An American President Is Supposed To Handle Crises, Not Be One
An American president’s job is to solve crises. Not create them.
Trump’s four years were dominated by crisis. Most of it was his own making.
Why have people forgotten this?
Nearly half the American electorate seems to favor re-electing a career criminal and drama queen whose desire for attention created a new crisis of some sort, large or small, almost every day. Americans have also mysteriously forgotten that he is directly responsible for more than a million American deaths.
If he was Iran, there’d be a universal call to nuke him.
This was not a president who was the victim of some rotten luck. He actively assisted what should have been a fairly routine virus as it tore apart the country, killing more than a million Americans and creating a permanent chasm between people who believe in science versus people who don’t.
The issue isn’t even that he was responsible for so many deaths. A well-meaning president can also make mistakes. The issue is how he allowed his incompetence and fury against science to cause so much misery.
The Timeline of The Trump Virus
There was precedence for solving pandemics twenty years before COVID came along. This precedent is recorded by history as the first SARS epidemic in 2002. Like its more famous cousin COVID-19 (aka SARS-CoV-2), the original SARS (aka SARS-CoV) was a coronavirus thought to have started in a Chinese outdoor market.
SARS-CoV spread to 29 countries with 8422 cases and 916 fatalities. This was considered a big deal at the time.
According to the National Library of Medicine:
After an unprecedented global public health effort, the epidemic was controlled within 7 months of its original occurrence. The scientific effort demonstrated unusual international cooperation and was facilitated by electronic communication. Media coverage was incredibly accurate and provided worldwide pictures to augment scientific data.
A bit of luck helped science prevent the virus from spreading further, but the international medical community learned important lessons.
So when, on January 5, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a fairly routine report of an unknown virus presenting SARS-like symptoms in Wuhan, China, the United States should have been prepared.
It wasn’t.
Americans have erased Trump’s disastrous response from memory. It’s a painful reminder, but with an election looming, I find it necessary to emphasize that people I know died. People you know died. Loved ones, friends, lovers, parents, grandparents, bosses, co-workers, teachers, mentors, and even a few favorite celebrities.
Trump did more than let this happen.
He created conditions that helped the virus thrive before anybody had heard of it.
If the world was fair and the media wasn’t hell-bent on its weird “balance” thing that dictates that a wildly irresponsible sexual predator facing 88 federal indictments in four separate cases should be treated normally, COVID-19 would be known as The Trump Virus.
Before the 2020 pandemic, in May 2018, the Trump administration disbanded the White House pandemic response team. This is the kind of thing that can also disband the lessons that might have been learned from the 2002 virus.
The Trump administration went further.
In July 2019, Trump removed the epidemiologist in China working under the auspices of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), despite a series of prior virus scares (including the 2002 SARS epidemic) and alerts originating from outdoor markets in China.
After the initial WHO announcement that warned the public of COVID, Trump rambled and complained for two years, shimmying around the public spotlight like a rat hunting for a dark corner.
Not only did we all wake up every day to worsening news, but we also had to endure daily morning tweets from an unstable idiot.
The crazier he got, the crazier we seemed to get with him. We got so used to his blustering insanity that even today, nothing he does or says surprises us, and we just shrug and go on with our day.
By the time he left office, Trump had created a situation so bad that vaccinations are now shunned by much of the public. If another outbreak occurs, and it will, there is virtually no chance that any American president, Republican or Democrat, can corral the entire country into another lockdown.
Millions will probably die even if Trump is in prison because, during The Trump Virus, his primary call to action to his most loyal followers was to eschew and decry science.
During the next outbreak, the nation will be reduced to half the population hiding from the other half, hoping it doesn’t die along with the half that refuses to get a vaccine, mask up, or quarantine.
Trump wasn’t satisfied with dividing the nation into science vs. non-science factions. He divided us along racial lines. He divided us into urban vs. rural territories. He divided men and women. Gays vs. Cis. Gun lovers against gun haters.
He divided us into religious fanatics vs. secularists. He divided educators into camps of woke vs. non-woke. He even divided libraries. How the hell does someone make a library controversial? He found a way.
