08 May 2020

The Doormat

Donald Trump has been talking tough lately about China, as if he alone has been confronting them for being less than truthful during the earliest weeks of the coronavirus outbreak.

Reporting yesterday by the Washington Post (link here) and the Wall Street Journal (link here), however, shows how Trump was a big booster for China earlier this year.

Per the Journal piece: "Early this year, several of Mr. Trump’s political advisers inside and outside the campaign urged him to take on China more directly, which they argued would have bipartisan appeal. One idea they suggested was a special commission to investigate the origins of the virus and whether Beijing responded sufficiently to control the outbreak. Trump twice declined suggestions from his team in January to press [Chinese President] Xi for more transparency about the virus’s causes and symptoms."

From there, the Post picks up the thread: "In fact, Trump didn’t just decline the suggestions; he actually went in the opposite direction. Trump repeatedly praised China’s coronavirus response through late February. And on two different occasions, he actually vouched for China’s transparency, despite the advice."

So instead of being tough, the reality is that Trump was a doormat and the Chinese leadership walked all over him.

Trump and his senior staff have expended considerable time creating narratives of lies, hiding the truth, and attempting to shift blame to others for the catastrophic failure by both the President and his administration to confront the coronavirus crisis. If only they had put such hard work into attacking the virus problem in the first place, instead of wishing it would go away and then later trying to hide their fecklessness.

Once again, Trump is primarily focused on covering up his incompetence, not solving a problem.

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