As worries about a possible global pandemic spread, and people die, and Centers for Disease Control officials warn that “disruption to everyday life may be severe,” Donald Trump has a two-pronged message about the COVID-19 coronavirus. First, there’s nothing to see here, no problem, everything is under control. Second, he, Donald Trump, is being done wrong by the media and Democrats trying to make the situation look bad.
Speaking in India on Tuesday, Trump lied about the number of people in the U.S. infected with coronavirus and said “I think that's a problem that's going to go away.” Trump then shot out a few typically dishonest tweets and announced a Wednesday evening press conference about the disease response.
One of Trump’s tweets made clear his real concern about coronavirus. “Low Ratings Fake News MSDNC (Comcast) & @CNN are doing everything possible to make the Caronavirus look as bad as possible,” he tweeted, “including panicking markets, if possible.”
Ah. “Panicking markets.”
Never mind the potential for loss of life, Trump is concerned about the stock market. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow has spent the week trying to assuage fears after big dips Monday and Tuesday. And Trump is definitely ready to shoot the messenger. “Trump has watched the stock market’s fall closely and believes extreme warnings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have spooked investors,” The Washington Post reported, based on information from unnamed “aides.”
Why would Trump be putting “panicking markets” above potential loss of life? Because of his reelection chances, of course. What he has going for him, aside from the undemocratic composition of the Electoral College, is a decent economy. When Trump thinks about the economy, he worries about crashing stocks, despite nearly half of Americans owning no stocks and many of those having paltry amounts in inadequate retirement funds. But that’s not coronavirus’s only economic threat to Trump’s reelection chances, which are not going to be helped if global supply chain disruptions leave stores with empty shelves and especially if supplies of needed pharmaceuticals and medical devices are hit hard.
Trump’s obsession with markets is also about him not having the imagination to anticipate how his electoral fate could be affected by a publicly incompetent response or even just by widespread disease out of his control. And his obsession with markets may make that more likely, if he leans on public health officials to downplay the disease’s risks, temporarily propping up markets but in the longer term increasing the probability of a pandemic.
This is a dangerous time for public health, and the United States is being led by someone who only cares about his reelection, his ego, his bank account—and doesn’t even have the long-term strategic thinking to consider that competence might be the best way to protect all three. So, make it a really dangerous time for public health.