Coronavirus crisis exposed ‘profound weakness’ in US political culture: Analyst
The coronavirus pandemic in the US has revealed a “profound weakness” in Washington’s political culture and the dishonesty of American officials, according to a political analyst and foreign affairs journalist.
“It has been increasingly rare for political leaders to speak directly and honestly to the citizenry,” said Patrick Lawrence, a writer and columnist in Norfolk, Connecticut.
“This crisis exposes a profound weakness in our political culture, direct speech, direct discourse. Politicians assume Americans are unable to manage the truth,” Lawrence told Press TV in a phone interview.
“I think the wise ones in America these days in the context of this crisis are not the leadership; it is the American people,” he added. “This reflects the fact that politics has become a spectacle. Not quite an entertainment but something other than serious.”
President Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has been sharply condemned by US experts as severely inadequate, is ruining America’s reputation as a competent country, according to British media.
Trump’s incompetence and dishonesty in managing the COVID-19 pandemic has left foreign observers, as well as the American public, in disbelief and may permanently tarnish US standing around the world, The Guardian newspaper reported on Sunday.
“Erratic behavior, tolerated in the past, is now seen as downright dangerous. It’s long been plain, at least to many in Europe, that Trump could not be trusted. Now he is seen as a threat. It is not just about failed leadership. It’s about openly hostile, reckless actions,” the newspaper said
The United States, with the world’s third-largest population, has recorded more fatalities and infections from the coronavirus than any other country, leaving over 22,000 dead and over 555,000 infected as of Monday, according to a Reuters tally.
About 2,000 deaths were reported for each of the last four days in a row. Experts say official statistics have understated the actual number of people who have succumbed to the respiratory disease, having excluded coronavirus-related deaths at home.
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