The Future of the Republican Party.

 Presidents come and go but their political parties live on is an apt dictum based upon history. However in the aftermath of the 2020 election and in the backdrop of Donald Trump’s presidency that historical dictum has been scuttled to the bottom of the lake for the Republican Party. The biggest reason for this is the rise of Trumpism and a cult around the persona of President Trump; a cult not in the strain of Reaganism, which was political direction that Republicans embraced, but a cult of negativism and division which, in the end analysis, will hurt the Republican Party. 

The Trump effect on the GOP sin terms of new voters and herding in the marginalised white non college educated voters was immense. These are referred to as the MAGA base upon which Trump rests his political leverage. It is suggested that they form a sizeable chunk of 30 million voters out of the 70 million voters who cast their lot with Trump in the 2020 election. This is a key vote bank that Trump feels he personally controls and is a mix of rural segments, white nationalists, older generation voters, evangelicals  and ultra conservatives. Trump has been able to use this base to marshall GOP politicians into his camp knowing that these congressmen cannot afford to lose support of the MAGA crowd. 

Trump has played with the idea of a 2024 run for the highest office and while he continues to  election results he has raised a sizeable war chest of money, most of it under his own control, extending a mystery as to his intentions. Unlike previous Presidents Donald Trump’s motive to remain politically relevant is a function of him seeking some form of political insurance in the face of possible legal cases that could emerge once he is out of office. Alternatively Trump enthused by the power of the Presidency would like to Conte a career in politics even though rarely have ex Presidents sought office a after losing an election. 

While Mr Trumps political ambitions are best known to himself he must certainly be encouraged by his MAGA support which may well be behind the rumoured bid for public office by his daughter Ivanka. Given his narcissist nature he would be tempted to wield this power over a significant portion of the Republican Party and therefore we would see his influence on display at least for the a year or two after he leaves office.

For the core Republican Party there is hope that once out of office Mr Trump will lose relevance and perhaps influence on the party. They would also hope that a number of the 126 congressmen who went along with Mr Trumps challenge to the election results would return to the fold of the party. The likes of Mitt Romney and others like him would like to steer the party away from Trumpism and their focus will likely be on the changing demographics of the US population. It is estimated that by 2024 almost 55% of US voters will be millennials and what is known as the generation Z, all coming from a diverse ethnic mix. These younger voters have a more liberal outlook and their priorities revolve around housing, jobs and social equity in the economic system.

The Democrats have caught on to this effect and a number of their congressmen were voted on on a progressive platform; an agenda that is confusingly called socialist when in fact it is more akin to the social democratic movement we have seen in Europe. The think tank within the GOP is aware that changing demographics are going to be a major challenge for their party and Trumpism, while increasing the size of their vote bank in 2020, was also responsible for a larger turnout for Biden amongst the very voter profile that will be significantly larger in 2024. 

Post Trumps presidency their are likely to be tensions between the core of the Republican Party and Trump and he will try and wield his MAGA card to control the party. One may question to what purpose? Perhaps to position a presidential bid in 2024 or promote his daughters political ambitions or to create a caucus loyal to him within the party! The problem for the GOP is not only Trumps desire to be politically relevant but he does hold over $200 m he raised post election, ostensibly to pay for the court battles to over turn the election results. If the GOP resists Trumps bid to continue to lead the Republican Party there is a high probability that Donald Trump will launch his own MAGA party. 

This is a nightmare scenario for the Republican Party and in the broader context remove any serious challenge to the Democrats in the next election in 2024. While political theorists may welcome the emergence for a third political party of significance within the USA in  the short term it will benefit the Democrats. Should a third party emerge under the patronage of Trump it will leave the Republican Party seriously depleted in the short term. However, it will force the GOP to reinvent itself to appeal more to the new segments of voters entering the electoral rolls in America. One may also assume eventually a MAGA party will lose relevance even though this may take a decade or so, till which time it will remain a nuisance on the political landscape. 

While Trump, in 2015 hijacked the Republican Party, in 2020 he is setting the stage to mould it into the direction only he wishes, failing which, he is willing to let it implode. He draws strength from the cultist support of the MAGA crowd and knows if he has to seize permanent control of the Republican Party he needs more like minded congressmen and not just politicians who favour his brand of politics because they fear his wrath. This is why it is more likely that Trumps newly raised money will be important for him to seek the allegiances he desires. 

