Trump escalates attacks on China over COVID-19
2 May 2020
In his press conference on Thursday, US President Trump stepped up his propaganda war and threats against China blaming it for the deadly COVID-19 pandemic that has cost the lives of more than 230,000 people internationally.
Trump repeated the unsubstantiated allegation, circulated initially in far-right circles, that the coronavirus was not the result of animal to human transfer, but rather was produced in a Wuhan virology laboratory and either escaped, or was deliberately released.
The US president claimed to have seen evidence to prove the virus spread from the Wuhan laboratory, but he repeatedly dismissed requests to provide details, saying: “I’m not allowed to tell you that.”
Daniel O’Day, CEO of Gillead Sciences Inc., left, and Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, right, during a meeting with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House, May 1, 2020, in Washington
In the face of the overwhelming opinion of virologists that COVID-19 did not emerge from a laboratory, the Trump administration has been pressing US intelligence agencies to concoct evidence to support the conspiracy theory.
Tellingly, just prior to Trump’s press conference, acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Richard Grenell issued a statement saying that the Intelligence Community “concurs with the wide scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not man-made or genetically modified.” When asked about the statement, Trump appeared to be ignorant of it.
Yesterday, when asked about Trump’s allegation, World Health Organisation (WHO) emergencies chief Michael Ryan stressed that his UN agency had “listened again and again to numerous scientists who have looked at the sequences” of the virus. “We are assured that this virus is natural in origin,” he said.
Trump also blasted China for not having done more to prevent the spread of the virus, even suggesting that they “chose” to allow the pandemic. He absurdly declared COVID-19 could have been “contained relatively easily” and China could have contained it. “They were either unable to, or they chose not to and the world has suffered greatly,” he stated.
Whatever the initial delays of its leadership, there is a clear record that China responded quickly and effectively to a virus whose deadly character and infectiousness were for them initially unknown, and promptly informed the world through the WHO. By contrast, the Trump administration dismissed what for it were known dangers and took no action for weeks resulting in a rapidly escalating death toll in the US which is now over 63,000.
This campaign of gross distortions and outright lies is not only a crude attempt to deflect attention from the Trump administration’s criminal negligence as it faces mounting opposition in the working class for its push for a return to work under unsafe conditions.
It is also part and parcel of the escalating economic warfare and military build-up against China, regarded in Washington as the chief threat to US global dominance, that began under President Obama and has escalated under Trump.
The establishment media in the US have swung in behind Trump amplifying his falsifications and anti-China propaganda. The Washington Post published an opinion piece last month giving credence to the conspiracy theory of the extreme right about the Wuhan laboratory. On Thursday, its editorial attempted to transform China’s counter offensive against Trump’s lies into “Chinese bullying to avoid accountability.”
The Democrats, far from being at all critical of the anti-China campaign, have been attacking Trump from the right for being too accommodating to Beijing. Joseph Biden, the Democratic presidential front-runner, has run a series of attack ads, condemning Trump for not pressing China to allow in US health officials and not blocking travelers from China soon enough.
In one ad, Biden declares that Trump “left America exposed and vulnerable to the pandemic. He ignored the warnings of health experts and intelligence agencies and put his trust in China’s leaders instead.”
Trump, however, is preparing to ramp up the attacks on China, from words to punitive actions. The Washington Post reported that a group of Trump officials are beginning to examine proposals for sanctions against China and demands that it pay financial compensation for its handling of the pandemic.
At his press conference on Thursday, Trump declared that the trade deal with China signed earlier this year to prevent a descent into full-blown trade war “now becomes secondary to what took place with the virus. The virus situation is just not acceptable.”
According to the Washington Post, among the retaliatory proposals under discussion in the White House is the cancellation of some of the massive US debt with China. Such a step would not only hit China, but a repudiation of debt by the world’s largest economy would severely undermine confidence in the already highly-vulnerable, international financial system.
Trump’s top economic adviser Larry Kudlow was quick to scotch the suggestion lest it further panic the markets. “The full faith and credit of U.S. debt obligations is sacrosanct. Period. Full stop,” he told Reuters.
Kudlow did not rule out other forms of retaliation, however. Referring to China, he told CNBC: “They have a lot to answer for, they’re going to be held accountable. How, what, when and why” is up to the president.
The increasingly vitriolic US attacks on China demonstrate that far from easing geo-political tensions and encouraging international cooperation, the COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed and fueled the toxic international relations that are leading to economic war and military conflict between major powers.
