The Atlantic has a leading story for its upcoming September 2020 edition in which an article about the failures of the United States that culminated in its current disastrous response to the Coronavirus. The article entitled “How the Pandemic Defeated America” by Ed Yong exposes the deep failure a lot of which emanate from a failed and floundering president who epitomises the worst traits of leadership. In the article, Ed Yong explains:
the COVID‑19 debacle has also touched—and implicated—nearly every other facet of American society: its shortsighted leadership, its disregard for expertise, its racial inequities, its social-media culture, and its fealty to a dangerous strain of individualism
The Atlantic
He further illustrates how this person has failed his country:
No one should be shocked that a liar who has made almost 20,000 false or misleading claims during his presidency would lie about whether the U.S. had the pandemic under control; that a racist who gave birth to birtherism would do little to stop a virus that was disproportionately killing Black people; that a xenophobe who presided over the creation of new immigrant-detention centers would order meatpacking plants with a substantial immigrant workforce to remain open; that a cruel man devoid of empathy would fail to calm fearful citizens; that a narcissist who cannot stand to be upstaged would refuse to tap the deep well of experts at his disposal; that a scion of nepotism would hand control of a shadow coronavirus task force to his unqualified son-in-law; that an armchair polymath would claim to have a “natural ability†at medicine and display it by wondering out loud about the curative potential of injecting disinfectant; that an egotist incapable of admitting failure would try to distract from his greatest one by blaming China, defunding the WHO, and promoting miracle drugs; or that a president who has been shielded by his party from any shred of accountability would say, when asked about the lack of testing, “I don’t take any responsibility at all.â€
I am still mystified and cannot comprehend how such a person actually got elected to the highest office in the most powerful and richest country in the world, and even more dumbfounded by the fact that he continues to be in that position even with all of his failings.
The painful thing for me is the realisation that the high ideals that are supposed to be the hallmarks of the United States that I had admired for so long, have nothing to do with that country. At least, they most definitely are not living by them nor are even making an attempt at respecting them. The USA no longer has any moral ground to claim the high ground. It’s a floundering failing state that very much resembles many kleptocracies around the world who worship the person and leave the substance of human ideals behind.
Here he is at the end of his presidency and I bet that until Nov 3, 2020 he will do his utmost to polish his champion image. The first salvo is the despicable and iniquitous normalisation of relationships between the United Arab Emirates and Israel. There are more things to come, mark my words.
I have no doubt that at his removal from office, he will arrive at said kleptocracies doors hat in hand to collect for services rendered.
Will the world recover from Trump? Of course it will. But the damage is deep so I hope the memory remains for a long time to come to remind people of their responsibility to elect trustworthy individuals to represent them. Because their effect are far wider than simply themselves.
