EDITORIAL: Outgoing US President Donald Trump's four-year incumbency has yielded any number of foolish policies and practices that, had their impact on the US itself as well as the world not been so grave, would probably have provided a great deal of merriment. But even in this surfeit of riches, some things stand out from amongst the crowd. Trump's handling of the Covid-19 crisis has been nothing short of criminally negligent. Initially, he poohed poohed the warnings of the pandemic's threat to life, adventurously went about without a mask even to election rallies, and may well have continued in this vein had he not contracted coronavirus himself. No steps were taken to provide public health in a country that only provides private expensive medical treatment, which left most of the poor and not so well off to fend for themselves. Little surprise then that the US has competed with countries in Europe and elsewhere for the top slot of cases and deaths. The virus has so far killed over 265,000 Americans, and the current ongoing deadly surge has produced over 100,000 new cases per day, leading to record-high hospitalisations (of those who can afford them). As if all this were not enough, Trump appointed Scott Atlas his pandemic special adviser when the latter was a neuroradiologist with no expertise in infectious diseases or epidemiology. Sighs of relief are audible all round after Atlas shrugged off his assignment after four months marked by controversy. During his short tenure, Atlas' contributions to the drive against the coronavirus bordered on the hilarious, giving even his boss, Trump, a run for his money. Atlas downplayed the coronavirus threat, attacked science-based public health measures, and clashed repeatedly with other members of the pandemic task force. It is a mystery what qualifications or expertise Atlas had that persuaded Trump to put him in charge of one of the US's (and the world's) deadliest pandemic outbreaks. Scott Atlas is a fellow at Stanford University's rightwing Hoover Institution, where he works on healthcare policy. During his tenure as special assistant, he attacked mask wearing, stay-at-home orders and social distancing, i.e. all the standard operating procedures (SOPs) instituted round the world to limit the spread of the virus, promoting instead the scientifically unproven notion of 'herd immunity' for the US. Had his advice been followed, it would probably have led to millions of deaths. He was rightly repeatedly rebuked by public health and infectious diseases experts. Not only that, he called on Michigan residents to 'rise up' against restrictions imposed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who became the target of a kidnapping plot, probably inspired by Scott Atlas' call. This incident led to calls for his firing. Even Stanford University and its faculty senate distanced themselves from their own faculty member Scott Atlas' ridiculous shenanigans.
Scott Atlas' resignation comes amidst a deadly surge in cases in the US and other parts of the world. The troubling aspect of the situation in the US is that despite his foolish handling of the pandemic and the damage it has inflicted on American lives, jobs and the economy, 70 million plus Americans were still persuaded to vote for Trump. This is an indicator of how polarised and divided the US is today. Those who voted for Trump have blinkers on regarding his mistakes and downright damaging policies. They may even be the harbingers of a growing neo-fascist right wing trend in the US's polity. Trump has not been loath even in his last days in office to wreak revenge by firing those members of his administration who may have dared to differ with him or sully the traditions of losing gracefully by kicking up a fuss about alleged rigging and mounting legal challenges that have more or less sunk without a trace. Incoming President Joe Biden will have his work cut out for him in terms of attempting to re-establish the US's global standing. Pakistan has to prepare itself for the new administration in Washington as well as understand that kowtowing to every wish of the US in the past, e.g. the Afghan wars, has damaged our own interests. The relationship with the US going forward should be based only on what is good for Pakistan, without grandiose ambitions or unattainable goals that turned out to be mere chimeras in the past.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020