The US has for a quarter century sought to stem its historic decline through aggressive, neo-colonial wars in the key strategic areas in the Middle East and Central Asia. The Obama administration targeted China diplomatically, economically and militarily in what was known as “the pivot to Asia”—measures that have only escalated under Trump.
The COVID-19 pandemic has only further exposed the vulnerability and decay of American imperialism, heightening fears in Washington that China could emerge from the crisis in a stronger position. Even as the US health system is starved of the necessary funds to fight the virus, Congress is foreshadowing providing tens of billions of extra funding specifically to prepare for war on China.
At the same time, the US Navy has ramped up its provocations against China in the South China Sea, sending warships into areas claimed by Malaysia, Vietnam and China on the spurious pretext of defending “freedom of navigation.” Such reckless steps in this highly tense situation threaten either by accident or design to trigger a military confrontation that would rapidly spin out of control.
TRUMP KNEW ABOUT THE PANDEMIC BUT SAW IT ONLY AS ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY TO HAND WALL STREET AND THE RICH TRILLIONS IN WELFARE SOCIALISM.
“So, in a sense, everything was set to go. As you know, just a week before the inauguration in 2017, the Obama people who had been doing this planning got together with the incoming Trump people, their counterparts, and conducted this major simulation that demonstrated the weaknesses that still existed. And then, of course, president Trump proceeded to disband, dismantle, or defund most of the networks that had been set up in the previous two administrations and to ignore all of the reports and warnings that were produced in his administration, as well.”
Why Humanity Will Probably Botch the Next Pandemic, Too
Top aide told Trump in January
coronavirus would be his 'largest
national security crisis': Report
| April 29, 2020 01:54 PM
National security adviser Robert O'Brien sounded an early alarm when he told President Trump in January that the coronavirus would be “the largest national security crisis" of his presidency.
O'Brien advised Trump at the time to take quick action by restricting travel from China and sought to convince his European counterpart to do likewise, according to a new Wall Street Journal report.
White House officials were told to view O'Brien's top aide, Matthew Pottinger, a former Marine and Wall Street Journal reporter who covered the SARS outbreak in China and who expressed concern about the virus early on, as the voice of the National Security Council on issues relating to COVID-19.
Fearing he could spread the virus, Pottinger even wore a mask in front of Trump before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance to do so.
O'Brien, who joined the White House coronavirus task force in late January, also pressed for the addition of Dr. Deborah Birx to the response effort.
Birx joined as a coordinator on Feb. 26 as Vice President Mike Pence was appointed to lead the group.
Like Birx, O'Brien joined the White House from the State Department, where he was the administration’s special envoy for hostage affairs.
At the Security Council, he advised that the White House should maintain focus on competition with China, a view shared by Trump's Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy Peter Navarro, who has accused China of "profiteering" during the pandemic.
Trump May Already Be Discrediting a COVID-19 Vaccination
He’s systematically destroying Americans’ last reserves of trust in government.
The White House/Flickr
Hopes are rapidly rising for a COVID-19 vaccine. The World Health Organization recently announced that as many as 102 potential candidates are currently under development—eight of them already in clinical trials. President Donald Trump has called for his own ambitious vaccine research program, dubbed “Operation Warp Speed,” with the goal of finding a cure by year-end. If all goes well, a vaccine could be available en masse by January, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top epidemiologist and a key member of the White House coronavirus task force.
These developments are good news. As United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said this week, only a vaccine can return the world to “normalcy,” while all other measures, such as universal testing, will only mitigate the spread of the infectious disease.
But if and when a vaccine is available, will Americans actually give it their trust?
Under any circumstances, there would be some skepticism. Even reasonable citizens might show some caution in embracing new and relatively unproven therapies. This skepticism, however, could take on epic proportions under Trump’s leadership. The president’s near-constant stream of lies, misinformation, obfuscations, and half-truths has systematically destroyed Americans’ last reserves of trust in government. A logical consequence of this behavior is that many Americans will end up wary of a cure produced by the administration, even with rock-solid proof of its efficacy.
This could be catastrophic. Public reluctance to accept a vaccine will mean continued suffering, despite a treatment in hand, and an even slower road back toregular life. As much as Trump would like to believe that a vaccine would be gratefully embraced by all Americans—no doubt a catalyst for his urgency in pursuing one—Trump himself has made that outcome less likely.
