Trump telling his usual lies at the daily campaign rally he holds in the press briefing room, where he tells the world nothing is his fault; he’s doing everything wonderfully, and he has great TV ratings
Credit: Yuri Gripas/Reuters
Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, which he once dismissed as a hoax, has been fiercely criticised at home as woefully inadequate to the point of irresponsibility.
Yet also thanks largely to Trump, a parallel disaster is unfolding across the world: the ruination of America’s reputation as a safe, trustworthy, competent international leader and partner.
Call it the Trump double-whammy. Diplomatically speaking, the US is on life support.
“The Trump administration’s self-centred, haphazard, and tone-deaf response [to Covid-19] will end up costing Americans trillions of dollars and thousands of otherwise preventable deaths,” wrote Stephen Walt, professor of international relations at Harvard.
“But that’s not the only damage the United States will suffer. Far from ‘making America great again’, this epic policy failure will further tarnish [its] reputation as a country that knows how to do […]
If this brings about the dissolution of the “Great American Empire” it will be a major benefit of a dreadful experience. That Lord Trump and a virus were needed to make the country reexamine our place in the world with all the death and destruction that has been visited in our name on our fellow humans over the last 60+ years is truly sad. “Pride goeth before the fall.”
On the other hand if you want to see something uplifting you might view The Atlantic magazine photos; “Easter Service in a Distanced World”. The compassionate human spirit is shining brighter and brighter!
I agree somewhat with you , Will. I do however moan the way Bernie Sanders has thrown in the towel and given up our one great chance to change things for the better and to Biden of all people. Biden is almost as bad as Trump and will not bring any changes that would significantly make our progressive efforts do any good. I cannot believe I have given Bernie more money than I should have and more than I ever have to any candidate in my life. I really believed in Bernie; I trusted him; and I never said that about any other Presidential candidate. I do not trust Biden to change his “middle of the road / do-nothing” stance. I also do not think Biden can beat Trump and we will have to deal with four more years of Trump’s incompetence.