As rising estimates of U.S. deaths from COVID-19 come out of the White House, the feebleness of the federal government’s response becomes more and more glaring.
This is a disease that, on the low end of the estimates (83,000), will kill more Americans than have died in wars since the Korean War (about 65,000). In the midrange, its death toll would surpass that of U.S. deaths in World War I (103,000). And it possibly could eclipse the number of Americans killed in World War II (405,000).
As these numbers illustrate, President Donald Trump is failing catastrophically in his claim to be a wartime president.
By minimizing the crisis for months and still failing to fully mobilize the federal government to address it, Trump has put untold numbers of Americans directly in harm’s way.
Where are the testing kits that states have been begging for? Where is the federal leadership on the production of personal protective equipment? Where are the preparations for maintaining the food supply?
At a time when the nation needs an FDR, who decisively ordered manufacturers to build war materials, we instead have a so-called wartime president who merely asked companies to shift production to fight the virus. Even in an exceptional instance — Trump’s order to General Motors to start building ventilators — the administration still hadn’t ordered any of the devices from GM after more than a week.
As the virus spread and the death count of Americans began to spiral, Trump spent weeks shifting blame, downplaying the threat and grossly exaggerating the steps his administration was taking to address it. Yes, he took positive steps with his travel bans on China and other nations. But he was being counterproductive elsewhere, including by dismissing well-deserved criticism of his response to the crisis that the virus was a hoax by the Democrats.
Throughout, he made outrageously false statements.
“We have it totally under control,” he said Jan. 22 during a CNBC interview. “It’s one person coming in from China. We have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.”
Wrong. Just like when he compared COVID-19 to the common flu. Just like when he said the virus would miraculously disappear. Just like when he contradicted the World Health Organization’s estimates based on a “hunch” that the numbers would be lower. Just like when he said a vaccine would be available soon. Just like when he said the U.S. was “the most prepared country in the world.”
In fact, despite Trump’s claim to be a wartime president, the leader he’s most closely resembling now isn’t Abraham Lincoln or Franklin Roosevelt. It’s Herbert Hoover, who is remembered for misjudging the severity of the Great Depression as it approached and then failing to fully leverage the power of the federal government to help Americans as the crisis unfolded.
See if this quote from Hoover in August 1928 rings a bell when compared with Trump’s “totally under control” statement to CNBC.
“We in America today,” Hoover said, “are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land.”
Fourteen months later, the stock market would collapse and the Great Depression would be underway. But then — in another comparison with Trump — Hoover held back. He refused to take steps that might have eased the situation, such as forcing fixed prices and exerting control over businesses. He also refused to provide federal money directly to Americans, which thankfully was not a mistake Trump repeated.
Hoover’s presidency offers a road map for Trump on how not to lead in a crisis. But unfortunately, Trump hasn’t shown the interest or capacity to learn from history, or by introspection about his faults. His self-reverence, impetuousness and sensitivity to any perceived criticism are all-consuming.
So what’s left is a president who uses his daily briefings on the coronavirus outbreak largely to congratulate himself, demean his critics and oversell his accomplishments. What’s more, he misinterprets this as leadership.
It’s worth wondering how Trump would have handled situations faced by other wartime leaders.
Roosevelt: “Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy …”
Trump’s version: “December 7, a day that would live in infamy, but I ended up getting high marks because I closed the borders. More people would have died except I closed the borders, so the Japanese were forced to attack our boats with their planes. Everyone says I did a great job. I’d give myself a 10. I had a friend who was there and said there was great spirit for Trump on December 7.”
Winston Churchill: “Never was so much owed by so many to so few …”
Trump’s version: “So many of those governors owe me so much, and they ask and ask and ask as if someone’s life depended on it. I was barely able to watch my shows, but you can thank me later. Everyone can thank me. They should, they really should. Incredible job by me.”
These Trumpified versions of the great wartime oratory are not intended to be funny — they’re a sign of the profound diminishment of the presidency under Trump.
While people have noted that Trump has adopted a more somber tone on the matter in recent days, there is little sign it’s because of some interior growth on his part. Rather, it appears to be solely the result of his recognition that his misadministration of this crisis will cost him an election and that the falling stock market is costing him and his friends money.
It’s not clear that the human toll of his actions are much of a motivation for him. He still is more apt to talk about the great job he thinks he has done or his Facebook metrics than be frank with America about what needs to be done going forward.
And for that matter, whatever positive action is happening is the result of the “deep state” — the loyal government bureaucrats who do understand public service — to whom Trump must now turn in hopes of rescuing the situation. The broken toys he assembled in his Cabinet most certainly aren’t up to the task.
So for now, we can hope that the loyal public servants who remain in government can keep pulling the steering wheel back toward the road when Trump veers toward the edge. Because as a wartime president, Trump isn’t coming close to measuring up.