My Kingdom for a Leader

From time-to-time I have resorted to the use of this platform to give voice to my thoughts and opinions about Donald Trump’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis.  I even generated and updated a chronological timeline of his litany of lies and excuses.  His own words.

Anyway, I recently did something I ordinarily wouldn’t do.  I opined on the matter in a comment I made on another individual’s Facebook page.  I implied that Trump’s obfuscation and delays caused the pandemic to worsen in its spread and that Trump was a con man who had blood on his hands.  Consequently, another friend replied to my comment:  the blood on his hands thing is bullshit and partisan and too easily fought at home on keyboards.  Government at all levels is not a nimble instrument.   

Fair-enough.

My first observation is that it is refreshing to share a difference of opinion respectfully.  My second observation is that nobody called me out for calling Trump a con man. In the absence of any objection I conclude there to be general agreement on that point.  Thirdly, I would agree that governments are not nimble.  They are vast bureaucracies.  As for the blood on his hands assertion – I dunno.  Perhaps my provocateur personality missed a guardrail.  Nevertheless, someone bears responsibility for failing to act on the threat in a timely manner so I will draw-upon a comparison I have used previously.   

Both the US and South Korea had evidence of Covid-19 around January 20^th.  The first deaths for each country were registered in late February.  At that point the course of the pandemic for each nation diverged.  South Korea responded proactively and decisively with large-scale testing, contact tracing and quarantining.  I published a post about it here.  To-date South Korea has suffered the loss of 220 lives without more than a dozen in any given day.   Back here in the homeland the situation is dramatically different.  Presently, about 2,000 of our countrymen are dying each and every day with the total topping more than 23,000 total lives lost by the time I retired last nite. To be clear, the US is much larger than South Korea and the raw numbers can be expected to be larger. But South Korea flattened their curve quickly by means of acting-upon the threat quickly.   

Last weekend any number of mainstream news sources published, broadcast or posted evidence of the early warnings and alarms coming from the highest levels of our not-so-nimble government.  It is unlikely that all of that reporting is fantasy.   My point is that when the alarm bells sounded they went unheeded by Donald Trump.  I wrote about that too – how Trump had plenty of time to tweet, play golf and hold rallies throughout January and February.  All the while he downplayed and lied about the gathering storm.   

In my former day job there was a name for that - willful blindness. As a general rule it applied to turning a blind eye to money-laundering and fraud - not encouraging the spread of disease and death.  Convicted of this crime - financial advisors have received prison sentences.  The product of Donald Trump's willful blindness has been lives and fortunes lost.  Much of it likely preventable in the face of prompt and decisive action.  Marinate on that thought - lives and treasure lost.  Much of it avoided by prompt and decisive action.   

I also predicted that Trump apologists would mount an effort to rewrite the historical narrative of his bungled delays.  And now - every afternoon - there is a self-congratulatory circle jerk glossing-over a rather extensive trail of bread crumbs chronicling Trump’s inaction and dismissal of scientific advice from public health experts and even his own advisors.  

In all fairness to the President - he did not cause Covid-19.  However, he is responsible and should be held to account for the months of delay (deliberately self-inflicted loss of nimbleness) from our government and for his obfuscation and blame-shifting.  

And the lies. 

Trump continues to lie.  It is stunning that Donald Trump is such a habitual liar that he is incapable of being honest – especially when honesty would serve his own interests.   

So, perhaps the term:  Blood on his hands is too provocative.  Let’s settle on this: The buck stops here and grown men take responsibility for their actions. Or lack thereof. Responsible men tell the truth.   

We see evidence every day of Trump's dysfunctional behavior and many of us have become immunized to his egregious lies and blaming.  If you want to see it conveniently summarized in one place you might consider reading a piece by David Frum published last week in The Atlantic.

Frum is a former speech writer for George W. Bush.  He authored the first book about The Bush presidency written by a former member of the administration. He is also credited with inspiring the phrase ‘axis of evil’ in Bush's 2002 State of the Union address.   

As the revisionists of history continue to spin an alternate reality Frum’s fact-filled recitation reminds us of the many ways Trump failed to protect us.

Stay-tuned.....