The wrong kind of American exceptionalism
Within 48 hours, America’s coronavirus infections will surpass China’s total. The US will probably replace Italy as the centre of the pandemic. At just the moment Britain dropped its flirtation with “herd immunity”, Donald Trump is embracing it.
This makes America exceptional on two counts. First, it is the only nation whose leader explicitly questions the trade-off between economic growth and saving lives. Second, America is unique in lacking a clear policy. Its federal system offers a menu of epidemiological options. Viruses pay no heed to democracy or autocracy. They do thrive on confusion.
Covid-19 has given Mr Trump licence to air his alt-science theories. Every day he broadcasts homegrown ideas of how to defeat the disease. This includes a cocktail of anti-malaria drugs, the imminence of a “miracle” vaccine, predictions the virus will wash away by itself, change-of-season optimism and a drip drip of scepticism about social distancing.
The sight of experts around him is meant to reassure. Their look of strained reticence prompt thoughts of sappers navigating a minefield. Muammer Gaddafi used to stage accompaniments like this. It takes some getting used to in America.
More than half the country says it approves of how Mr Trump is handling the epidemic. Such polls should come with a health warning. Ratings for leaders across the west have risen sharply — as tends to happen in the early stages of an external threat.
https://www.ft.com/content/6a639c58-3c69-4bc6-8ab2-c194b3d04278
= new reply since forum marked as read