On a final note it is highly likely that Trump bogged down by legal cases, some of which were put on hold given his position has President, and a strong move to disfranchise him from the Republican Party may just result in his withdrawal from public or political life. While this is what may eventually happen but it is more than likely that it will be a long drawn process bringing with it considerable anguish to die hard Republicans. In the coming months this drama will play out with the gusto and hyperbole we expect of Mr. Trump, as he asserts he didn’t lose the election and to prove it he would want to win the Republican Party.

King Trump: Unravelled.

 If Donald Trump had to choose a character from history he would probably love to be King Henry VIII, a demagogue with absolute power who expected nothing less that totally fealty from his advisors and subordinates. His demand for total submission extended to his personal life and was not averse to executing those of his wives he felt had been disloyal to him. While Trump has not gone that far he does have an uncanny similarity to the way King Henry banished his closest advisors when they disagreed with him.

Trumps transition from business life, where he was, by and large, the sole decision maker, to public office, where consensus and cooperation are essential, was never really complete. For those who wished him to succeed in the role of the President of the United States and had secretly hoped that he would internally acknowledge his lack of experience in public office and embrace counsel and advice there has been nothing but disappointment. His first assertion that his inauguration crowd was bigger than Obama’s inauguration crowd, while a total fabrication, was seen as Trump being Trump. Few could imagine that this compulsive propensity to lie would become a hallmark of his presidency. 

Unlike King Henry VIII, President Trump had to contend with a free press and media which would, like it has done with all in office, question his decisions and actions. While the route to execute those in the press who he saw as critics was not available to Trump, (which King Henry would have done), the best course for Trump was to continually label the press as fake media. The more he called the main steam media as fake the less was the possibility that his base would believe the media even when the media was right. Rather than send the likes of CNN to the gallows, which King Henry would have ordered, Trump executed their credibility, at least within his own base. 

This relentless assault on the media was never aimed to win them over but to discredit them in the eyes of his base of largely non college educated White people to the point that he and his core supporters could then plant any conspiracy in their minds and it would be believed even when facts indicated otherwise. Today after an election loss Trump can claim the election is rigged even though his own government’s various offices have confirmed it was the most secure election in US history. In classical terms this is brainwashing the audience to the point of blindness and has been the signature of autocratic regimes. In the wash of this brainwashing, whether coincidental or not, quite a few well placed Republicans have taken the mantle of the Trump dogma with a fervour of being more loyal than the King. 

Character always shows it complete spectrum when we are faced with the adversity of a loss. Today, after a loss in the election, President Trump is less presidential and more of King Trump battling to not surrender the throne he sees as only his and only to be passed to his kith and kin, (his reference to his daughter or son being deserving to contest the election one day). King Trump feels besieged within the White House as he broods his last gasp moves to survive, much like King Henry was beleaguered after being excommunicated by Pope Clement VII. King Henry broke with the papal church and declared himself the head of the Church of England and converting the money paid to Rome into Royal Revenue for his personal gain. Gratefully for the United States there is a Constitution, Congress and a Supreme Court alongside the media and close to 80 million people who voted against him.

Trump still has 73 million Americans who voted for him and about 15 million of them are his die hard MAGA supporters. King Trump knows that losing the throne in the Oval Office may be a disaster in many respects yet he does leave with some leverage over the Republican Party. Secretly he must also wish that should he be prosecuted for illegalities the radical white supremacists could well come out to defend his name and honour. While within the core of the Republican Party there will be an effort to rid their ranks of Trumpism it is more likely that this election defeat will effect Trump in a way that he will shun ever contesting public office. In the end he never likes losing and the label of a loser is something he threw on many who got his disfavour.

As the days of the Trump presidency draw to a close one must be sure that Trump will follow a scorched earth policy. He aim will be to leave the  Biden administration with as many bushfires as possible, both domestic and foreign. The lack of cooperation on a transition effects policy, the pandemic, the economy and national security.  In foreign relations one would not be surprised some military action is ordered by Trump leaving Biden with war flames to extinguish. This is how King Trump thinks; if  I cannot live in the house I will burn it down. 

There is a less painful way out of this and that would be to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump on the basis he is incapacitated. It has been almost twelve days since he has done any presidential work, instead brooding, watching TV, playing golf or tweeting. Those who saw through the facade know that Trump started his tenure with a lie about the crowd at his inauguration and ends it with a lie that he won the election. This, sadly, may well be the only thing we eventually remember about King Trump, while to his MAGA crowd he will remain a cult hero who gave a voice to the Proud Boys and the white suprematists.

