Politicizing an Epidemic -UPDATED

Almost any political pundit worth his or her salt will tell you that Donald Trump’s margin of potential victory in the fall may just rise and fall with the economy. Although the post-recession recovery blasted forward during the Obama administration, it is a political reality that if the economy is good at any particular time, credit for that “success” generally benefits the incumbent. That the good times started with another administration is quickly forgotten. In short, if you use unemployment numbers and stock market performance as the standards for US economic success, until the recent coronavirus market plunge, Donald Trump was given all the credit for what the numbers said was a strong economy.

Indeed, people who are literally disgusted with Donald Trump as a human being, especially those with market holdings, were/are all too often willing to vote with their wallets and not their hearts. I remember being in a restaurant recently, when a woman at an adjoining table, eavesdropped on my conversation in which I suggested that the nation just might not survive if Trump extends his presidency into another term. “If you don’t vote for Trump,” she interrupted, “You’ll lose all your money!” Not that I have that much to lose, but her emotion bordered on terror that someone other than Trump might take charge of and then tank the economy.

Which brings me to the reality that if, for any reason the stock market tanks and does not recapture its recent highs before November, Trump’s “trump card” with these independents simply vaporizes. They are left with a battered economy and a Trump downturn; all that’s left is that despicable human being. And if you are not white traditionalist member of Trump’s base, where his fabricated view of the world rules, you are probably not going to vote for him, if you vote at all.

Which is why Trump has labeled the market-tanking coronavirus as a “hoax,” that Democrats are fanning the flames of an unjustified panic, why the World Health Organization is spreading fake news and why all those nations around the world are overreacting to a “relatively minor” outbreak of just one more version of a bad cold. “On Wednesday night [3/4], Trump was asked by [Fox News anchor] Sean Hannity about a World Health Organization official’s recent declaration that ‘globally, around 3.4 percent of reported covid-19 cases have died.’

“‘I think the 3.4 percent is really a false number,’ Trump replied. Conceding that this was just based on ‘my hunch,’ Trump added that ‘a lot of people’ will have the ‘very mild’ coronavirus and don’t go to a doctor, so you ‘never hear about those people.’

“‘So you can’t put them down in the category — the overall population — in terms of this corona-flu, or virus,’ Trump continued, adding that ‘you have thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people that get better, just by sitting around — and even going to work — some of them go to work. But they get better.’” Washington Post, March 5^th.

Oh great, let those infected come to the workplace! The issue with COVID-19 is not just that it is vastly more contagious than most other similar germ threats, it can sit undetectable for 14 days while being spread rapidly to others. It is a very bad flu, if you want an analogy, miserable to all infected and often fatal to elderly and other vulnerable patients.

It was Donald Trump who defunded a CDC staff dedicated to pandemics. It was Donald Trump who did not authorize sufficient funding for test kits necessary to detect the disease in those early stages. It was Donald Trump who skipped over obvious medical experts to appoint an uber-loyalist who has actually decried scientists and scientific facts for decades to run his anti-coronavirus efforts: VP Mike Pence. But the country isn’t buying the administrations assurances.

“President Donald Trump said he would continue to shake people's hands during the coronavirus outbreak, despite his germaphobia and advice from health officials, because ‘you can't be a politician and not shake hands… I'm not thrilled,’ he told a Fox News town hall in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Thursday [2/5].” Business Insider, March 6^th. You can feel his desperation rising. If he cannot minimize the public perception of COVID-19 and get that stock market soaring again, he is feeling the hot breath of losing the election on his neck. Even medical professionals are wary.

How do the nurses who have to deal with the volume of cases feel? “Members of the union National Nurses United said they have faced shifting guidelines and a shortage of supplies as the tally of known infections has increased. They called on the Centers for Disease Control to quickly increase testing for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, and demanded that federal officials implement emergency standards for hospitals and clinics around the country.

“‘The CDC has been behind the ball at almost every step of the way,’ said Jane Thomason, an industrial hygienist for the union… Bonnie Castillo, a registered nurse and the union’s executive director, said nurses were confident they could help contain the spread of the virus, but only if ‘we are given the protections and resources we need to do our jobs.’… 

“The union released the result of a recent survey it conducted of 6,500 members around the country on the question of COVID-19 preparedness. Among the findings:

• Only 44 percent said their employer had given them information about the virus.
• Only 63 percent said they have access to N95 respirators. (These are recommended for health care workers handling potentially infected patients, but not the general public.)
• A little less than two-thirds say they have been trained in how to put on and take off the appropriate protective gear.
• Only 30 percent said they believe their facility has enough protective gear onhand.
• Nearly a quarter said they don’t know if their facility has a plan to isolate infected patients. 

“Not only is the protective equipment hard to come by, union officials said many nurses still have not been trained in how to appropriately put it on and remove it in a way to avoid contamination.” Huffington Post, March 5^th. What they got in lieu of medical supplies was Mike Pence. So, we got spreading disease, but did Trump at least get a market rebound?

Even after the Federal Reserve reacted to plunging markets, the coronavirus effect, by dropping the fed rate by half a point, the markets continued to fall off the cliff. Trump is frustrated that he cannot stop the slide, believing correctly this his electability hinges on the markets rejuvenating… so frustrated that he willing to risk the lives and safety of all Americans unnecessarily by downplaying this virus… to keep his powerful, “yearning for autocracy” job. All that matters to Donald John Trump is Donald John Trump. Is he a fit President? You already know my opinion. I guess this outbreak remains just another hoax to The Donald.

              I’m Peter Dekom, and outside some of the most brutal dictators on earth, Donald John Trump is the most self-centered egoist leading any country on earth.