Trump's Sabotaging And Scapegoating COVID-19 Reponse Continues

Due largely to his ignorance and characteristic instinct to act only in his self interest, COVID Donnie's catastrophic bungling of the response to the coronavirus pandemic has led to over 6 million confirmed cases and nearly 190,000 deaths, both numbers likely a significant undercount.  We have the most deaths from coronavirus and the most confirmed cases in the world, despite representing only 4.25 percent of the world's population. The botched response has also cratered our economy, altering the lives of millions, beyond the public health issue.  Regardless of the daily distractions, it's the key issue in this year's election.

Knowing this, COVID Donnie and his apparatchiks have been flailing around looking for scapegoats to blame for the debacle, with China (the "China virus") and the World Health Organization being the two main targets.  Now, with countries racing to develop and test a vaccine, COVID Donnie has applied the same ignorance and self- interest in snubbing an effort to coordinate that work:

The Trump administration said it will not join a global effort to develop, manufacture and equitably distribute a coronavirus vaccine, in part because the World Health Organization is involved, a decision that could shape the course of the pandemic and the country’s role in health diplomacy.

More than 170 countries are in talks to participate in the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (Covax) Facility, which aims to speed vaccine development, secure doses for all countries and distribute them to the most high-risk segment of each population.

The plan, which is co-led by the WHO, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and Gavi, the vaccine alliance, was of interest to some members of the Trump administration and is backed by traditional U.S. allies, including Japan, Germany and the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union.

But the United States will not participate, in part because the White House does not want to work with the WHO, which President Trump has criticized over what he characterized as its “China-centric” response to the pandemic. (our emphasis)

The childish go- it- alone approach is another boneheaded, self- defeating decision that could have serious consequences:

But there was resistance in some corners of the government and a belief that the United States has enough coronavirus vaccine candidates in advanced clinical trials that it can go it alone, according to the official and a former senior administration official who learned about it in private discussions.

The question of who wins the race for a safe vaccine will largely influence how the administration’s “America First” approach to the issue plays out.

An unlikely worst-case scenario, experts said, is that none of the U.S. vaccine candidates are viable, leaving the United States with no option because it has shunned the Covax effort.

J. Stephen Morrison, Director of the Global Health Policy Center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies sums it up:

“This just shows how awkward, contradictory and self-defeating all of this is,” he said. “For the U.S. to terminate its relationship with the WHO in the middle of a pandemic is going to create an endless stream of self-defeating moments.”

There is likely another familiar name providing counsel to COVID Donnie, his mentor Vladimir Putin.  As Russia is already pushing its own dubious vaccine, Putin would see a number of gains in having the U.S. take the approach it's taking, primarily further isolating the U.S. from its allies and weakening another part of the global infrastructure the U.S. has spent the last half century building.  It's easy to imagine him coaching his asset to isolate America further from the world.

But since "it is what it is," this incompetent, malignant "president" will continue to endanger us all with his unerring bad faith and catastrophic judgement.  And the death toll will mount and the economy will remain on life support.