Trump and Trumpism post election.

 Irrespective of the noise of fraud from Trump his loss of the White House is inevitable. However, while Trump may eventually vacate the Oval Office his brand of politics, loosely labelled as Trumpism, will continue to have an impact on US politics. Other than a hyperbolic slogan of making America great again, the substance to Trumpism revolves around Trump himself. Core Republicans must cringe at the way their party has been hijacked by Donald Trump to such an extent that in the 2020 election the GOP platform was simply to re-elect Trump.

The impact of Trump has a significance for Americans, both who support him and those who oppose him, in a more deeper sense than we realise. His racist bias, his persona of demeaning those who oppose him and seeking a personal loyalty add to what we already knew Trump to be, a self centred businessman who had a propensity to say the unsayable and walk over anybody to attain his goals. When, in 2015, he burst in the political scene few believed he had any chance. Then Trump started with attacking Mexicans, Muslims, and the immigration policies which initially were seen as attention seeking gimmicks. Credit to Trump he knew what he was doing; all he needed was the media to pick up his comment on prime time. He way saying things that a progressively disfranchised white non college educated working class felt but never said. He blamed China for their job losses, and the climate change policies for the contraction of work in the heartland of America. It did not matter if it was true or not but here was a man who spoke what they wanted to hear and for full measure Trump embraced the evangelical Christians to drive the pint home that he was their chosen saviour.

The very media that Trump labels as fake were the ones to promote his rise for them to only realise that monster had been let out of the cage. The racist bias of Trumps message was not an accidental slip, it was meant to create a base amongst the white supremacists who mostly came from his base of non college educated whites. Trump was unconventional in presidency because this language of tweeting and three minute attention spam is what suited him. Silently however he did what the stalwarts of the Republican Party could not do, namely, he created a base of die hard supporters. However, these are not supporters of the GOP but his own cadre if supporters. 

Looking ahead Trump out of the White House does not necessarily mean that he will fade into presidential retirement and has vaguely hinted at a run for the president in 2024. What we do know is that Trump is unpredictable and while he may be sending out feelers he is energised by his base who in turn feed off his rhetoric in equal measure. The role and place that Donald Trump will have in America’s political scene depends on many factors and the possible outcomes are quite intriguing and complex.

Once out of power Trumps hold of the Republican Party will be tested and some segments of the party may work to distance themselves from him. In contrast Trump, backed by his energised base, may continue to wield influence on the direction of the party and also work to position himself as the candidate for 2024. Senior senators like Lindsay Graham and Mitch McConnell are aware of Trumps hold on his base which could account for 20% of the Republican vote bank of 2020. Trump for his part will continue to try and command the attention of the public whether through his own media company or continuing his social media presence, even if the larger American audience pays attention or not. In that sense Trump will perhaps be a disruptive force for the Republicans who earnestly feel that in the last five years he has steered the party into a swamp where it lacks political substance and its infrastructure demolished in the face of Trumps nepotism and promotion of sycophants.

There is a more real prospect of Donald Trump slipping into the muddy waters of legal cases, some of which could be criminal in nature, and his erosion of power could result in a massive push back from die hard Republicans who balk at Trumpism and its impact on American political conscious.  It is most likely that Mr Trump will face a mounting financial crisis, legal cases and this would effect his ability to position his political destiny. Some have suggested that if spurned by the Republican Party he may consider creating his own political party. While this may be an option Trump would prefer the reality has that given his financial issues he may not have the resources for such a venture.

As the Trump days at the White House come to a close one has to wonder what Trumpism really means. His base would simply say Making America Great Again, which really means nothing more than a slogan.  To these die hard supporters he spoke for them, even of he ignored their well being and at the fringes he flirted with white supremacists hugging them into a form of political acceptance they never witnessed before. The vagueness of Trumps political positions on issues of race, women and white supremacy have always left him wiggle room to avoid the direct questions. His genius has been that he can make the odd comment that his is not a fascist or racist and almost in the same breath call the white supremacists very fine people. Being questioned by enlightened journalists or the elitist middle class about his misogynist and racist remarks does not bother him because he knows his base embraces his rhetoric. As he once said they would forgive him if he shot someone in Times Square, and forgive him they have; for his sexist remarks about women, for his racism against Mexicans and Muslims and his calls to lock up those who oppose him. This is the base that will not change its support for him and any intelligent expose on Trumps failures is labelled fake news. 

