President Donald Trump puts America in a 'dangerous gamble'

Why is Trump so impatient?

There is nothing surprising about President Donald Trump's decision to reopen the economy because since the US has not yet reached the peak of the Covid-19 epidemic, Mr. Trump has been actively planning for the economic recovery phase. During a visit to the Honeywell International medical mask factory based in Phoenix, Arizona, Mr. Donald Trump affirmed that "it is time to reopen" even though the epidemic will hurt more people.

President Donald Trump in an interview with Fox News in Washington, DC, on May 3. Photo: AFP

This statement is considered a call for the US to reopen after more than a month of "closing down" to control the epidemic, although the US is still the "epicenter" of the world with more than 1.2 million infected people and more than 70,000 deaths to date.

Mr Trump appeared to want his statements to get the most attention in a key campaign state.

And it was no coincidence that he chose a factory in Arizona for his first trip outside Washington in more than a month. Mr. Trump seemed to want his statements to get the most attention, in an important battleground state for the election campaign.

If we look at other “epidemic hotbeds” in the world such as France, Italy, Spain - where infections are still increasing every day, it is clear that the US reopening plan is too early when health experts warn that lifting restrictions too soon will cause the epidemic to spread faster, even causing a second wave. However, it is possible to explain Donald Trump's decision at this time.

More than 30 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits since the Covid pandemic began. Photo: AP

First, the economy is considered the most important "card" for the White House owner's re-election campaign. The Covid-19 pandemic has seemingly wiped out all of America's job creation efforts over the past 13 years, erasing President Trump's efforts to reduce the unemployment rate over the past 4 years of his term. But those are just the initial difficulties, and it is predicted that the unemployment rate and bankruptcy will be even higher in the future. Goldman Sachs predicts that the unemployment rate will soon skyrocket to a record 15%. If he revives the economy and avoids a recession that the world will face in the future, Mr. Trump will score positive points, opening the way for his re-election race later this year. That is why he considered reopening a few weeks ago, when the US was still at the peak of the epidemic...

Second, the US leader's view from the beginning was that SARS-CoV-2 was like a common flu, so he believed that the epidemic would pass sooner or later. In his latest speech in Phoenix, Mr. Trump once again expressed optimism that "the virus will disappear with or without a vaccine." He even said that even if there was a resurgence, Covid-19 could be quickly extinguished.

One detail that the media paid special attention to when Mr. Trump visited the medical mask factory was that he only wore protective glasses and did not wear a mask, while the workers, press and accompanying staff all followed the recommendations of health officials. Observers believe that by not wearing a mask, Mr. Trump wanted to prove that the threat of Covid-19 was decreasing. And that was also the "theory" for him to prove his decision to reopen.

President Donald Trump did not wear a mask when visiting a mask factory in Phoenix. Photo: AP

Are Americans “warriors”?

Whatever the reason, President Trump’s decision to open up the country for economic development at this time is considered a risky “gamble” for the United States and his political future. Trump’s latest statement has not only met with opposition from the medical community but has also sparked a wave of criticism from many politicians, even within the Republican Party.

People are willing to “exchange their lives for the Dow Jones index”.

Rick Wilson, Republican strategist

“The administration has decided in a very pragmatic way that the political damage from a collapsing economy is greater than the political damage from 90,000-plus Americans dying by June,” said Rick Wilson, a Republican strategist. Wilson called it “a kind of brutal realpolitik,” where people are willing to “trade their lives for the Dow Jones.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Trump’s call for states to ease restrictions and allow businesses to reopen has not been fully supported. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo declared that “there are no trade-offs in our reopening plan,” meaning that once the pandemic is under control, New York will consider easing restrictions. Meanwhile, Mr. Gavin Newsom, Governor of California, insisted that “there is no choice between public health and reopening the economy.”

Hart Island in New York becomes a mass cemetery as the number of deaths from Covid-19 in New York increases sharply. Photo: Reuters

These views could also be a “loophole” for Democratic opponents to attack President Donald Trump in the upcoming election. No matter how much the economy recovers, if tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of people die from Covid-19 in the coming months, the White House owner’s credibility will be destroyed.

The people of our country should think of themselves as warriors.

US President Donald Trump

For the United States, it is clear that easing social distancing at a time when the number of new Covid-19 infections per day is still in the thousands, shows that the risk of the disease continuing to spread is entirely possible. As President Trump said, Americans should think of themselves as “warriors” when faced with this reality. However, this recommendation does not seem to reassure Americans when a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll released on May 5 showed that 74% of Americans said they opposed reopening restaurants and nail salons in their state, while 8 in 10 Americans said that movie theaters should not reopen.

Perhaps, for many Americans, no one wants to trade their lives for "food and clothing", even if they are considered "warriors", the price to pay is still too high.

Many hospitals in the US are overloaded due to the rapid increase in COVID-19 infections. Photo AP