He’s given voice to racists and misogynists and a variety of haters that would take twenty more Medium minutes to document.
We can argue that many of these divisions were festering. News alert: Divisions are always festering. He has thrived on throwing gas on the fires of division. It’s the very essence of his persona.
The divide Trump created during The Trump Virus is so bad that Hollywood created a movie about a second American civil war that has scared the shit out of anyone who’s seen it.
The Trump Virus didn’t just divide the country while it made people sick and killed them. It gave us a wild inflation ride that the public has blamed on Biden (who has largely tamed it), and launched a crime wave also blamed on Biden (and also largely tamed under his watch).
I’m sorry to bring back painful memories. But if the nation insists on forgetting the travesty of The Trump Virus, we have no choice. We must review the 2020 COVID timeline of his quotes (with annotations) so that we can remind ourselves of the horror one man can wreak:
January 24:
“China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!”
January 30:
“We only have five people. Hopefully, everything’s going to be great. They have somewhat of a problem, but hopefully, it’s all going to be great. But we’re working with China, just so you know, and other countries very, very closely. So it doesn’t get out of hand.”
February 2:
“We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.”
February 10:
“Looks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away. I hope that’s true. But we’re doing great in our country. China, I spoke with President Xi, and they’re working very, very hard. And I think it’s going to all work out fine.”
February 13:
“In our country, we only have, basically, 12 cases, and most of those people are recovering and some cases fully recovered. So it’s actually less.”
February 24:
“The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”
February 26:
“When you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done.”
Feb. 27:
“It’s going to disappear. One day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”
On February 27, Representative Lloyd Doggett expressed deep concerns and a bit of outrage over the administration’s handling of the pandemic:
On February 28, the WHO raised its risk assessment of a world pandemic from “high” to “very high.”
At this point in the timeline, it's important to remember that nothing is more important during the early stages of a pandemic than for governments to develop a rapid response.
February 28:
“We’re ordering a lot of supplies. We’re ordering a lot of, uh, elements that frankly we wouldn’t be ordering unless it was something like this. But we’re ordering a lot of different elements of medical.”
March 2:
“You take a solid flu vaccine, you don’t think that could have an impact, or much of an impact, on corona?
Then, separately…
“A lot of things are happening, a lot of very exciting things are happening and they’re happening very rapidly.”
March 4:
“Now, and this is just my hunch, and — but based on a lot of conversations with a lot of people that do this. Because a lot people will have this and it’s very mild.”
Then, separately…
“If we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work — some of them go to work, but they get better.”
March 5:
“I NEVER said people that are feeling sick should go to work.”
Then, separately…
“It’s going to all work out. Everybody has to be calm. It’s all going to work out.”
Then, separately…
“The United States… has, as of now, only 129 cases… and 11 deaths. We are working very hard to keep these numbers as low as possible!”
March 6:
“I think we’re doing a really good job in this country at keeping it down… a tremendous job at keeping it down.”
Then, separately…
“You have to be calm. It’ll go away.”
Then, separately…
“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?”
Then, separately…
“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.”
March 7:
“I’m not concerned at all.”
On March 9, the White House announced that the U.S. had tested one million people. In truth, only 4,000 were tested.
March 10:
“Just stay calm. It will go away.”
Then, separately…
“This was unexpected. … And it hit the world. And we’re prepared, and we’re doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.”
On March 11, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the WHO had determined that “COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic.”
March 11:
“The vast majority of Americans, the risk is very, very low.”
Then, separately…
“It goes away….It’s going away. We want it to go away with very, very few deaths.”
Then, separately…
“The vast majority of Americans, the risk is very, very low”
March 12:
“You know, you see what’s going on. And so I just wanted that to stop as it pertains to the United States. And that’s what we’ve done. We’ve stopped it.”
March 13:
“I don’t take responsibility at all.”
On March 13, a total of 14,000 tests had been administered, despite administration promises of between 1.5 million and 4 million tests per week, depending on which administration official was making the promise.
