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I’ve heard it said that “Donald Trump has blood on his hands.” That phrase sounds so harsh to me that my first reaction is to back far away from it. But then I ask myself how many thousands of people, many of them poor and with few resources, so many old and defenseless, have passed from this earth because this fool was slow to listen, slow to react, and sadly disorganized in responding to this awful pandemic. And how many more deaths that might have been avoided and are yet to come can be laid at his door…
For a long time I have worried about the death of democracy as the result of this narcissist, and perhaps that fatality will be the greatest permanent loss when, years from now, we look back at the Trump presidency. But sitting in my house, fearful of going outside or touching anything that has come from beyond these four walls, it’s hard to feel anything but disdain for the one person who could have done anything to lessen the blow of COVID19.
Below I list six characteristics that we could have hoped for in an executive in a time such as this, each followed by an assessment of how the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave matches up against these criteria. The ideal leader:
- Would be quick to react, would be proactive, would be one step ahead of everyone else. Under Trump, the Pandemic Office was dismantled many months ago (“C’mon, nothing like this is ever gonna happen to us, so let’s cut costs.”) I would say that the warnings that came in the form of briefings as early as January were disregarded, except how could I say that he didn’t care about their content when I’m sure that he never read them in the first place.
- Would listen to scientists and experts in the field, and would rely heavily on the data they supplied. This is a man who relies on Fox News, who heard an anecdotal report on hydroxychloroquine and decided that this was the miracle drug that would turn everything around. Poor Anthony Fauci has to deal with this buffoon and try to get him to listen. Being an honest man as well as a scientist, Fauci occasionally can’t help but make statements about how delays in implementation have cost lives. It will be interesting how long Trump can tolerate him, and what excuses he gives for dumping him.
- Would take responsibility. Whether a great president or not, Harry Truman was at least famous for saying “The buck stops here.” The Donald was asked directly whether he took any responsibility for the outbreak and he had the chutzpah to assert, absolutely, that he took no responsibility at all. Zero. Zip. Nada. If anything good happens, he will quickly step front and center, but for this guy the buck, when it’s less than positive, stops anywhere else but at his doorstep.
- Would have or at least show compassion for the human suffering involved. At his daily briefings, the Trumpster begins with a robotic reading about the toll this is taking on people, written by others who at least want him to appear to give a damn. Then he puts the script down and gets passionate about corporate losses, about the hospitality industry which is taking a beating (alas, poor Mar-a-Lago is not doing well). Watch just three minutes of Andrew’s Cuomo’s updates and note the huge gulf in the way these two men relate to this pandemic in human terms.
- Makes good decisions, allocates resources, implements plans. The man in the White House is so far over his head here. He puts Jared Kushner in charge of things, the young man with no background or expertise in anything relevant to his position (oh, I see, sort of like his father-in-law), and whose two claims to fame are marrying a very well-connected young lady, and being a wealthy, and heartlessly irresponsible, landlord in New York. Trump helps those states that bow down before him and says no to those states whose governors do not. Michigan, in particular, has suffered greatly, because its governor, Gretchen Whitmer, has criticized him publicly. Can it be at all possible that our national “leader” is incapable of rising above this kind of pettiness?
Paranoid, narcissistic, brain dead, mean-spirited. The list of his characteristics, all of which we knew before this outbreak, have come into view so much more clearly now. His shortcomings aggressively jump out at us as we face times that call for someone better. I’m not sure that Joe Biden tops the charts on all of these criteria, but I do know that he is a thoughtful and compassionate man. To change the agenda a bit abruptly, I believe that the coming election in November will be a referendum on Donald Trump’s ability to demonstrate the basic characteristics we need in a president at this time, if not at all times. I always look for a silver lining in bad times, so while it may come at a terrible cost, maybe the end of the Trump presidency can be one of the few positive byproducts of these horrific times.
