by Melvin A. Goodman, 
Trump’s attack on the truth marches on. Let’s not forget that on February 27, 2020, Donald Trump predicted a quick victory over the novel coronavirus in this country.
Well, Trump’s “vanishing virus” is not closing in on zero; rather we are dealing with far different numbers as we close in on two million cases and more than 110,000 deaths. All public health experts agree that a pandemic requires truth from our leaders. Instead, we get deceit, arrogance and ignorance on January 21, 2020, Trump stated that
Come and Get It?
On March 6, 2020, Trump stated that “anybody that wants a test can get a test.” The following day, however, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said, “You may not get a test unless a doctor or public health official prescribes a test.” The United States lagged far behind other major countries in providing tests for possible cases, and there were numerous reports from across the country documenting the scarcity of tests. When the Acting Deputy Inspector General of HHS reported these conditions, including CDC’s delivery of flawed tests to state and local health departments, she was replaced.
The countries that were the most successful in dealing with the pandemic such as Iceland, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan, had comprehensive strategies for testing and contact tracing. Nevertheless, a week later, Trump took credit for “the most aggressive and comprehensive effort to confront a foreign virus in modern history.”
Novel Virus – Novel Problem?
On March 16, 2020, Trump noted that “we have a problem that a month ago nobody ever thought about.” Well, the Obama administration certainly thought about the problem, which is why it created an office in the National Security Council to deal with biological warfare and pandemics. Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, abolished the office. The “President’s Daily Brief” alerted the President to the health crisis as early as January 10, 2020, and reportedly included a dozen intelligence items in January and February with more warnings.
On January 28, 2020, Dr. Luciana Borio and Dr. Scott Gottlieb, two former Trump administration officials published an OpEd in the Wall Street Journal titled “Act Now to Prevent an American Epidemic.” The article emphasized the importance of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) partnering with the private sector to conduct comprehensive testing. It was more than a month later that found the Trump administration issuing guidance that encouraged testing by the private sector.
Game Changer?
On May 18, 2020, when Trump defended his use of the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine because it was a “game changer” that provides an “additional level of safety,” even Fox News warned against using the drug as a preventative treatment. Fox News host Neil Cavuto noted the warnings from the Food and Drug Administration. As well as, from the Veterans Administration that concluded the two primary outcomes for COVID-19 patients treated with the drug were “death and the need for mechanical ventilation.” So, when the President asked “what have you got to lose?”, it turns out the answer, according to Cavuto, was “their lives.” Naturally, Trump immediately tweeted that Cavuto was “anti-Trump” and that he was “looking for a new outlet.”
Trump on the Attack
Donald Trump’s outrageous attacks on the World Health Organization and withholding of funds have weakened an essential organization for dealing with the pandemic. Further, it has left the United States isolated in the international community and given China the opportunity to take over America’s WHO leadership role. Lawrence Gostin, the director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University stressed that “This kind of disruption and setting global health on fire by the Trump administration is going to cost lives.”
It is unconscionable that Trump would rail against the WHO for weeks as the public health crisis in the United States worsened. In fact, it was Trump’s public denials of the virus’s dangers that slowed the U.S. response, particularly the delayed testing and the failure to stockpile protective gear. As a result, according to Thomas Christensen, the director of the China and the World program at Columbia University and a former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, “We’re weakening our own diplomatic profile around the world, and strengthening China’s.”
History Repeating Itself
John Barry’s “The Great Influenza: The Story of the Greatest Pandemic in History” concludes that the final lesson of the 1918 pandemic was a “simple one, yet one most difficult to execute,” which is that “those who occupy positions of authority must lessen the panic that can alienate all within a society. Society cannot function if it is every man for himself. By definition, civilization cannot survive that.” In other words, “those in authority must retain the public’s trust. The way to do that is to distort nothing, to put the best face on nothing, to try to manipulate no one.” Three and a half years of Donald Trump indicates that we will never get the truth from his White House.
The opinions expressed by Mel are wholly his own and do not imply in any way Florida Veterans For Common Sense, Inc. endorsement or agreement.