Even in the best of situations, persuading Americans to get their shots isn’t easy. Fewer than half of Americans get their flu shots every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. During the H1N1 pandemic of 2009-2010, only 27 percent of Americans were ever vaccinated, despite relatively high-profile public health campaigns and the availability of free vaccinations to anyone who wanted one. As a result, H1N1 continues to sicken and kill Americans every year—albeit at rates far, far below that of COVID-19.
Scholarly analyses of the public’s response to the H1N1 vaccine find a correlation—even if it’s a relatively small one—between general levels of public trust in government and vaccination rates. Much more significant in influencing vaccination ratesis the quality and consistency of official communications from government officials. More than anything, that’s what enables citizens to accept official advice and trust in a treatment’s safety. “Individuals and institutions are trusted when the public perceives that they are knowledgeable and expert, they are open and honest, and concerned and caring,” as one study found. All of these are standards that the president and his administration have repeatedly failed to clear.
Trump himself has been a font of misinformation and conflicting advice. He boosted the anti-malaria drug chloroquine (now shown to be both ineffective and deadly) and made utterly unsupported claims that the virus will “go away” with the summer heat. Then, he suggested that injecting oneself with disinfectants could be a treatment for COVID-19, a proposal met with horror from public health experts—and a stern warning from the makers of Lysol.
The president has also failed to be “open and honest.” He has undermined the credibility of public health officials and governors in whom Americans put more faith. More than once, his false statements have forced his top public health officials to issue “clarifications” that contradict his own baseless claims. At the same time, Trump has encouraged resistance against the restrictions imposed by his own administration, such as through his pointed refusal to wear a face mask in defiance of CDC guidance.
Trump has also failed to convey any sense of empathy for the people hardest-hitby the ravages of the virus’s outbreak. According to an analysis by the Washington Post, Trump has spent just four and a half minutes expressing condolences for the pandemic’s victims while spending 45 minutes praising himself over more than 13 hours of airtime during a three-week period.
Even “Operation Warp Speed,” Trump’s push for a vaccine, smacks of political expediency more than a genuine concern to save lives. According to the New York Times, Trump has repeatedly urged a faster timetable, despite consistent warnings from public health experts of the risks of rushing through the process.
These fears are certainly justified, given the administration’s record of missteps in its pandemic response. For instance, flawed coronavirus test kits ordered by the CDC set back the nation’s testing capacity by weeks in the early onset of the crisis. The FDA’s rush to approve antibody test kits has now led to a flood of inaccurate or outright fraudulent tests on the market.
It’s no surprise, then, that Americans feel awash in misinformation and conflicting guidance. A new survey from the Pew Research Center finds that about half of respondents say they find it difficult to sort fact from fiction in their daily news consumption. Nearly two-thirds of Americans say they’ve seen some news “that seemed completely made up.”
This confusion makes the public a ripe target for anti-vaccine misinformation campaigns, which the Associated Press recently reported are already in high gear. “I don’t want the government forcing it on my community or my family,” activist Rita Palma told the AP. In addition to sowing doubts about the effectiveness of a potential vaccine, these groups are organizing resistance against the possibility of mandating its usage, a headache that governments will be forced to confront.
The consequence of all of these failures is a public that is rightfully suspicious of the Trump administration’s motives and competence as it joins the race for a cure. Recent polls find that only 23 percent say they trust Trump’s information “a great deal.” Fewer than half would follow his recommendations. Even most Republicans now say they don’t put much stock in Trump’s pronouncements. All told, these circumstances are hardly a recipe for a successful vaccination campaign, even if government scientists were to beat the odds and meet the administration’s ambitious year-end deadline.
In the meantime, the damage Trump has done to public trust has weakened efforts to mitigate the virus. Public officials still need Americans to maintain the discipline of social distancing, reject deadly misinformation, and comply with guidance on wearing masks, especially as “quarantine fatigue” sets in and hardens. They will need people to get themselves tested regularly and adhere to quarantines if contact tracing shows they’ve been exposed to someone infected. But as images of crowded beaches and mask-less protesters show, rebellion is already brewing and may only get worse.
Granted, public trust in government has long been in decline. But Trump’s appalling pandemic response could be the ultimate deathblow. As much as Trump wants to reap the political rewards of unleashing a cure this election year, he is sabotaging his prospects by destroying the public trust needed to bring the pandemic under control. What he’ll leave behind instead is one more disaster for his eventual successor to repair.
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