What Trump doesn't care to know about coronavirus could hurt us
Under a reorganization by now-former national security adviser John Bolton, the agency's global health security team would have led this nation's response to such epidemics. The simplest explanation for Trump's abolition of the agency? It was created by Obama.
Besides, as we have seen repeatedly, Trump's approach to governing is to live in the moment, buoyed by a latticework of delusions.
He has acknowledged his own ignorance when it can be framed as everybody's ignorance. "I didn't know people died from the flu," he said at the CDC. Indeed, tens of thousands die of influenza every year, including his own grandfather during the 1918 epidemic, as The Washington Post reported.
More often, the president praises his own "instincts" for understanding science and other matters.
"I like this stuff. I really get it," he said at the CDC in remarks that I am certain will live on in history. "People are surprised that I understand it. Every one of these doctors said, 'How do you know so much about this?' Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead of running for president." Hey, it's not too late.
And when all else fails in Trump's list of reactions to crises, he makes stuff up. He has predicted that the virus will "miraculously" disappear on its own as spring warms into summer. Actually, the virus' discovery is so new that nobody's certain what will happen in the long run.
He also has suggested that a vaccine will be available soon, only to be contradicted by other top health officials. He has said that "anyone who wants a test can get a test," but Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on "Fox News Sunday" that it would actually be up to a doctor.
And through it all, his concerns about his own reelection are as obvious as his red "Keep America Great" cap. He has tarred Democrats' concerns about coronavirus as "their new hoax." He walked that back the next day, saying he wasn't calling the coronavirus a hoax, but his son Don Jr. and some other prominent surrogates have picked up the theme.
All of which reveals how little respect the president has for the intelligence of his own supporters. It's not just what he doesn't know that's troubling. It's how little he cares about finding out.
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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)
(c) 2020 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
