In every great American crisis, there is a moment where the whole world can see the true character of a President.For George W. Bush it came when he was photographed staring down from the luxurious comfort of Air Force One on the wreckage wrought by Hurricane Katrina, after his government's woefully inadequate federal response. The picture made him look detached and uncaring, and worst of all, a weak and ineffectual leader. He never recovered from it.For Bill Clinton, it came with his infamous 'I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms Lewinsky' declaration. When it turned out he had indeed had multiple sexual relations with that woman, his reputation was badly damaged.
Conversely, for John F. Kennedy, you could point to his rousing 1962 speech challenging America to go to the moon, instilling in Americans a spirit of unlimited optimism, as the moment when he sparked a deep abiding popularity that lasts to this day.
Similarly, for Ronald Reagan, his audacious 'Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall!' command at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate to the leader of the Soviet Union, cemented his place in history.
For President Donald J. Trump, there have been many grim moments during his catastrophic handling of the coronavirus pandemic that may end up defining his presidency.
But last night, during an extraordinary, toe-curling HBO interview with AXIOS's Jonathan Swan, he exposed just why the US has become a horrifyingly bad template for how NOT to combat Covid-19.In an attempt to defend his indefensible record, and specifically why the US has one of the worst death rates in the world, Trump suddenly produced a collection of graphics.'Look at some of these charts,' he said. 'This one, right here, the United States is lowest…in numerous categories…lower than the world.''In what?' said an incredulous Swan.'Take a look,' said Trump, handing the chart over.Swan, a very good and well-prepared journalist, studied the chart quickly and forensically.'Oh, you're doing death as a proportion of cases,' he replied. 'I'm talking about death as a proportion of population.''Well… well…' Trump stammered.'That's where the US is really bad,' persisted Swan, 'much worse than South Korea, Germany etc.''You can't do that!' exclaimed Trump.'Why can't I do that?' asked Swan, looking understandably confused.'You have to go by the cases,' said Trump. 'We're last, meaning we're first!'It was a stunning exchange.
Here was the President of the United States telling a journalist that he couldn't mention America's shocking coronavirus death toll because all that matters is not how many people have died, but how many people have been tested.'You know there are those that say you can test too much,' Trump blathered. 'You do know that?'Swan didn't know that, because nobody other than Trump has said that.'Who says that?' Swan asked.'Oh, just read the manuals,' Trump retorted. 'Read the books.''Manuals?' Swan pressed. 'What manuals?''Read the books, read the books,' Trump repeated.Of course, there are no manuals, or books, that say you can do too much coronavirus testing.Obviously, as any scientist will attest, you can never do enough testing. It's the only way to get on top of this virus until there's a vaccine.What Trump actually means is that he wishes America did less testing so they didn't have so many cases because it makes HIM look bad.That's why he doesn't want to talk about America's appalling death toll because, again, it makes HIM look bad.'A thousand people are dying a day,' Swan told him.'They are dying,' replied Trump. 'It's true. It is what it is.'Wow.'It is what it is' - that was the President's staggering response to the ongoing horrific slaughter of Americans by a deadly virus.No empathy, no apology, no expression of sorrow.Just a heartless, dismissive shrug.The problem for Trump in this crisis is that the stats don't lie like he does.When Swan pointed out that South Korea has a population of 51 million people but has only suffered 300 coronavirus deaths, Trump inferred, with zero evidence, that the statistics were fake news.It's his default response to any facts he doesn't like, but now he is being exposed by the cold, hard reality of data-backed truth.The World Health Organisation reports today there have been 18,100,204 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the world, and 690,257 deaths.Of these, America has had 4,629,459 cases, which is 25% of the global total, and 154,226 deaths which is 22% of the global total.Yet it has just 4.2% of the world's population.So whichever way you look at the numbers, the United States is doing catastrophically badly.
