Behind Trump’s failure on the Covid-19 virus

‘An examination reveals the president was warned about the potential for a pandemic but that internal divisions, lack of planning and his faith in his own instincts led to a halting response…

‘During the last week in March, Kellyanne Conway, a senior White House adviser involved in task force meetings, gave voice to concerns other aides had. She warned Mr. Trump that his wished-for date of Easter to reopen the country likely couldn’t be accomplished. Among other things, she told him, he would end up being blamed by critics for every subsequent death caused by the virus.

‘Within days, he watched images on television of a calamitous situation at Elmhurst Hospital Center, miles from his childhood home in Queens, NY. where 13 people had died from the coronavirus in 24 hours.’

NOTE: On April 13, when NY Governor Cuomo said the ‘worst is over’, the total cases in New York was 195,031 with 10,056 deaths (NYT report of April 13)

Read here (New York Times, April 11, 2020)

Trump is creating a ‘dangerous situation’ by promoting an unproven coronavirus treatment, according to an expert on misinformation

‘President Donald Trump’s promotion of an unproven coronavirus treatment is creating a “dangerous situation,” according to misinformation expert Lisa Fazio. Trump has repeatedly talked up the potential benefits of anti-malaria drug chloroquine and the more widely used hydroxychloroquine despite a lack of clinical evidence showing that either are effective against COVID-19. His enthusiasm has helped fuel a surge in demand that’s led to a shortage, making it hard for people who rely on the drugs to treat non-coronavirus conditions to fill their prescriptions. Trump’s endorsement is particularly worrisome given the amount of misinformation already surrounding the coronavirus, Fazio told Business Insider.’

Read here (Business Insider, April 9, 2020)

Hydroxychloroquine or else! Trump threatens India

‘India, the world’s main supplier of generic drugs, said on Tuesday it will allow limited exports of the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine that US President Donald Trump has touted as a potential weapon in the fight against the coronavirus.

‘The Indian government had put a hold on exports of hydroxychloroquine as well as on the pain reliever, paracetamol, saying stocks were depleting because of the hit to global supply chains after the coronavirus emerged in China late last year.

‘But Trump spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the weekend seeking supplies and on Monday said India may face retaliation if it didn’t withdraw the ban on exports.’

Read here (Reuters, April 7, 2020)

Trump’s response to the pandemic has been haunted by the science denialism of his ultraconservative religious allies

‘Donald Trump rose to power with the determined assistance of a movement that denies science, bashes government and prioritised loyalty over professional expertise. In the current crisis, we are all reaping what that movement has sown...

‘It is fair to point out that the failings of the Trump administration in the current pandemic are at least as attributable to its economic ideology as they are to its religious inclinations. When the so-called private sector is supposed to have the answer to every problem, it’s hard to deal effectively with the very public problem of a pandemic and its economic consequences. But if you examine the political roots of the life-threatening belief in the privatisation of everything, you’ll see that Christian nationalism played a major role in creating and promoting the economic foundations of America’s incompetent response to the pandemic.’

Read here (New York Times, March 27, 2020)