Navyaa Jain ‘23, Commentary Writer

January 20, 2020, is a day for the history books, as the U.S. confirmed its first case of the novel coronavirus, aka COVID-19. Despite countless claims from President Trump that the virus would be contained, by March 26, 2020, the CDC stated that the U.S. had 82,404 confirmed cases, not including undiagnosed or undetected cases. This was more than any other country in the world, including China and Italy. In these past few months, the pandemic has become much more than a public health crisis, considerably lowering Donald Trump’s chances of re-election. People want to elect a leader, and right now, that’s not what they see in Donald Trump.

People looked to Trump, as president of the United States, for confidence, yet he proved to be uneducated about the pandemic. When the cases of coronavirus began to grow in the country, Trump constantly contradicted his own experts during press briefings, saying that COVID-19 “may not get bigger” and that the risk “remains very low.” At the time, he even provided his own timeline, claiming that by Easter the country would be reopened and families would be celebrating. Trump also repeatedly called the novel coronavirus the “Chinese Virus.” His racist comments have provoked hate towards the Asian American community, but Trump continued to defend his words with the statement, “China did this.” On top of that, his behavior during press briefings has been described as erratic, mean, and abusive, as he insults reporters for asking tough yet reasonable questions.

But his words aren’t the only thing unsettling voters. Republican donor Dan Eberhart says that “the economic ramifications of the coronavirus are increasingly likely to weigh heavily on Trump’s re-election chances.” With dips in the stock market, crashing oil prices, and most importantly, the unemployment of at least 16 million people, Trump’s administration has not been able to ease the financial burden on Americans. The number of jobs lost in the Great Recession was barely half the amount lost in recent weeks, and economists anticipate a record-breaking 15% unemployment rate by the end of April. Although Congress and the administration attempted to combat the lay-offs with a $2-trillion emergency relief act, it’s not enough, as stimulus funds can only provide up to 60% of someone’s initial income and families have lost a significant amount of money. (Cohen, Tsu 2020). These economic problems threaten Trump’s campaign because they disprove his claim that the economy is better off with him than it was before he was president.

COVID-19’s impact on the United States is largely seen in hospitals, as they are flooded with cases and lack the equipment or facilities to treat people. State governments continued to beg President Trump for tests, ventilators, masks, and even beds as patients died in hospital corridors. Still, Trump did not invoke the Defense Production Act, a law that Trump had used countless times to place orders for drone parts and chemicals. The law allows the president to direct private companies to produce certain equipment and allows him to control its distribution. Trump’s main argument is that issuing the DPA is a form of nationalization and allows the government to become involved with private companies. However, last summer, the Department of Defense used it to “obtain rare earth materials” that were needed for the production of lasers and jet engines. Unfortunately, in this pandemic, Trump treated the DPA as a “break the glass” last resort, and the coronavirus did not meet his requirements.

A president’s responsibility as a leader is to inspire confidence, inform the public, and issue effective policies, all of which Trump has failed to do. As of April 13, the Rasmussen “Trump Approval Index” recorded that Trump’s approval ratings went down nine points, from 52% to 43%. Right now, there is one thing Americans can agree on: the United States is in trouble and its leadership needs to do better. Trump’s unpresidential actions, as well as his inadequate handling of the novel coronavirus pandemic, might just make him a one-term president.