The next President of the United States, Joe Biden, yesterday retweeted an op-ed he wrote in January about coronavirus and Donald Trump’s ill-suitedness to the task of running a hot-dog stand, never mind the free world, during a pandemic. Biden also provided examples of the global cooperation and leadership proven to work in pandemic response the last time he got to hang around the White House and do stuff:
Pandemic diseases are a prime example of why international cooperation is a requirement of leadership in 2020. Diseases do not stop at borders. They cannot be thwarted by building a wall. We cannot keep ourselves safe without helping to keep others safe as well and without enlisting the help of other nations in return. And here’s the truth — the United States must step forward to lead these efforts, because no other nation has the resources, the reach or the relationships to marshal an effective international response.
That’s how we broke the infection curve on Ebola. In September 2014, CDC projections warned that over 1 million people could be infected if we failed to act. By February 2015, thanks to the leadership of our administration, the number of new Ebola cases was fewer than 400. A few months later, the epidemic was essentially extinguished.
We brought the world together behind a response that only the United States could mobilize — including dispatching our military on a limited mission to help build the urgent infrastructure necessary to coordinate a massive global public health response, deploying American disaster assistance response teams to Africa, unleashing the NIH to help spur the discovery of new treatments and vaccines, protecting our citizens from potential cases of Ebola in the USA, and harnessing civilian expertise from the CDC at home and abroad.
We acted over the chorus of uninformed objections from critics like Donald Trump, and more than 60 countries followed our lead, contributing over $2 billion, thousands of health professionals and personnel, and other critical resources like personal protective equipment. Just as important, we strengthened our focus on preparing for the next crisis.
That’s the kind of leadership a moment like this demands — a leadership Trump could never deliver [Joe Biden, “Trump Is Worst Possible Leader to Deal with Coronavirus Outbreak,” USA Today, updated 2020.01.29].
Five and a half months later, Trump is muzzling and undermining Dr. Anthony Fauci and promoting game show host Chuck Woolery as an expert on coronavirus. He’s also counterproductively pulling America out of the World Health Organization and destroying our global leadership.
Many January articles are no longer relevant to the current world of pandemic and recession. But Biden’s diagnosis of the Trump disaster and Biden’s prescription for serious leadership remain keenly accurate and instructive. All voters should reread that diagnosis and prescription before casting their (early, by-mail) votes this fall.
* * *
p.s.: Team Biden offers this campaign video showing other things Trump has never done for our country or our kids but which come naturally to Joe Biden and lots of other regular Americans:
It’s a good ad. Deadbeat Dad has no clue how to parent or sacrifice for anyone else. He’s emotionally deformed.
Thank you for calling the White House…. pretty good and spot on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=46&v=bONdZsb9UCM&feature=emb_title
Ouch! That’s a good one, Jerry!