Donald Trump is undoubtedly the best thing to happen to
anyone in the content generating business. Whenever I am looking for a topic to
write about, I merely have to Google something about the Donald and before you
know it, I have a ready-made topic. I suspect that the Donald will be reelected
based because America’s comedians will make it so – because who else will have
the ability to generate material for them in the way that he has.
Donald Trump’s latest bout of material generating comes from
his handling of the coronavirus. While leaders around the world are busy trying
to figure out how to ban people from traveling around for fear of spreading the
disease in such a way that doesn’t send their economy into a tailspin, the
Donald has decided that he’s smarter than the doctors and declared the virus to
be a hoax and the hysteria is being created by the media to screw him in his
reelection. You can read the story at:
In fairness to Donald Trump, the coronavirus has not been as
lethal as it could have been. According to John Hopkins, the coronavirus has
killed around 4,087 around the world (including 27 in the USA) as of 10 March
2020 while the common flu by comparison has killed 291,000 to 646,000 people
around the world including 12-61 thousand yearly in the USA. The comparison
between the viruses can be found at:
I, for example am continuing to live life pretty much as I’ve
been doing for the last few years. The only thing I notice is that I remember
as being very crowded are less so and whenever I enter a building, I need to
get my temperature checked and I have to fill out a health declaration to state
that I’ve not been to the worst hit places (China, South Korea and now Italy).
Having said what I’ve just said, the Donald’s behavior is
not what you’d expect of a shopping mall security guard, let alone President of
the Most Powerful Nation on the Planet. While the coronavirus may not have
killed as many people as the flu, one can argue that the reason for this is
simple – the coronavirus has only been around for a shorter period than the flu
and governments around the world rushed to contain the virus.
To put it simply, we know more about the flu than we do
about the coronavirus. There are vaccines that have saved people from the worst
strains of the flu. Antiviral medications exist that can address the symptoms
of the flu and even shorten the illness. At the time of writing, there are no
vaccines for the coronavirus and the antiviral medications are merely in the testing
stage as far as the coronavirus is concerned.
The flu may have killed more but we know how to deal with
it. We know how to deal with the flu. By comparison, much a not known about the
coronavirus, other than the fact that it spreads exceedingly quickly. The key
here is the fact that this is an “unknown” killer that spreads quickly.
World Leaders, including, dare I say President Xi Jin Peng
of China are acting to assure nervous populations. The most impressive action
came from Macau, which shut down its casinos (which are pretty much the source
of economic activity) to contain the virus. These types of action give people
confidence in the leadership looking after the citizens.
The Trump, by contrast is not providing leadership. Rather
than focus on the country, the communication from the White House has been focused
on the presidency and how the virus affects the country and it has shown a
disregard for the facts. How much reassurance does that provide? The only positive
comments on the Trump Administration’s handling of the virus has been to praise
the Trump Administration from its crackdown on “illegals” who happen to be “unvaccinated.”
Evoking these sentiments at a time of crisis is not leadership but a form of
political opportunism. It’s too bad that there are those who don’t recognize the
difference between leadership and opportunism.
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