Prescript: I’m sorry, I hate to talk about and give space to Trump. However, I need (even if just for myself) to articulate the current problems we face as a country, as a result of our government.
Hi everyone. Long time, still no see. It’s been a bit of a wild ride recently, as you might have noticed. Personally, it’s taken a while for my brain to be able to stop screaming into the void and be able to string together coherent sentences on a page. I wanted to be able to post some comforting-type essay on, I don’t know, the resilience of humanity, but I’ll have to leave that to other people for now. Because right now, I’m angry, I’m frustrated, and I need to rant.
Don’t get me wrong. Humanity is indeed resilient, and I am so awed to see all the doctors and nurses who continue to work on the front lines, the teachers who have had to completely rework their curriculums, the people who have stepped up to make fabric masks as a stop-gap for desperate hospitals, the mayors and governors who have had to make hard decisions to keep their people safe, the companies who have volunteered to help produce necessary supplies…
I am not awed by the federal government’s response.
The Structure of a Crisis
While the scale of this pandemic is unprecedented in the modern era, it shouldn’t have been something for which we were wholly unprepared. We have had several outbreaks of diseases in the last decade, including H1N1 and Ebola. We also have plenty of knowledge on historic global pandemics, such as the 1918 Spanish Flu. One of the four transition exercises that the Obama administration prepared in January 2017 for the incoming Trump administration was a spreading global pandemic. And, because I know that most of you don’t click on my neat citation links, I have taken screenshots of the key slides from that transition meeting, published by Politico. I strongly encourage you to read through them.
The key point here is that this is a global issue in an increasingly globalized world. While some people may long for the good old days of isolationism, that ship sailed before women even gained the right to vote, and it’s not coming back as long as the internet is a thing. For better or worse, the US has been a global power for almost a century now. We have been able to shape global policy just by virtue of being the biggest gorilla in the zoo. And as long as you agree with the United States’ vision of How Things Should Be, that’s pretty cool. Even apart from our giant muscly military, we provide monetary aid to over 200 countries. This is a part of the “soft power” that is incredibly important to diplomacy.
A global crisis like this should be addressed from the top down. Response needs to be coordinated between countries, because viruses don’t care about borders. Individual cities and states simply do not have the resources—not only the physical resources but also the intelligence resources—to put together an effective response.
The Specifics
Now let’s take a stroll through the specific failings of Trump and his administration to address this pandemic, up to this point. (For me it’s March 25, 2020, you time travelers out there.)
Failure to Respond in a Timely Manner
Trump’s daily intelligence briefings started including the potential threat from Covid-19 back in January. His first “serious” public address on the crisis wasn’t until March 11. (I put serious in quotes because it was so full of inaccuracies that were immediately debunked, one has to wonder what is going on in the speech writers’ room.) Until that point, Trump had continued to downplay the severity and encourage the narrative that it was all a hoax. Keep in mind, the first reported case of coronavirus in the United States was on January 21, and the first death was on February 29.
Chinese scientists sequenced the virus’ genome and shared it online on January 11. Not only does this help track the origins and mutations of the virus, it provides knowledge needed to test for the disease. By January 17, the WHO had published a working test protocol. On the same day, the US announced their own test that they had independently developed. Unfortunately, while having multiple test versions is a good thing, US labs found that that test did not work. This irreparably set back US testing while they remanufactured the problem parts.
Additionally, tests in the US have to first be approved by the FDA. While this is good in theory—I’m not one to advocate for looser regulations—the particular process for emergency-use authorization took weeks to clear. In pandemic terms, that’s too long. They relaxed requirements on February 29, following a plea from specialists the day before. On the other hand, the FDA approved a “rare disease” designation for a company’s experimental coronavirus treatment, which would give them a seven-year exclusive right to produce that drug without competition. Thankfully, the company requested that the agency rescind that designation. America, where we rely on companies to voluntarily do the right thing.
Failure to Respond Globally
Traditionally, US interventionism means that we’re on the front lines when problems arise. We like to be seen as the ones dispensing aid, fitting with our magnanimous image of ourselves. As the oldest continuous democracy in the world, we (traditionally) want to stand as a symbol of what democracy can achieve. We want to be the shining beacon to which other countries should aspire. (Or improve upon?)
Right now, we are abdicating our global leadership role. This, of course, did not start with Covid-19. It’s just a feature of Trumpism. You cannot be a global leader if you denigrate and insult your allies, if you do not participate in discussions with them, if you abandon them. You cannot be an independent leader if you believe the words of foreign officials over your own officials. (And if you’re not independent, are you a leader?)
We have not helped other countries in this crisis. We’ve even done the opposite. While Iran currently struggles with the 6th most reported cases in the world, the Trump administration has announced additional sanctions. Because everyone knows that the best way to garner good will is to kick people while they’re already down. Speaking of good will, the Trump administration has squandered more by reportedly attempting to secure exclusive vaccine rights. As for being global leaders, it certainly doesn’t look good for us that Chinese companies have been stepping up to assist other countries. If we don’t want other countries using Huawei’s 5G tech, it’s not a good look having them demonstratively donate masks to the Netherlands.
