COVID-19 HAS A FRIEND IN DONALD J. TRUMP

When David Brooks says “… that’s what you get when you elect a sociopath to the presidency,” it should send a shiver down our collective spine. He said this Friday night during his weekly spot with Mark Shields on the PBS News Hour when asked about the Trump Administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. If you are familiar with Brooks, you know him to be an intelligent, level-headed, fair and, most importantly, sober voice, well known for decades in the world of American politics. And … he is a conservative.

Brooks’ sentiments are shared by many Americans witnessing the Trump Administration’s fundamentally flawed response to the COVID-19 pandemic. To see the evidence of this, one must look no further than the statements Donald Trump has made since this outbreak reached our shores.

On January 22, in response to the first case of the coronavirus in the United States being confirmed, President Trump told the American people that “we have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. It’s going to be just fine.” That was not the case, and, as we now know, there was absolutely no reason to think that anyone in the world had it “totally under control.” Instead of expressing the seriousness of the situation, Trump tried to downplay the potential danger.

Even more disturbing, by the end of February, the World Health Organization (“WHO”) had sent proven, reliable COVID-19 tests to 60 countries around the world. For still unknown reasons, the Trump Administration refused to accept those tests, instead opting for the CDC to develop its own. This caused a massive delay, as the first test developed by the CDC ended up being unreliable with many false negatives and positives. By March 13, only 15 thousand people had been tested for COVID-19, which is laughable considering the number of tests available in other countries.

Why Trump declined to use the WHO test, even temporarily as a bridge until the CDC could finish its own, remains a very troubling unanswered question. And, now we are in a crisis as the virus has been found to be easily transferred by asymptomatic carriers. We still don’t even have enough tests for those who are already showing symptoms.

On February 26, the President was presented with a question regarding the growth in the number of infected Americans, which was at that point 15. He explained, “the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.” He went on to say that those numbers were “going very substantially down, not up.” That number is now more than 3,300 and quickly rising.

On March 6, the President went on a kind of rally of statements that can only be described as a potent blend of ignorance and narcissism:

“Anybody right now, and yesterday, anybody that needs a test gets a test. They’re there. And the tests are beautiful … the tests are all perfect like the letter was perfect. The transcription was perfect. Right? This was not as perfect as that but pretty good.”

Later in the same press conference, and in the same fashion, Trump bragged about his ability to understand complex scientific data regarding epidemiology:

“I like this stuff. I really get it. People are surprised that I understand it … Every one of these doctors said, ‘how do you know so much about this?’ Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead of running for president.”

Less than 5 minutes later he went on to ask, “does anyone die of the flu? I didn’t know people died from the flu.”

More than 61,000 people died from seasonal influenza last year. Concerned with this often-used illogical comparison, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), clarified that “the flu has a mortality rate of 0.1 percent. This has a mortality rate of 10 times that. That’s the reason I want to emphasize we have to stay ahead of the game in preventing this.”

There is no vaccine for COVID-19, and it is more contagious among asymptomatic carriers than the flu. The President, after knowing about the risk associated with this outbreak for almost 2 months, has finally acknowledged the gravity of the situation we find ourselves in. But, up until now, he has been sowing false optimism that the situation is improving when his own response team has stressed that it will get worse.

In a situation like this, the credibility and competence of our leaders is the only thing standing between us and a catastrophe. Unfortunately, it seems more and more apparent that the current administration has none of the above; highlighted by the President just this past Sunday claiming that our government has “total control over the virus.” His press conferences are filled with constant self- adoration with underlings shamelessly praising their dear leader in an almost North Korean way. At a time when we need steady, honest, compassionate leadership, our President seems solely concerned with how this crisis reflects upon him. Now, I’m not a psychologist, but it isn’t hard to see where David Brooks was coming from. While Trump might not rise to the level of sociopathy, his lack of empathy and concern for anyone beyond arm’s reach is indisputably troubling.