Trump can’t be trusted to make this decision

Opinion by Frida Ghitis

Updated 4:57 AM ET, Tue March 24, 2020

(CNN)The first time most of us learned that President Donald Trump was thinking about relaxing existing measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic was on Sunday night, just before midnight. That’s when his tweet shouted in all caps, “WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF.”

He went on to say he would make a decision at the end of the current 15-day period of CDC guidelines recommending social distancing.

The idea to change course may have come from his favorite network, Fox News, where a Sunday morning host suggested that when it comes to fighting the coronavirus, “The cure is worse than the disease.” The question for the rest of us is, can we trust Trump to make a decision of this magnitude? To be blunt, the question is whether relaxing restrictions will lead to illness and death for large numbers of Americans.
Trusting Trump with this decision is all the more unnerving because we have seen him at the White House podium behaving irresponsibly. His performances have included not just the usual self-serving boasts and the cringe-inducing attacks on the media and his political enemies, but something else; something new and disturbing.

For days Trump has used the daily briefings to promote an unproven medical combination to fight Covid-19, declaring, “I’m a smart guy,” and explaining he has “a feeling,” that the combination works. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s foremost expert in infectious diseases, has repeatedly taken to the microphone to say there is no proof the medications work, and still Trump persists. As a result, public health officials, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and a state health commissioner have had to waste precious time to clean up the President’s misinformation. Three people in Nigeria have poisoned themselves following medical advice from this real estate developer-turned politician, and so many have bought the medications that shortages have developed for those who have lupus and other illnesses for which the medications in question have been proven effective.

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Article URL : https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/24/opinions/coronavirus-trump-decision-frida-ghitis-opinion/index.html