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Opinion | Trump's team announced its surrender to the covid-19 pandemic

2020-10-26T16:47:58.171Z


"We are not going to control the pandemic," White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said of COVID-19.Poll: of 4 uncertain states, Trump would win in 1 0:56 Editor's Note: Jeffrey D. Sachs is a professor and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University. The opinions expressed in this comment are those of the author; see more opinion on CNN. (CNN) - The Trump administration announced its unconditional surrender to the covid-19 pandemic. “We are not going to control t


Poll: of 4 uncertain states, Trump would win in 1 0:56

Editor's Note:

Jeffrey D. Sachs is a professor and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University.

The opinions expressed in this comment are those of the author;

see more opinion on CNN.

(CNN) -

The Trump administration announced its unconditional surrender to the covid-19 pandemic.

“We are not going to control the pandemic.

We are going to monitor the fact that we receive vaccines, therapies and other mitigation areas, "White House Secretary General Mark Meadows told CNN's Jake Tapper on" State of the Union on Sunday.

Donald Trump has given up without ever joining the battle.

I have no doubt that it will be remembered as the greatest presidential failure in American history.

His sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, has said that Trump is unprincipled and only wants to appeal to his base.

However, his lack of principle may not be the main reason for his surrender.

His remarkable and seemingly limitless stupidity is most likely the root cause.

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As the Bob Woodward tapes made perfectly clear, Trump actually knew the extreme dangers of an epidemic that has so far claimed 230,000 deaths in the United States, a number that increases by about 1,000 every day of Trump's inaction.

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Trump's stupidity was due to his false belief that the choice the country had was to let the epidemic rage or shut down the economy.

For many reasons, perhaps including the Trump Organization's heavy borrowing, Trump consistently chose the economy over trying to stop the spread of the virus.

However, the entire Trump premise was totally wrong.

The right choice was not to stop the economy, but to introduce basic public health policies that stop the transmission of the virus without shutting down the economy and without waiting for vaccines and therapies (as desirable as they will be when they arrive).

Basic public health policies are known to any first-year Public Health student, and certainly to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that Trump's team ignored and suppressed.

In fact, basic policies are so well known that they have a name: non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs).

They include rapid tests, contact tracing, safe isolation, face masks, and safe work practices.

Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Taiwan and Vietnam have largely suppressed the pandemic without continued closures.

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What Trump and Biden say about covid-19 2:01

The three groups that supported Trump in his "strategy" against covid

Trump surrounded himself with fools and rascals who echoed his false belief that the election was covid vs.

economy.

This includes three types of advisers who led Trump to his likely imminent political demise and the massive suffering of our nation.

The first group were evangelical preachers who were more interested in filling their bank accounts than saving their parishioners.

Many of them contracted the disease in their megachurches.

This is a key part of Trump's base.

Its leaders helped drive Trump to calamity.

The second group was Murdoch's media empire with the "thought leadership," if you can call it that, of the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal and the nihilism of Fox News.

What's amazing about The Wall Street Journal editorial board is that they were so obsessed with shutting down the economy that they didn't seriously consider NPIs, despite their proven success in the Asia-Pacific region.

As a result, the editors of the Journal overlooked the most effective political approach and thus helped lead Trump to disaster.

The third group consisted of those who would stand up and oppose the overwhelming scientific consensus on NPIs, thus reinforcing Trump in his conviction to do nothing.

The recent pseudoscientific advice of Dr. Scott Atlas of Stanford University's conservative Hoover Institution provided the mock academic endorsement of the White House's do-nothing position by calling it "herd immunity," a position that the community of public health rejected outright.

Trump may have given up, but the vast majority of Americans have not.

We prefer to apply the spirit of Winston Churchill's wartime determination to our battle against the virus, declaring that we will fight the pandemic "on the beaches, we will fight on the landing grounds, we will fight in the fields and in the streets, we will fight in The hills;

We never give up".

We are ready to wear face masks, to test, to socially distance ourselves, to isolate ourselves when necessary, to keep our offices and stores safe for the public.

We want to save our parents, siblings, children, friends, and fellow citizens from a deadly disease that not only takes lives, but can lead to serious long-term disabilities, including cognitive impairments, for many of those who survive infections.

God help us vote and count the ballots honestly.

If Americans come forward in large numbers and vote based on the attitudes they express to pollsters every day, we will soon have a new president and a new lease on life.

Meanwhile, our governors and mayors must intensify their efforts to suppress the virus until a decent, healthy and competent federal government arrives under the leadership of Joe Biden on January 20.

covid-19

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2020-10-26

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