Trump pours bleach over populist style
The United States President is having to clean up a mess of his own making. Donald Trump’s clearly dangerous suggestions on Friday about bringing “light inside the body” and ingesting or injecting disinfectants as “almost a cleaning” Covid-19 treatment, amount to the most bizarre low point of his presidency.
After a backlash, Trump on Saturday unconvincingly insisted he was being sarcastic. But later, the daily White House coronavirus briefing was cut short and no media questions were taken.
Trump’s reckless comments on medical issues are hazardous and divert attention away from the key practical tasks of dealing with a deadly virus.
Has Trump also just dropped populist politics in a puddle of bleach? He has barrelled through controversies, brushing aside scandals with an untouchable quality. Now his statements and approach are getting a new viewing — through the lens of a pandemic that has killed more than 53,200 in the country he leads, infected 926,400, and made 26 million people unemployed. The biggest traffic jams right now are drive-up lines for food banks.
His missteps show up the weaknesses of populist rule, which tends to focus heavily on the leader’s personality and instincts, be dismissive of expertise and science, and light on pragmatism and planning. It disrespects the need in governing for strong foundations of experience, knowledge and policy.
Populist leadership is reliant on a committed base of supporters — rather than looking outward to society as a whole — and favours political priorities. When those are put above more important aims, perspectives about what is acceptable become skewed.
Trump’s intensely personal concerns — reelection, which depends on the economy bouncing back; his television ratings; his reactions to praise and criticism — have all been aired at the briefings.
This is occurring as citizens look for direction, realistic reassurance and transparency. Trump has never looked as accidental a president as he does now. For the first time, people can compare his efforts at tackling a ubiquitous crisis with foreign leaders and US state governors. They can also compare what he says with health experts.
Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo has been brutally frank about New York’s outbreak. California’s Gavin Newsom has been resourceful and Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer tough under fire. Republican governors such as Mike DeWine of Ohio, Charlie Baker of Massachusetts and Larry Hogan of Maryland have put the safety of their people first.
Internationally, the New York Times referred to Jacinda Ardern and Scott Morrison as steady hands on the tiller, adding “what Australia and New Zealand have already accomplished is a remarkable cause for hope”.
It said they are “both succeeding with throwback democracy — in which partisanship recedes, experts lead and quiet co-ordination matters more than firing up the base”.
If anyone is cleaning up in the challenge of dealing with this crisis, it is not the US President.
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