Last night, I watched the PBS Frontline documentary The Virus: What Went Wrong. It noted the fact that Chinese leaders attempted to cover up the severity of the novel coronavirus and that they at first denied that it was spreading via human-to-human contact. The documentary also mentioned the CDC's bungled attempt to create a reliable test for COVID-19.
But, if we were paying attention to what we read in our so-called "fake news", we probably knew about the Chinese government's cover up and the CDC's blunders. I also knew that there was a Chinese physician who tried to warn officials about the coronavirus, but who later died from the virus. What I didn’t know is that Li Wenliang is regarded as a national hero. So, even though their government tried to silence him, Chinese citizens are appreciative of the doctor's efforts on their behalf.
Frontline also suggested that the US government made the same error as Chinese officials; they tried to minimize the pandemic’s threat.
We all know that Trump was in total denial about the growing COVID-19 pandemic, and that is the #1 reason why the coronavirus was allowed to get out of control in the USA. It has killed 120,000 Americans so far.
Frontline noted an event that I knew nothing about, and which is the reason for my post. I think it shines a light on Trump's failings as a national leader.
In late February, HHS Secretary Alex Azar, CDC Director Robert Redfield, Anthony Fauci, and others decided to have an "intervention" with Trump in order to convince him that the coronavirus was really serious. Trump was in India but scheduled to be back the next day.
On February 26, Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC held a press conference. She said that, "It's not so much a question of if this will happen anymore but rather more a question of exactly when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illness."
When Trump heard about Messonnier's comments, he flew into a rage and aimed his anger at Azar. The meeting that Azar tried to schedule never occurred. More weeks went by before Trump belatedly announced stay-at-home guidelines on March 16. In that time, the number of confirmed cases went from a handful to several thousand.
What is instructive about this exchange is what it says about the kind of leader Trump is.
- The medical experts were not able to set up a meeting for many days during a critical period.
- No medical expert was able to get access to Trump in order to warn him of the urgency.
- When Trump threw a fit, they were not able to approach him with critical information.
- This is how toxic narcissists behave. They let the people around them know that unwanted advice will not only be rejected, but will be harshly dealt with.
- Trump believes he's smarter than the experts and so they can be treated like fools. See also FBI, CIA, and US Army generals.
- Lick-spittle Republican politicians are enabling this behavior in Trump by trump-splaining. Whether it is out of fear or lack of principles or a desire to please their Lord and Master, I cannot say.