March 15:
“This is a very contagious virus. It’s incredible. But it’s something that we have tremendous control over.”
March 16:
“Respirators, ventilators, all of the equipment — try getting it yourselves,”
March 17
“This is a pandemic. … I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic.”
March 21
“HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE & AZITHROMYCIN, taken together, have a real chance to be one of the biggest game changers in the history of medicine. The FDA has moved mountains — Thank You!”
On March 23, the WHO’s Tedros said, in response to Trump’s reckless Tweet, “Using untested medicines without the right evidence could raise false hope and even do more harm than good.”
Tedros then pointed out that the growth of the pandemic was becoming exponential. Whereas it had taken 67 days to grow from one case to 100,000, it only took 11 days to reach the next 100,000, and four days to reach the next 100,000 cases.
Nations across the globe were locking down.
March 24:
“Easter is a very special day for me. And I see it sort of in that timeline that I’m thinking about. And I say, wouldn’t it be great to have all of the churches full?”
“We’ve never closed down the country for the flu. So you say to yourself, what is this all about?”
Meanwhile on that same day, at an emergency world summit, the WHO’s Tedros said, “We are at war with a virus that threatens to tear us apart.”
On March 26, the United States became the country with the most coronavirus cases, despite the virus originating in a country with more than a billion people.
April 3:
“I’m feeling good. I just don’t want to be doing — somehow sitting in the Oval Office behind that beautiful resolute desk, the great resolute desk, I think wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens, I don’t know, somehow I don’t see it for myself. I just don’t. Maybe I’ll change my mind.”
April 14:
“Today I am instructing my administration to halt funding of the World Health Organization while a review is conducted to assess the World Health Organization’s role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus.”
April 19:
“Now we’re going toward 50, I’m hearing, or 60,000 people [dead from the coronavirus].”
On April 20, the death toll passed 40,000.
April 23:
“I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside or almost a cleaning? As you see, it gets in the lungs, it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it would be interesting to check that.”
That statement prompted the makers of Lysol, a popular disinfectant, to warn people to never, under any circumstances, inject themselves with their product. It is unknown how many of Trump’s dedicated followers attempted to do so anyway.
“You see states are starting to open up now, and it’s very exciting to see.”
By April 23, more than 26 million jobless claims had been filed. The death toll reached 50,000 on April 24, just four days after it had reached 40,000.
People were freaking out. Remember? No?
Why? Because the memories are painful of seeing loved ones die? Of course, that’s fair. But Trump’s destructive behavior was just getting started.
It’s not something you should be forgetting.
April 29:
“It’s gonna go away, this is going to go away.”
On April 29, the death toll reached 60,000.
On May 5, one of the many root causes of inflation triggered by the pandemic that would later be blamed on Biden began to take hold as consumer debt hit its highest levels in history.
On that same day, the death toll hit 70,000.
May 5:
“There’ll be more death, that the virus will pass, with or without a vaccine. And I think we’re doing very well on the vaccines but, with or without a vaccine, it’s going to pass, and we’re going to be back to normal.”
On May 6, 2020, The Brookings Institution issued a report stating that American children were facing a level of food insecurity “unprecedented in modern times.” Democrats attempted to launch a program to expand the food stamp program, but the attempt was blocked by congressional Republicans.
On May 7, it was reported that 33 million jobless claims had been filed since the start of the pandemic, up 7 million in a little more than two weeks.
May 9:
“This is going to go away without a vaccine.”
On May 11, the death toll hit the 80,000 mark.
It is worth mentioning here that most studies indicate that death tolls were underreported during these early months.
Right-wingers, of course, claimed the opposite was true, blaming COVID deaths on everything from the flu to bad molars.
May 11:
“Coronavirus numbers are looking MUCH better, going down almost everywhere. Big progress being made!”
On May 22, the government reported that more than 38 million jobless claims had been filed since the beginning of the pandemic, an increase of five more million from the previous week.
On May 27, the U.S. death toll reached the 100,000 mark.
