In two Monday morning tweets, President Trump made it painfully apparent that he's in full and utter denial concerning the coronavirus menace.
In two Monday morning tweets, President Trump made it painfully apparent that he’s in full and utter denial concerning the coronavirus menace.
Monday has seen a flood of dangerous information associated to the coronavirus, notably on the financial facet. The inventory market collapsed sharply amid fears that the measures essential to fight the virus’s unfold will decelerate economies around the globe. The drop was so precipitous that buying and selling on the New York Inventory Trade was automatically suspended for 15 minutes — a stabilizing measure designed to stop a whole collapse.
The inventory market isn’t a very good measure of financial well being normally, but it surely’s one which President Trump cares for fairly a bit. In response to the sell-off, he had two primary choices: acknowledge the general public’s professional fears and take steps to enhance confidence within the US response, or blame the media and persuade everybody that the issue isn’t actual in any respect.
Guess which one he took?
Saudi Arabia and Russia are arguing over the value and movement of oil. That, and the Pretend Information, is the explanation for the market drop!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 9, 2020
So final 12 months 37,000 Individuals died from the widespread Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per 12 months. Nothing is shut down, life & the economic system go on. At this second there are 546 confirmed instances of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Take into consideration that!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 9, 2020
Each of those tweets are deeply deceptive.
It’s true that Saudi Arabia and Russia are in the midst of a spat over oil production levels and that it’s inflicting a drop within the worth of oil. Nevertheless, you’ll be able to’t separate the oil state of affairs from the coronavirus downside. “Coronavirus is essential. It’s inflicting demand to drop dramatically — successfully shutting down the massive Asian economies, cancelling flights and inflicting individuals to remain house,” writes Emma Ashford, an professional on oil politics on the libertarian Cato Institute.
However a number of the inventory sell-off is concerning the financial results of the virus itself, notably fears that the measures taken to include it, corresponding to canceling occasions and proscribing journey, will grind the worldwide economic system to a halt. Trump appears to be arguing that the market response is paranoia stoked by a pretend information media inflating the dangers from the sickness. Doesn’t the flu kill extra individuals, in any case?
There are various, many issues with this comparability. One large one is that the US well being care system is supplied for coping with the seasonal flu — however not the flu and one other lethal contagious illness on the similar time, so extra excessive measures could also be obligatory to stop it from being overwhelmed. One other is that individuals have immunities to the flu however to not the coronavirus, which signifies that one individual with Covid-19 might unfold it far more simply in an workplace or faculty than an individual with the flu.
Basically, the difficulty with these tweets is larger than Trump not telling the reality. It signifies that as an alternative of going through the truth of a worldwide public well being and financial disaster, the president of the USA resides in denial. He’s selecting to faux this can be a pretend downside and, worse, appears to suppose he can persuade the nation and the world that it’s, too.
For Individuals relying on the Trump administration to guard them from the illness, this needs to be deeply disturbing.