Criticisms of Trump a distraction

Too many media outlets and pundits are focusing on the wrong message in the reporting of President Donald Trump and the coronavirus. The lead story is too often a summary of Trump’s performance at the latest news conference rather than the important information communicated by those at the podium with him.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, Vice President Mike Pence and others have communicated their information clearly and credibly. This information needs to lead the media coverage.

As for Trump, those who strongly support him rally to express what a wonderful job he is doing. Those who do not supthe port him express what a miserable failure he is. Covering this distracts from the important information.

Trump does have an important role to play in buoying the public spirit. In times of crisis, there need to be leaders who crystallize optimism and hope. I wish he were better at this role. His platitudes come off as empty, his Twitter outbursts undermine his ability to unite and most often, he appears to be too self-serving.

Understand the importance of the broader message. Do not let your like or dislike of the messenger cloud your objectivity.

There are no absolutes in this. At some point, we are going to restart the economic activity. When that day comes, there will be risk, and people can argue about how high that risk should be, but making blanket statements that any risk is unacceptable is irresponsible.

As we restart activity, there are lessons from China’s experience that are helpful. In areas where there was low incidence, activity increased after a few weeks. In other areas with high incidence, activity is still not restarting. That is how it is likely to play out in the U.S.

The media and pundits need to be focused on telling this story and quantifying the risks rather than giving full attention to absolute statements from any politician. — Douglas Wisbey, Grayslake