The challenge will be if Trumpism will survive and prosper after Trump? The simple answer it depends on the fate of Trump as a man. While he would like to hold on to the influence on the party the reality of facing debt repayments and legal actions we may have a very angry man melting into oblivion. Should he weather these challenges then perhaps we have to accept that Trumpism will continue to have  an influence on the American politics. The question is whether this will be of major consequence or not?

As a closing note viewing all this drama from abroad one wonders if Americans, especially those in his base will ever realise the lasting damage one man has done to the political fabric of the country. How could rudeness, the lack of decorum and decency be celebrated much less accepted from the office of the President of the United States will continue to haunt people who have been accustomed to much better. While his MAGA crowd will see Trump with admiration few outside that circle would disagree that it was a historic low for the Oval Office.

US Election possible aftermath.

 In two weeks the fate of America’s democracy and the shape of its society will be decided. To say these are troubling times is an understatement and that the complexion of society is not only shaped now but a continuation of trends we have seen since 2016. Polarisation is to be expected in political societies but never has it been laced with hate, anger, disinformation and ethnic tensions as we see now. As much as this is a battle for votes and swing states, more importantly, it is the battle for the mind of Americans.

The challenges that will emerge from election result can be daunting and for America’s sake one hopes these challenges are minimal. It might be helpful to explore the outcomes and their consequences:

A Trump Victory.

Notwithstanding the polls, where a Trump defeat seems on the cards, Trump could spring a surprise like 2016, and win enough swing states to be re-elected. While this will mean a continuation of the way we have sen things in the past four years, a re-elected Trump will be vicious in his attacks on his detractors. He will take firmer control of the Republican Party moulding it closer to how he wants it to be, even pushing his relatives to secure their political future. 

In the event a Trump victory is accompanied with a loss of the Senate then tensions between Congress and  the White House will reach a crescendo. It is more likely that his extremist right wing supporters, including the militias, might well intimidate his detractors in the Senate. These groups may also see a Trump victory as a license to impose their own style of vigilante justice. 

In a more broader level, a Trump victory will harden the lines of division within American society and result in further polarisation the cost of which will be borne by the average American on the street. Observe social media and you will see a form of anger and hate has crept into US political society that with every tweet, every angry profanity inflicts a wound on the social fibre that will be harder to heal. Will a Trump victory heal these wounds? Will his MAGA supporters be magnanimous in victory? Will race relations improve? 

A Biden Victory.

A Biden victory may well be seen as a return to normalcy, especially if accompanied with a Democrat party hold over the Senate. However, over the past two months Trump has been setting the stage for disputing any election result that does not grant him victory. There is a suggestion that a landslide victory for Biden is the only way for Trump to peacefully concede the election, however this could well be wishful thinking. 

If it is a close election then Trump will resort to the courts much like the Bush versus Gore election. Trumps hope remains that a Supreme Court with three of his appointees, all of whom were involved in the Bush-Gore case, could tilt the decision in his favour. However, this cannot be a forgone conclusion as judges cannot blatantly lean to a political agenda and judges have voted against what is expected often. 

If we see a Biden landslide we may see Trump conceding, let’s say a 30% chance, but be assured he will still go to the courts. It is in his nature to litigate and will hope his base, many of whom are white supremacists, will agitate enough to make it more difficult for his successor. In this scenario his comment to the militias to “standby” assumes particular significance. A small curtain raiser was that two weeks after his standby comment a plot to kidnap a Democrat Governor was unearthed and linked to a white militia group. 

We know Trump will not be a gracious loser and a nightmare scenario could well be him refusing to leave office and claim the whole election was fraudulent. It is not clear what mechanism exists to then force him to leave office as this has never been tested before. Yet there is confidence that sense might prevail and enough influence brought to bear on him to accept an overwhelming defeat. One cannot rule out that he may bargain a pardon in return for leaving office.

These are testing times for Americans and one can appreciate the emotion and passion we see. As painful as the anger and lack of respect for different political views exists one can only hope decency and the need to heal will prevail.

Trump and the virus

 It was almost as if God looked at Donald Trumps arrogance and indifference to 200,000 plus Americans having died from the virus that Trump said would go away and then handed it to him. Indeed it is an irony that the COVID 19 virus should infect the very man who made light of this deadly disease while privately admitting it was deadly. Everything that Donald Trump has said about this virus has come back to haunt him. Was a lesson learned in this awful episode?

