Donald Trump’s “Opening Up America Again” scheme is a disaster right out of the gate
One of the more troubling aspects from the start of Donald Trump’s disastrous handling of the coronavirus pandemic was that he decided his task force should be headed by economists rather than anyone with medical experience – that is, the people around him who suck up to him and make sure their donors will still be able to line their pockets regardless of how bad things get. It was obvious that Trump didn’t care about how many Americans died needlessly because of his own recklessness, he was all about keeping up appearances.
Between that and probably not doing well in quarantine, particularly when he’s routinely being skewered by his political opponents on television, Trump is making noise yet again about prematurely opening the economy – claiming he might do so before May 1 in some states. This is, of course, a terrible and dangerous idea regardless of how the Republicans try to spin it – with even May 1 seeming like it may be too optimistic, as a number of states have yet to peak in the number of cases and every medical expert suggests a gradual rollback of social distancing guidelines.
This has already caused a disastrous fallout with concerned governors, who Trump notoriously clashed with earlier this week. It turns out they aren’t the only ones opposed to a quick reopening either. Even David Solomon, the CEO of Goldman Sachs, has gone on record opposing this decision, warning that there is likely to be a negative economic impact if the guidelines are rolled back too soon.
South Dakota, where these guidelines were largely ignored, for example, has shown a growing number of cases, particularly at one of their meatpacking plants, and could put a significant dent in the food supply chain. In the hope of boosting his own ego and grabbing onto a decaying legacy, Donald Trump has only managed to alienate more of his allies.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making