Most of the American public may not be happy with President Donald Trump’s actions when it comes to how he’s handled the coronavirus pandemic so far, but there’s at least one person who has given him consistent, glowing praise from the start of the crisis: Trump himself.
According to numbers compiled by The New York Times, Trump has given congratulatory remarks to himself around 600 times. He has credited others as taking positive action on the coronavirus pandemic about 360 times, and blamed others for what he said was a poor response about 110 times, the analysis found.
From March 9 to April 17, when the Times’s analysis begins and ends, Trump has made, on average, about 15 self-congratulatory remarks about his response to the pandemic per day. Looked at another way, as of Monday at noon, there have been roughly 56,000 deaths in the U.S. from the disease so far — meaning that the president has made one positive statement about his job performance on the matter for about every 93 Americans who have died from COVID-19.
For example, Trump gave himself kudos for taking “action” by closing travel from China, in which he said he acted quickly on the issue (“We were way ahead of schedule,” Trump said on April 14).
However, his administration still allowed tens of thousands of travelers into the country from China, possibly rendering his “action” moot. Additionally, screening procedures for those travelers were not consistent, reporting from Axios has observed.
Trump also failed to do much of anything else in response to the coronavirus before March 9, beyond those travel restrictions — but in Trump’s mind, according to interviews at the time, his administration had “shut it down” (referring to the spread of the virus). In response to criticism about his failure to heed medical experts’ advice on the pandemic, Trump accused those who dared to note his slow response of engaging in a “new hoax” against him.
Trump’s inaction appears likely to have cost Americans’ lives, however. A pair of epidemiologist researchers have concluded that as many as 37,000 deaths from COVID-19 could have been prevented if the president had instituted stay-at-home measures just a week earlier.
If Trump is giving himself positive reviews about handling the disease, it’s not a sentiment that is shared by the American people. Polling across the board finds that the public is not happy with how the president has reacted to the crisis so far, with many saying that he’s been slow to act.
According to a recent Economist/YouGov poll, just 45 percent of registered voters approve of Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, while 51 percent say they disapprove.
When asked what type of speed he acted with, registered voters again suggested he didn’t respond in a timely manner, with 54 percent saying he waited too long to act on the issue, while only 37 percent said he behaved in an appropriately timed manner.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.