Perhaps not. The systemic disinformation and mocking of people who wore masks, the most recent during the Presidential debate, all have been  a hallmark of this President who knows he could have done better. Better in planning, better in informing the people and most importantly putting together a credible action plan, based on scientific advice, to minimise the effects of this deadly virus. The reality is that Trump saw the virus as to what effect it would have on his re-election and to him listening to his scientists would have meant widespread lockdowns and their knock down effect on the economy. 

Prior to the COVID 19 pandemic Trumps campaign pitch would have been the performance of the economy, the stock market gains and his trade deals. The pandemic threatened that storyline and he had essentially two choices; think of America first by opting for a lockdown and minimising its impact or to downplay the crisis and hope it will go away. Had he chosen the route he didn’t take he could have actually boosted his chances for re-election even though his spin on the economy would have been diluted but then he could have pointed to the way every single country has had a severe economic impact. He could have shown he has put Americans first, implemented a strategy to keep them safe, invoked emergency powers to implement what scientists were telling him and what other countries have shown works. Without a doubt, even with say 75,000 deaths, which would have been in line with what other countries experienced relative to their population, his stature as a leader would have been enhanced.

Instead he chose the path to mislead, lie, and even deliberately spread disinformation on not only the pandemic but also as to the exact status of what his administration was doing to combat it. From touting untested drugs as a cure for the virus to even suggesting flippantly that bleach might work if injected into patients Trump showed incompetence that is not expected from the office he occupies. His grasp in the crisis was so weak that in July he suggested that they estimated 65,000 people would die from the virus, to then be faced with over 100,000 dead by the month end. He recently claimed if he had not done what he did 2 million Americans would have died! Why did he not reveal the modelling upon which any of his estimates were based, including his earliest remarks that by Easter the pandemic will be gone.

The reality is that everyone, from scientists to governments who have tackled this virus have had to learn their way through the evolution of the virus, but they have relied on good scientific practises and logic and lessons learned from previous pandemics. The Obama administration had, from its experiences with SARS and the Ebola viruses, developed a contingency plan and a playbook which Trump promptly threw out, perhaps because it had Obama’s signature on it. With nothing to replace that plan Trump thought he can outsmart this virus by talking things down and hoodwinking his way. The results are a matter of record and an abysmal testimony to the failure of leadership. What has been more difficult to digest has been the lack of transparency and a deliberate attempt to conceal the gravity of the pandemic. So much so some have termed Trumps actions as “homicidal negligence”.

After contracting the dreaded COVID 19 virus the lack of transparency continues. How did President Trump contract the virus? Clearly it was not Hope Hicks, so when did he show symptoms? Has contact tracing been done to establish all the people who could have been exposed to the virus? Have more than one test been done to ensure that some people cleared as negative are still not carrying the virus? What is the exact state of the symptoms shown by the President? As we know after a temporary improvement most COVID patients a week or so later deteriorate, sometimes with fatal consequences. Therefore the pertinent question to ask is what are the short term and long term prognosis of the Presidents condition?

Sadly for a president who has lied most of the past four years it is difficult to separate the facts from fiction. Showing him sign papers was designed to show he is in control but then signing blank pages exhibits the continued attempts by him and his cohorts to deal with his condition through smoke and mirrors, much like the whole pandemic has been dealt with. Someone has to tell Mr Trump that having lost the chance to have handled the pandemic as a true leader he should try and preserve what little credibility he might have by being straight and honest with people.

First US Presidential debate:A Review

 If one was seeking a winner of Tuesday’s Presidential debate all one witnessed was political suicide of decorum, dignity and respect for a democratic tradition that was designed to give substance to process of electoral choice. Instead of a statesmanlike debate one saw two men in their seventies bicker, abuse and insult each other in manner that even ten year olds would not do in the school yard. Each side will claim victory when in reality both should shamefully reflect upon how low the stature of candidates for the highest political office has sunk to. 

That aside the performance of each candidate needs to be reviewed. 

It was clear that President Trump came out really hot with the intent to not only control the rostrum and tempo of the debate but to provoke Joe Biden into losing his temper and balance. The moderator, Chris Wallace, at times struggled to control the floor, largely on account of Trumps interruptions, and could have been better served if the format would have been more like a college debate; each side two minutes per issue and then two minutes each for a rebuttal with microphones turned off when  it was not a candidates time to speak.

The review of this nasty and disgraceful debate would nevertheless be essential as some interesting statements and messages came across:

Trump:

High points : attacking Biden of his lack of bringing the change he promises now when through his 47 years in politics and 8 years as Vice President failing to implement the change. 

