Coronavirus Blame Game

I think it too early to blame or credit politicians for the coronavirus. We just do not know enough to explain, for example, why some states have done better than others. Despite all the words, pronouncements, and executive orders, it could just be different levels of sunshine that have resulted in fewer cases and deaths in southern states like Florida and Texas, and far worse results in northern states like New York and New Jersey.

Nevertheless, as the coronavirus slows down, the blame game is beginning. This week my local newspaper ran an unsigned Associated Press story in its national news section that blamed President Trump for lack of empathy. It was more an opinion piece than a news story. Here is the headline:

U. S. nears 100000 deaths:
Does Trump feel your pain?
 Now there is another still-growing American casualty list that has exceeded deaths from the Vietnam and Korean wars combined. U.S. fatalities from the most lethal hurricanes and earthquakes pale by comparison. This is the deadliest pandemic in a century. *

The comparison between lives lost in Vietnam and deaths resulting from the coronavirus will inevitably become a mantra. Attempts to pin the blame on President Trump will just increase over the summer even as the virus peters out.

I’ve been tracking the coronavirus for the past three months and it is clear that despite 103000 deaths, the USA, from the President on down, has done a very good job of dealing with the deadliest pandemic in the century. In the USA about 6% of those who have tested positive have died while in countries like Great Britain and Italy about 14% of those who tested positive have died. In other words, if we had the same fatality rate as those two countries, we would have had almost 250000 deaths by now. **

Criticism of President Trump goes hand in hand with what can only be called Democratic immunity. Democratic politicians cannot and must not be blamed for failures to combat the virus in their own jurisdictions. On the contrary, the worse the results in their states, the more they must be praised for their efforts in the emergency. 

Try to imagine the reaction in the media if Donald Trump and not Andrew Cuomo had been Governor of New York this year. Any fair person would have to admit that Trump would have been viciously attacked for New York’s almost 30000 nation-leading deaths. Incessant attacks would have accused him of criminal incompetence and mis-management, and called for his resignation or prosecution.

I don’t put all the blame on Governor Cuomo for the fact that New York leads the nation by far in coronavirus cases and deaths, but how can he be considered a hero? It is true that he seems to do well in press conferences but he does not have to face a gang of extremely hostile reporters. In a White House press-conference a young reporter dared to ask President Trump if someone who had been responsible for more deaths during the current crisis than occurred during the Vietnam war, should consider re-election? Did any reporter dare to ask Governor Cuomo a similar question?

Try to imagine the response in the media if President Trump had fired his chief medical officer in the midst of the coronavirus crisis. Rumors of such an act resulted in headlines attacking the President for even thinking about it. On the other hand, Governor Lamont of Connecticut, a state which comes in second to New York in deaths per capita, recently dumped his chief medical officer with hardly a protest from the local media. Tiny Connecticut has one of the highest per-capita coronavirus death cases in the nation. But it was called an internal re-organization. Moreover, the official was a black woman. Imagine the charges of racism that would have been levelled against Donald Trump if he had been Connecticut’s governor.

Try to imagine the reaction if Donald Trump had been accused of molesting a female staffer in his office 20 years ago. Would well-known female politicians and media types be defending him against the woman’s charges. Wouldn’t they be calling for his resignation just because the woman must be believed? Now, when the charges are raised against Joe Biden, leading female Democratic politicians are angling to become his running mate.

Try to imagine the reaction if in the last three years President Trump’s son had become a director of a foreign energy company at a salary of over $600000 per year. When Democratic politicians were seeking grounds for impeachment of President Trump, they even complained that a night spent at the Trump Tower by the Ukrainian President constituted a criminal conflict of interest.

I like to ask Trump haters if they can think of one thing that President Trump has done right in the first three plus years of his Presidency. Invariably, their jaws drop and a vacant look comes over their face. It is obvious that they cannot think of even one accomplishment. This response tells me that despite all of the President’s perceived faults, his detractors cannot be objective.

###

*Associated Press: CT Post 5/27/2020

** Note. The USA has a population of about 328 Million. So far 1.722 Million have tested positive and 103349 deaths have been attributed to the virus. Great Britain has a population of 66 Million, and 271000 have tested positive with 37919 deaths. Italy has a population of about 60 Million, and 232000 have tested positive with 33142 deaths. The virus struck Italy weeks before the USA and seems to have run its course as both new cases and deaths have dramatically decreased.