Patrick Cockburn: Trump, Erdogan, Modi, Orban, Bolsonaro – populist nationalists have met their match in the coronavirus
“Where does
incompetence end and crime begin?” asked an appalled German chancellor in the
First World War on learning that his chief military commander planned to renew
his bloody but futile attacks on the western front.
President Trump is
showing a similar disastrous inability during the coronavirus pandemic to shift
away from his well-tried tactics of claiming non-existent successes and blaming
everybody for his blunders except for himself. It is his first true crisis in
his three years in the White House and, like that German general, he is visibly
incapable of changing the way he deals with it.
Much virtual ink has
been spilled over the last three years about the ineptitude and isolationism of
the Trump presidency, and how far it will erode American hegemony. The pandemic
has posed the question more starkly than ever before, but it has also provided
something of an answer. Crudely put, the US will not remain the one single
superpower if the rest of the world sees evidence day after day that the
country is run by a crackpot who cannot cope with a global calamity.
More is at stake here
than the future of the Trump presidency. Over the past decade, Trumpian
nationalist populist leaders have taken power all around the world, and they
too are being tested and found wanting. Without exception, they have shown
themselves to be better at winning (or fixing) elections than they are at
combating the virus. Some admit the gravity of the outbreak, but use it to
enhance their power and silence their critics. Others reject social distancing
and restrictive measures as unnecessary, or denounce them as a hoax cooked up
by the media. What comes across in all these cases is that Trumpian regimes,
for all their self-serving talk of threats, do not know what to do when there
is a real threat to their nation.... read more:
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/coronavirus-trump-erdogan-modi-orban-bolsonaro-a9471336.html
Delilah Friedler: Capitalism Is
America’s Religion. The Virus Makes That Clear
American capitalism has dropped the mask — and its face is cruel and selfish
American capitalism has dropped the mask — and its face is cruel and selfish
