Robert Miller: Will Trump ever stop blaming and just start leading?

To The Daily Sun

“BLAME IS THE COWARD’S SOLUTION TO HIS FEAR OF ACCOUNTABILITY.” — Craig D. Loundsbrough

It’s become clear that Trump and his team have a political strategy to deal with the pandemic. It began in January with the POTUS downplaying the risks of the virus spreading in the U.S. We were assured Americans were safe and any risk to the country was contained. Despite loud calls for more preventative action, Trump wanted to be seen as the wise leader who didn’t overreact and more importantly, kill our economy.

When the virus did erupt here, Trump justified his earlier comments and began shifting the blame in many different directions. Although being in office for three years and having done nothing to prepare for a pandemic (although being warned), he has falsely blamed the Obama administration for leaving him with an obsolete system that was not fit for a 2020 pandemic.

The blame game continued and shifted to China, referring to the virus as the, “China Virus.” And then on to European leaders for insufficient aggression in not containing the virus. Trump backtracked on this strategy when it became apparent this strategy was poetically counterproductive.

                                                                                                              Trump cast blame on Nancy Pelosi for his being distracted by impeachment. This accusation is belied by the fact that the POTUS who got his first briefing related to the virus in January, found plenty of time to play golf between that briefing and the calls for social distancing.

The important and lasting blame game moved to the governors, and not just any governors. Trump directed his criticism toward governors of big, blue states, making it seem the main responsibility for any response to the pandemic was left to the governors, and he would ignore or deny their pleas for help.

He blamed media for stoking panic, Democrats for making his crises management, “Their new hoax,” the Federal Reserve for not protecting the economy earlier and blaming General Motors for problems in manufacturing new ventilators.

His most insidious blame tactic implied that frontline responders — doctors, nurses and hospital workers — who are putting their lives on the line, might be guilty of stealing desperately needed respirators and inflating the need for ventilators.

Our president has a penchant for disseminating false information, either intentionally or due to his profound ignorance; so much misinformation, that the public is finding it hard to know what to believe.

Clearly, Trump is primarily concerned with how the pandemic will affect his reelection chances. While he was slow off the mark to respond to COVID-19, he is always working off a political plan with his reelection as the top priority.

In his 2016 address to the Republican convention, Trump claimed that, “The most basic duty of government is to defend the lives of its own citizens. Any government that fails to do so is a government unworthy to lead.” Was this just hollow rhetoric, or will Trump eventually stop blaming and start leading.

Robert Miller

Alton