Missed arguments: Biden seemed hesitant to discuss his economic plan and Trump should have pushed him on that. 

Low points: attacking Biden’s family, failure to condemn white supremacists, (instead telling them to stand by) and failure to state that he would accept the election result.

Biden:

High points: not to get lose his temper over the family attack, not to retaliate against Trumps family, bringing some humanism about his sons addiction, clearly stating he would accept the election result.

Missed arguments: pressed harder on Trumps handling of the pandemic, pressed on Trumps refusal to confront Russia.

Low points: telling Trump to ‘shut up’.

Interestingly the whole debate was fact checked with Trump having a 80% false rating and Biden 20% false. Sadly this election is not going to be about facts it’s about emotions. 

The chilling messages one reads into this debate are worrying for then tradition of US democracy. It is clear that this election may well be decided in courts especially if it’s a close election. If there is an overwhelming Biden victory this may well be avoided but who knows what unfolds in the next 35 days. In some respects we must be braced for politically motivated street violence especially if Trump loses the election and hence the ‘stand down and stand by’ remark has a significance one should not brush aside.

For an independent observer, especially from abroad, the debate was a sad reflection on where the US political tradition has come to, and one cannot get to terms with the consequences of what we are seeing unfold. While it’s an exhaustive subject on its own it would seem America might well be irrevocably divided and in a decade or so a unifying charismatic leader might emerge. 

Scorecard for USA on COVID-19

 Statistics in themselves do not lie, our interpretations of the numbers may vary and create a bias but the raw data is what it is; facts. As of September 25th a tally of data from 213 countries reveals the following comparisons for the United States:

• With 207,000 deaths USA ranks highest in deaths and 21% of all deaths world wide.
• 626 deaths per million ranks 10th highest in the world. ( San Marino is first and so in Andorra is the top ten, excluding them for their small populations USA ranks 8th).
• The world average of deaths per 1 million is 128 per million.
• In testing coverage USA ranks 20th with 30% of the population tested. 
• Total cases USA ranks the highest 7.2 million cases representing 22% of all cases in the world.
• With 4.4 million recovered USA ranks second in the world. 
• In active cases USA ranks the highest with 2.54 million. 
• With 14,156 currently critically infected by the virus USA ranks the highest, implying these people will sadly be added to the death list. 
• Canada, USA’s neighbour has had 245 death per million and total deaths there are 9,249.

President Trump has often said that his administration has done a great job and are leading the world in fighting Covid-19. The statistical evidence clearly establishes that the US is far from leading the fight against the virus largely because of the lack of policy and cogent action against the pandemic. President Trump has ridiculed the wearing of masks, encourage political rallies with no social distancing. In April he said they had predicted total deaths in USA would be 60,000! Two weeks later that number was exceeded. 

The concoction of misleading information, even suggesting unproven cures and all the time ignoring scientific advice when in private he knew this was the worlds deadliest pandemic. In effect his lack of policy and actions contrary to his duty to protect the American people can only lead one to call this the Trump Virus. Even today experts point to shortages in sanitizers, PPE equipment and other support equipment putting the lives of patients and the caregivers at risk. 

There is evidence that the virus may well be mutating and while infecting more people it’s fatality rate seems to be less in the recent weeks. However this does not mean that the virus will go away as President Trump has been often heard to say. The danger of the virus remains that it continues to spread through asymptomatic carriers therefor suggesting that a strategy of prevention ( masks and social distancing), mass testing, contact tracing and isolation are the key pillars upon which any plan to contain the virus rest.  

On all these criterion President Trump has failed, so much so he extolled that testing should be slowed down, and recently asked CDC to only test people with symptoms of the virus thus ignoring the simple fact that this virus spreads primarily through asymptomatic carriers! What is even more sad is that had measured been taken in a timely and effective manner the death toll in the United States would have perhaps been one third of deaths would occurred from the present level. Instead President Trump says had he not done what he did the death toll would have been in the millions, whitewashing that all he did actually created the impact of the Trump Virus to be worse than it could have. 

Countries with less resources, weaker health care facilities and certainly less money have done a remarkable job. This was because there was leadership on the issue and the leadership of these countries listened to the scientists and took the bitter pill of lockdowns and their economic impact. With out a doubt it is obvious that USA’s COVID-19 score card would have been much better had it been for better leadership. There can be no doubt that Donald Trumps lack of leadership and his push back against sensible measures to tackle the Covid-19 virus was and is tantamount to homicidal negligence.