The President, in a Surreal Speech, Says Nothing.
President Donald Trump calls COVID-19 a “foreign virus,” which is consistent with his xenophobia and racism, and this description is characterizing his approach to its spread.
Take Wednesday night’s speech (see my attached annotation), during which he proposed several efforts consistent with the policies he’s pursued since taking office, but that amounted to Trump playing the role of Nero (as a meme making its way around social media —inexplicably retweeted by Trump himself— points out).
He has expanded a travel ban, adding much of Europe to China and the Middle East, a move the World Health Organization says is counterproductive. He called for tax cuts, hoping to calm volatile stock markets, but says nothing about actual workers, a full quarter of whom lack access to paid sick leave. He talks of partnering with health insurance companies and medical facilities, who have agreed to temporarily cover testing and to not issue “surprise bills,” but says nothing about the 30 million uninsured or the millions who are essentially underinsured, about a healthcare system quickly being pushed to its capacity, or a pharmaceutical industry whose only focus is profits.
Hank Kalet 