From top US President Donald Trump at a Covid-19 press briefing in the White House yesterday; Dan Boyle
At times of deep national crisis a natural instinct is to rally around the flag. To put aside usual critical tendencies. To seek not to distract. To support those in decision making positions.
Not only is this natural, it is necessary.
Diminishing criticism is not eliminating the need for evaluation. It gets put aside to reemerge when the crisis has passed.
This crisis, hopefully, will soon pass. When it does questions that have been building up will need to be answered.
Most obvious will be questions on whether interventions were effective and timely. Was preparedness appropriate? Were resources sufficient?
The spirit of this evaluation needs to be generous. It must be about whether lessons have been learned, whether those lessons can be applied if and when future crises emerge.
It can’t be about political point scoring.
Nor should it be about avoiding accountability. If poor decisions get made, and such decisions result in terrible consequences, that has to be made known. The who, the what and the why.
The default position should be is that any crisis is being dealt with by people who are acting to the best of their abilities with the best of intentions.
When this principle gets compromised, there is a need to critically intervene. It might be when a political party seeks to breach the social contract by seeking to make capital out of a crisis.
It could be when an individual within a decision making structure, overstates their importance making themselves the crisis.
Into this scenario comes the ultimate curve bender – Donald J Trump.
While in Ireland our response to the coronavirus will eventually be seen as being less than perfect, the international dimension to the crisis is being cruelly undermined by the presence of Trump in the White House at this juncture in time.
With the world dealing with one of the worst crises in history, the actions of this man child throwing his toys out of the pram, is not only negligent, it is criminal.
If the United States recognised the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Trump’s indictment there would be a slam dunk.
Something has to be done about the United States. Its empire has been more cultural and economic than it has been territorial. It is an empire that is unravelling and never more so than it has been in the person of Trump.
A latter day Nero, without even the musical ability, he has already proven himself to be a malignant, narcissistic oaf, the last person who should be in control of anything.
To be in this position now, when the planet is most in need of real leadership, is the ultimate in cruel irony.
His previous behaviour has been met with a collective global shrug of the shoulders. Sometimes we have laughed at his ignorance. We can no longer laugh or shrug.
Despite the millions of Americans who are imprisoned in their own nightmare because of him, there has to be a change in how the rest of the World interacts with the United States. However badly Trump has been treating his own citizens, his behaviour is now affecting the rest of us far worse.
We need to call out this poster boy for malevolence. We need to isolate those who enable him. Mostly we need to remind MAGA heads that USA number 1 now only applies to negative indicators.
Trump is not a virus. He’s more like bacteria. Definitely not the good kind either.
Dan Boyle is a former Green Party TD and Senator and serves as a Green Party councillor on Cork City Council. His column appears here every Thursday. Follow Dan on Twitter: @sendboyle
AP
