans and bring the economy to a grinding halt.’
The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order.
