President Trump told the hosts of Fox & Friends on Wednesday that the coronavirus will “go away like things go away.” That’s non-falsifiable, but it’s silly. “Absolutely no question in my mind it will go away,” he said later in the day at the White House. “Frankly, sooner rather than later.”
Hopefulness is certainly more than welcome considering our immediate prospects, and considering how prevailing gloom has led to draconian restrictions and general despair. Yet the president’s messaging on the virus has too often been simplistic, tone-deaf, and dissonant, and it continues to be so.
Just over two weeks ago, the president’s diagnosis was much more serious. Most notable was his phrase that it would “get worse before it gets better.” That assessment was questionable, but his seriousness was not.
“We’re asking everybody that when you are not able to socially distance, wear a mask,” Trump added at the same July press conference. “Get a mask, whether you like the mask or not. They have an impact. They’ll have an effect, and we need everything we can get.”
His most recent interviews neglect that tone of gravity and shared responsibility, mostly because, as this newspaper wrote in a recent editorial, media coverage continues to matter way too much to Trump. Media voices insist that the virus is here to stay, and Trump, to be a foil, says it’s on the way out.
Trump was right two weeks ago in suggesting that the virus isn’t going anywhere for a while but that the public can and should take the measures necessary to make coexisting with the virus possible. He’s wrong now to downplay it.
Trump wants schools and economies to open. The case for reopening both can be made very strongly without introducing childish notions such as that the virus will “go away like things go away.” CDC Director Robert Redfield was adamant in a recent congressional hearing that reopening schools is critical for the health of children, and the center has offered guidance on how to go about it safely. Children are at a very low risk of suffering from COVID-19, as Redfield and others have said for weeks. Add a few more details, and that’s a strong case for reopening schools.
As for the economy (with the exception of bars, which many states have either closed back down or restricted) restaurants, retail stores, and other businesses have not been considered to be places of significant virus transmission, and numbers still indicate that the virus’ lethality targets a small share of those infected. That’s a simplified version of the reality, but it’s essentially correct.
Trump himself, along with his administration officials, have made these points repeatedly, but he drowns it all out by continuing to trivialize the matter. The virus isn’t going anywhere, and we can live alongside it. Trump should never stray from that message.