Failure to Respond Humanely
If you can say anything good-ish about Trump’s response to the Coronacrisisâ„¢, it’s that it has been consistent. He has consistently responded with both eyes on the stock market. And look, the reigning feature of modern “conservatism” has been a focus on the health of corporations over the health of, well, everything and everyone else. Full disclosure here, I’m of the opinion that a government of, by, and for the people should serve all its people. That’s right, not just the ones who can afford to buy politicians: all people.
Trump has also been consistent in not taking responsibility, blaming other people, and sowing discord. These are, of course, all traits you should expect of a leader. Wait, no, I mean narcissist.
And even with Trump’s response fully focused on Calming The Markets, he failed to effect that. They have been on an erratic but steep downward trajectory, only showing improvement with news of the Senate coming close to passing a recovery package. (I apologize on NPR’s behalf for that article’s lead photo.) However, the Trump administration has still failed to address how to maintain a functioning economy when over half of its citizens are under shelter-in-place orders, and experts have called for nationwide orders. We are likely facing record unemployment. Many states’ unemployment websites have crashed from high traffic. As mortgage and rent payments have not been suspended, millions of people are wondering how to make everything work – and no one has been at the helm to reassure them.
Failure to Respond
Additionally, Trump has not yet invoked the Defense Production Act. This would allow him to order companies to produce the supplies that hospitals desperately need, from ventilators to masks. His claim is that some companies are doing so on their own. Therefore, there’s no need for a mandate. While some companies have stepped up to do so on their own, there needs to be a coordinated national response. We still aren’t meeting the needs of hospitals. Some companies—with an eye on their shareholders—cannot afford to make those changes on their own. This uncoordinated response also adds to the confusion and uncertainty.
Leaving the response up to states also means that they are competing against each other for those necessary supplies. This drives up prices and, again, increases confusion and uncertainty. At a citizen level, the uneven response from states also increases the chance that some people won’t take the threat from this virus seriously enough.
If the federal government doesn’t feel the need to respond to a crisis like this, what on earth do they think they exist for?
Trump and the trumpiest Trumpism
Sadly, nothing that the Trump administration has done in response to this pandemic should be surprising. It is perfectly in line with everything else they have done. Trump has led the charge on redefining the presidency as an office dedicated to the glory of its holder. (This is in contrast to the idea of the president as the chief public servant, nominally espoused by many previous presidents.) His staff and advisors exist to stroke his ego, not to actually tell him what’s going on. And if they’re not doing that, they’re essentially babysitting him.
The government of the United States, as set forth in the Constitution, is theoretically structured in a way to mitigate some of the repercussions should the American people elect a demagogue. Mainly, there are the checks and balances between the three branches of government. Unfortunately, those don’t help when multiple branches are complicit. Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Turtle himself, has arguably done as much damage to the United States as Trump has. He has been happy to go along with the Trumpist form of government, as it gives him the opportunity to work towards his own ends.
What does that mean? It means that we no longer have a functioning system of checks and balances. Instead, we have party divides acting in their stead. The problem with that, of course, is that political parties are private entities and not legally beholden in any way to the American people. Also, there are really only two of them. It’s hard to have a stool with two legs.
Media in a Trumpian Age
The Right-Wing Media has mostly consolidated around Trump, with hell to pay for any Republican who steps out of line. And Trump, for all his lack of political acumen, knows how to play the media. For their part, Right-Wing Media seems content to play the part of his propaganda arm.
Centrist, balanced media, while not, er, singing Trump’s praises, is also not not contributing to the misinformation. By the mere fact that he occupies the office of the president, there is a certain duty they feel to report on his activities. This is where Trump’s ability to play the media comes in. Take, for instance, his March 11 live address to the nation. All four of his main points were false or misleading, but because it was The President speaking, all major news outlets reported on it. Even when they include the factual debunking in the article, they know that the headlines that sell (click?) are the flashy (even if false) ones. On average, Trump lies 32 times per day. It’s enough that fact checkers have given up on trying to keep up with every lie.
My Disclaimer
There’s always an irony to writing about media coverage of Trump, as that is itself media coverage. Giving him air time or column inches is often playing into his game. It’s a sort of prisoner’s dilemma, in which not reporting leaves you behind, even when you know better. So what on earth do we do? (I say this like I’m a media person too. Which, I guess, thanks to the internet and Social Media, we can all be part of the media! We are all media on this blessed day!) My solution today is See Something, Say Something. This administration has failed us, and I want everyone who cares to read what I write to know that. It means not just slavishly reporting what is said, but critically and thoughtfully responding.
I don’t like to get into political discussions, not because I don’t have strong opinions, but because I kinda suck at articulating them. If you’re still with me here, two thousand words in, I hope I’ve at least put some new thoughts into your head. (I’m all about thinking here.)
As a reward for your perseverance, here’s a fuzzy picture of Butters very sweetly snuggling with me when I was sick at the end of February with a low grade fever, dry cough, major fatigue, and muscle aches!
