The U.S. has fought dozens of wars since declaring and winning its independence from Britain. Prevailing in a war depends to a large extent on leadership, and in the U.S., the president is the commander-in-chief. During wartime, he is assisted by dozens of generals and admirals who lead the troops in combat. Normally he receives frequent briefings and makes important decisions after discussing them with the leading military experts. The fight against the COVID-19 pandemic — a war of sorts — provides a new perspective. 

Could a president hope to win a war if he told all his generals to do their own thing? No. Nor would it be a good idea if he had, say, 50 generals, but didn’t consider some of them teammates and attacked them publicly. It would be even worse if he openly criticized some of them merely for wearing the wrong uniform; if he thought to himself: ‘I like red uniforms, so I’ll tell everyone that the generals who wear blue ones are bad or inept.’ And it would be utterly disastrous to encourage them to compete against each other. 

That kind of “leadership” wouldn’t help achieve a common goal, win a war or contain a public health pandemic. But as the U.S. has been fighting (losing?) the war against the COVID-19 virus, President Donald Trump has done all of it — and more. He passed the buck to the governors and mayors, claiming that they were responsible for acquiring the necessary equipment for their residents’ public health needs on the open market. The procurement of respirators, ventilators, personal protective equipment, test kits, etc. was left to local officials, forced to compete against one another. 

He also attacked Democratic governors - the blue uniforms - for not having enough money in their coffers to cover expenses when state revenues tanked amid business shutdowns. He also has repeatedly ignored, downplayed and/or disavowed experts at the CDC along with the nation’s health experts. They base their pronouncements on scientific evidence; the president prefers the latest rumor on Fox News. He even has installed non-scientific cronies to censor what the experts can tell the public. 

Not only does Trump repeatedly provide false information to the American public about the pandemic and what steps they can take to protect themselves, he also blatantly flaunts the rules and regulations designed to protect the public and slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Trump held two massive rallies in Nevada in mid-September that were considered potential ‘super-spreader events’ by many. When the president and his re-election team found their proposal to hold airport rallies in Reno and Las Vegas turned down by the local authorities for health reasons, they simply moved them to other venues that were less discerning. 

Nearly six thousand people gathered at the Henderson rally, most of whom did not wear masks, according to TV footage and attending reporters and commentators — and despite the fact that Nevada has strict restrictions on public gatherings, limiting them to 50 persons, in order to protect public health and slow down the spread of the virus. Many businesses have complained vehemently about these restrictions, but they still follow the governor’s orders.

Moving the banned rallies from public spaces (airports) to a private facility (a warehouse) simply to circumvent a clear state directive — one endorsed by the White House officially — runs counter to the message of this man who claims to be a champion of “law and order.” And what if hundreds of Nevadans now get sick with COVID-19? Will the Trump campaign and rally attendees bear the costs of their irresponsible actions or be held accountable? No. Even the business owner involved was only fined.

The president and his team in Nevada have tried to justify the rallies as an act of civil disobedience, or couch things as if he was simply opposing the partisan and ‘unjust restrictions of a Democratic governor’. Because Nevada is a so-called blue state, Trump went with his whims and tried to claim attempted infringement on his First Amendment rights. In stark contrast, last spring a peaceful protest in Washington, D.C. related to the killing of George Floyd was broken up by tear gas and rubber bullets in order to allow this same man a photo-op in front of a nearby church. The protesters were in the way of his PR opportunity, and the First Amendment was not a thought in his head.

The president claims that he and his administration have been successful in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. But for several months now, the U.S. has had the dubious distinction of having the highest rate of infection and the highest number of deaths of any nation. In fact, more Americans have died from COVID-19 than those who perished during WWI and the Korean, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghan wars combined — 140,000 Americans. Recently we have exceeded 200,000 dead from COVID-19. With the number of daily deaths increasing at an alarming rate, how soon will the number of American deaths from the pandemic surpass the nearly 300,000 casualties during WWII? Will it be on January 1 or even sooner? 

A believer in ‘alternative facts’ might hasten to point out that the poor man suffers from a bone spur that could make it hard for all but the staunchest ‘stable genius’ to walk a straight path and remain on course. Trump once used that spur to claim he wasn’t fit for military service. We’ve now seen just how unfit he really is.

Victor Pestoff has been a Henderson, Nevada resident for five years. He is a professor emeritus who did most of his teaching in Europe, but retired to the Silver State.