NYT flags ‘incalculable’ loss

Rare front page sparks ire after Trump’s golf trip

The entire front page of Sunday’s New York Times, which listed 1,000 coronavirus victims, served as a powerful demonstration of US President Donald Trump’s failure in handling the pandemic and an emotional manifestation of his administration’s neglect of its own people’s lives, Chinese observers noted on Sunday.

Headlined “U.S. Deaths Near 100,000, an Incalculable Loss,” with a sub-headline “They Were Not Simply Names on a List. They Were Us,” the front page is filled with the names, ages and occupations of those who died of the coronavirus in the US, as the country’s death toll approaches 100,000.

A picture of the front page trended on social media, with anger and grief directed at the Trump administration for its missteps in handling the pandemic.

The president arrived at his golf club in Sterling, Virginia on Saturday, where he was pictured playing a round, media reported.

Hashtag “New York Times dedicated whole front page to listing 1,000 coronavirus victims’ information” was viewed nearly 30 million times on Sina Weibo platform.

Many internet users paid tribute to all the victims of COVID-19 and said the Trump administration should be nailed on the pillar of shame for eternity.

Li Haidong, a professor at the institute of international relations of China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing told the Global Times on Sunday that the New York Times was protesting against Trump and calling on the government to care about people’s health and safety as the country’s death toll approached 100,000.

“The move is the unusual but understandable reaction of people with conscience, which conveys the strong anger of the American people over Trump’s incompetence and selfishness,” Li said.

According to US media, Trump went to play golf on Saturday as US deaths approached the grim milestone of 100,000.

Trump’s epidemic response, such as it is, has failed, as he is incapable of stopping more people from getting infected and dying, Li said.

“The American people are miserable amid the epidemic, and their president is an eccentric who does not care about the safety of ordinary people and is good at passing the buck,” Li said.

Many analysts have noted the epidemic in the US might not end before the US election, and Trump’s repeated emphasis on work resumption would not take off as long as the coronavirus enjoys freedom to spread.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Friday that new outbreaks were “inevitable” in the US with lax measures unless the Trump administration conducted stricter measures like testing, quarantine and contact tracing.

Ni Feng, director of the institute of American studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, told the Global Times the death notice of COVID-19 victims on the New York Times’ front page could “deal a fatal blow to Trump’s re-election” as most of the names on the front page were elderly people, his potential voters.