‘He’s gonna
get us all killed’: sense of unease after Trump coronavirus speech
Many
observers found the address unreassuring and downright weird. Susan Glasser, a
staff writer from the New Yorker, tweeted: “The militaristic, nationalistic
language of Trump’s speech tonight is striking: a ‘foreign virus,’ keeping out
China and Europe.”
The
president began his speech as many leaders do, then reverted to his familiar
nationalism and threw in a bit of campaigning
David Smith
in Washington
@smithinamerica
Thu 12 Mar
2020 04.00 GMTLast modified on Thu 12 Mar 2020 04.32 GMT
Donald
Trump’s first Oval Office address – that almost sacred altar for US presidents
on prime time television – came in January 2019 amid a partial government
shutdown and asserted that only a border wall can keep out dangerous illegal
immigrants.
His second
such address on Wednesday night was again couched in terms around the need to
resist a foreign invasion that is someone else’s fault. The problem is that the
coronavirus is already inside America and spreading.
And the
message was delivered by a 73-year-old man with a sniffing habit who did not
seem to be a glowing picture of health nor entirely at ease reading from a
TelePrompter. His bold assertion last week – “I like this stuff. I really get
it … Maybe I have a natural ability.” – seemed even more incredible than
before.
Addresses
to the nation from the Oval Office are meant to be defining moments for a
president to act as commander in chief or consoler in chief. After the crew of
the space shuttle Challenger perished in a disaster in 1986, Ronald Reagan
promised: “We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this
morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and ‘slipped the
surly bonds of earth’ to ‘touch the face of God’.”
George W
Bush made half a dozen Oval Office addresses, including on the night of the
September 11 terrorist attacks. Barack Obama delivered three. Trump has
typically resisted conventions – it has been exactly a year since the last
White House press briefing – but even he finds some of them necessary or
useful.
On
Wednesday he wore a blue suit, white shirt and blue patterned tie – not his
favourite red. He also sported a stars and stripes pin and had hands his folded
before him (he said nothing about the potential perils of shaking hands). His
face looked undeniably orange. Behind him were framed photos, including
portraits of his parents, and flags and gold curtains.
At 9.02pm,
Trump began as presidents so often do: “My fellow Americans.” But in the next
breath, he reverted to his familiar us-versus-them nationalism, referring to
the coronavirus outbreak “that started in China” and is now spreading
throughout the world. “This is the most aggressive and comprehensive effort to
confront a foreign virus in modern history.” Not just a virus. A foreign virus.
The
president touted his own sweeping travel restrictions on China and, far from
expressing sympathy and solidarity with allies, argued the European Union
“failed to take the same precautions and restrict travel from China and other
hotspots. As a result, a large number of new clusters in the United States were
seeded by travelers from Europe.”
Trump
announced the US will bebanning travelers from many European countries to the
US for the next 30 days with exemptions for Americans, permanent residents and
family of US citizens who have undergone screenings and, mysteriously, the UK,
despite it having a higher caseload than some other European countries. Could
Brexit be the new TSA PreCheck?
The
president then made an awful bungle. He said “these prohibitions will not only
apply to the tremendous amount of trade and cargo, but various other things as
we get approval”. Such words could trigger global economic panic. Trump was
forced to hastily clarify on Twitter: “... very important for all countries
& businesses to know that trade will in no way be affected by the 30-day
restriction on travel from Europe. The restriction stops people not goods.”
He went on
to talk of the pathogen as if it was a foreign army or terrorist network. “The
virus will not have a chance against us,” he said. “No nation is more prepared
or more resilient than the United States.”
And seen in
the midst of an emergency, Trump could not resist some campaigning. “Because of
the economic policies that we have put into place over the last three years, we
have the greatest economy anywhere in the world by far,” he said.
“This is
not a financial crisis, this is just a temporary moment of time that we will
overcome together as a nation and as a world.”
Many
observers found the address unreassuring and downright weird. Susan Glasser, a
staff writer from the New Yorker, tweeted: “The militaristic, nationalistic
language of Trump’s speech tonight is striking: a ‘foreign virus,’ keeping out
China and Europe.”
David Litt,
who wrote speeches for Obama, posted: “As a former presidential speechwriter,
my careful rhetorical analysis is that he’s gonna get us all killed.”
Trump’s
second Oval Office address was over in 10 minutes. Then a man off camera said:
“We’re clear.” The president unbuttoned his jacket and exclaimed with relief:
“OK!”
To millions
of viewers, it was anything but.
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