The Life Threatening President – VG

Infection rates in the United States are skyrocketing. The day after the election, 100,000 new infections were reported daily. Just over a week later, the number was reported to have exceeded 150,000 infected daily. According to projections, the United States will not reach peak infection until late January or early February next year. By then, more than half a million Americans may have lost their lives.

A collapse of the healthcare system is approaching. In North Dakota, it has gone so far that nurses who are infected with COVID-19, but have no symptoms, can work in wards treating corona patients. Several states report a severe shortage of health workers, long before the peak is reached.

It seems that a lot is boring

Such a situation requires national leadership. About a president who does everything in his power to help states, provide resources and advice, and use his authority to give weight and support to those on the front lines. A president who can give hope to a desperate and frightened people, express sympathy for those who suffer, and comfort those who have lost one of their own.

That president does not exist in the United States now. According to many who have worked with him, Donald Trump has never been particularly concerned with the more labor-intensive tasks that come with his role as president. He thinks a lot of this is boring. It is said, for example, that he has not followed him closely during the daily briefings on national security. This is something that reassures those who fear that he will share state secrets when he is out of the White House: that there are many things he does not have with him.

Had he been concerned about the job itself as president, not just power and honor, he would have entered the critical situation the United States is in, with the pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis. But from inside the White House, he is reported to control less than ever. Rather, he spends time calling out to his supporters, discussing various strategies to get the election rejected and to make the transition as difficult as possible for the winner of the election, incoming President Joe Biden.

Mask as a political marker

The pandemic in the United States under the supervision of Donald Trump is a disaster. It has actively undermined the infection control efforts of health authorities. They have asked people to wear masks, Trump has ridiculed them. The president has turned infection control into party policy. In many places, the use or absence of masks has been considered a political mark.

I have traveled the United States in recent weeks and have seen how people relate differently to the pandemic, and especially to how to protect themselves from infection. In some states, like West Virginia, little masks were worn. In Nashville, Tennessee, you barely saw a mask on the busiest streets late at night. In other places, such as Washington, DC and Philadelphia, there was a great distance between those who did not cover their faces.

Not least: at Trump’s own election events, hardly anyone wore masks. In fact, he organized cheating traps for his own followers. Local authorities often begged and asked Trump not to come, because they knew more infections would emerge after his visit. But he gave the deception, gathering thousands of people standing together, cheering and shouting. While the droplet infection hung in the air.

Closed inside

No one has lied more about the crown and its aftermath than Donald Trump. He has even accused doctors of inflating infection numbers to get more money. He has downplayed the severity of the disease and made several promises that he knows are impossible to keep.

And now he’s retired almost entirely, to his bunker in the White House. Except for a press conference yesterday, where he didn’t answer any questions, but claimed his administration had much of the credit for Pfizer’s new corona vaccine. The company itself denies it. Otherwise, his messages to the public have passed through Twitter, which has marked many of his messages with warnings, even as misleading.

In this American catastrophe, Joe Biden comes. He’s already acting more like president than Donald Trump. Biden gives clear advice and tries to keep the courage of Americans in a difficult time. But until Biden takes office on January 20, he won’t be able to fill the void created by Trump. In America’s worst crisis in decades, the country lacks functional leadership.

Enthusiasm and passion

The Republican Party is not responsible for the situation either. Since Trump lost the election, his fellow party members have stumbled like scared chickens. The Republican Party is the victim of a self-absorbed manipulator. Leaders flatter and mock Trump. They do not dare to contradict him, nor to tell him what the world is like.

Trump’s most important weapon against colleagues in the party is his own loyal voters. Trump supporters embrace him with enthusiasm and passion. One critical Trump tweet against a Republican politician, and his career may be over. Central Republican politicians sacrifice their own integrity and dignity, instead of risking exposure to Trump’s wrath.

Elections in Georgia

For some Republican leaders, it is also a matter of great political cynicism. Elections for two senators remain in Georgia. This election was postponed until early January. The result here will determine who gets the majority in the Senate. Republicans don’t want a twisted Trump who can ruin them here.

For each day that passes without a concerted effort against the pandemic, the situation becomes even more dire. Joe Biden will take over a weakened America, where the relationship between lies and truth has become less clear. Where conspiracy theories spread at high speed. And where people die unnecessarily, because Donald Trump has cared more for himself than for the people he will lead.