May 29:
“We will be today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization”
When Trump left office, he left more than 450,000 dead Americans in his wake. Another half million would die soon after because of a virulent anti-vaccination campaign that began at his and his cult’s urging. Most of the people who died perished because they weren’t vaccinated.
They died because The Trump Virus became Trump himself.
The collapse of the economy under Trump
Trump’s response to the COVID crisis also created an economic nightmare that Biden has spent four years fixing while receiving almost no credit.
Remember those government checks you got? Those and other pandemic-related rescue programs cost the U.S. government $5 trillion. This is the very definition of inflationary government behavior. They were a good thing. Some of them happened under Biden, too. But they came at a cost.
Americans weren’t told, of course, anything like this:
“We’re gonna give you a couple of thousand bucks to tide you over, but eggs are gonna triple in price in two years. K?”
Sidebar: The real reason egg prices tripled is that two or three dairy companies control the egg market and opportunistically gouged the public in the wake of The Trump Virus, but that’s a separate post.
According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the government’s assistance programs…
…contributed to strong consumer and business demand, which tightened labor markets (between mid-2021 and early 2022 the ratio of job vacancies to unemployed workers doubled), putting upward pressure on wages and prices.
The fresh cash created a bottomless pit of demand, which clogged the ports to the point that container ships were lined up in the ocean outside ports such as Savannah and Long Beach.
One of the first things the Biden administration realized it had to do was to fix those ports, so the administration quickly enacted programs and legislation to improve port infrastructure. It took them barely a year to unwind the worst of it, much to the surprise of international logistics experts.
Biden inherited a crisis and quickly solved it. He has since secured more than $500 million in port infrastructure projects and attacked the problem so thoroughly that such seemingly minor details as intermodal container chassis shortages were addressed.
During the pandemic, oil was, and I do mean this literally, pegged at zero dollars per barrel for a while because world trade took such a big initial hit.
Its inevitable rise was sure to help trigger price increases, especially as subsidies began to flow into Americans’ pockets.
The triple whammy of clogged ports, a broken supply chain, and huge demand fueled by government assistance programs pushed prices up.
But inflation doesn’t happen instantly. It happened during the space between Trump’s exit and Biden’s second year.
Guess who gets the blame for that? What an irony it would be if inflation maintains its downward pace and Trump receives credit for its reduction during a second term.
A crime explosion
The pandemic led to an explosion of violent crime that is finally beginning to wane.
As people found themselves cooped up during lockdowns, many of their short fuses resulted in murders. The crime wave was started by The Trump Virus.
The statistics from the FBI since Biden took office are clear. 2022 murders were down 1.7% compared to 2021, the year Biden took office. Violent crime, in general, also trended down. 2022 numbers were their lowest since 2014, and half of 1990–91 rates.
But that’s not the perception.
Biden shouldn’t necessarily get credit for the drop in violent crime. The murder rate has simply fallen to its previous, pre-COVID levels on its own through an organic process.
But we shouldn’t forget why the murder rate skyrocketed in the first place: Trump’s disastrous handling of the pandemic.
As if his response to that crisis wasn’t bad enough, his constant whining and hate-filled grievance politics put everyone in a bad mood. Weren’t you on a hair trigger, too, during those days? But somehow, people seem to want to return to being on edge 24/7.
In conclusion, we must ask ourselves. What exactly was, and is, The Trump Virus? Was it the pandemic he failed to contain, one he seemed to enjoy as it helped him sow division? Or is it Trump himself?
And why would a nation desire to make itself sick all over again?
Notes
The following are sources used for piecing together the information in this article.
Timelines
Representative Lloyd Doggett’s timeline (which I borrowed from liberally since it’s public domain):
A timeline from NPR:
Tamara Keith
Inflation
Crime
https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/fbi-releases-2022-crime-in-the-nation-statistics
Judd Legum
Coronavirus deaths
Ports
Biden Announces Measures at Major Ports to Battle Supply Chain Woes
Thanks for reading! For my American friends, I hope your Memorial Day is a peaceful one, and I hope you can find the time to memorialize those who fell to The Trump Virus.
