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Light Drizzle Will a virus end a presidency?
As I watch the final days of the election campaign, I keep thinking about the words of writer-philosopher George Santayana, who said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” The aphorism can be applied to four presidents, including Donald J. Trump.
Lyndon Johnson was by any measure a president who had a major impact on American history, with the passage of the Civil Rights Act and other significant laws. But Johnson ignored the swirl of negativity that the public felt about the Vietnam War. By the time he faced re-election, our country had lost over 250,000 soldiers, and the war ended his political career.
George H.W. Bush was a patriot and a statesman when he was elected president. He paid great attention to foreign policy, and successfully ousted Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi forces from Kuwait. He also removed Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega from power.
But while Bush claimed numerous successes abroad, he failed to focus on the American economy, which was in rapid decline. His most fatal declaration was, “Read my lips: No new taxes.” In the middle of his term, the Congress passed a tax increase, which Bush signed into law, and he lost his bid for re-election.
President George W. Bush had many accomplishments during his tenure. He pushed through a $1.3 trillion tax cut and was responsible for the No Child Left Behind Act. He delivered the Partial Birth Abortion Act for the conservative wing of the Republican Party. We remember his “war on terror” after the Sept. 11 attacks.
It is now voters’ turn to decide whether they will give President Trump four more years. He can point to the economy before the coronavirus pandemic began, and his success in getting many conservative judges appointed to the federal courts. These claims are politically appealing to different wings of the Republican Party.
But Trump can’t escape his bungled handling of the Covid-19 virus. Just like George H.W. Bush was forced to eat his promise of “no new taxes,” Trump will likely regret repeatedly saying that the virus will disappear, “like magic.” As of this week, the death toll in the U.S. has passed 225,000, and there has been no comprehensive federal response.
The president continues to insist that his travel ban on visitors from China was somehow a turning point in the battle against the coronavirus, but he can’t escape his own words in interviews with Bob Woodward, when he acknowledged knowing how serious the virus was but publicly downplaying it.
Each day, it seems, more stories emerge about Trump’s attempts to muzzle public health experts. His wild suggestions about the use of disinfectants and hydroxychloroquine to “cure” the virus have undermined his public standing. His insistence on holding large rallies with largely maskless crowds has alarmed many of his own supporters, who are going to great lengths to avoid the virus.
While political polls are never a perfect barometer of the public’s feelings, an incumbent politician who ignores voters’ concerns about something as serious as Covid-19 does so at his peril. While more people are dying each day, Trump is telling the nation that “we’re rounding the corner” on the virus.
He claims that the majority of the country likes his tweets and his handling of the government, but the pandemic is the No. 1 concern of the nation, and there is no way to escape its potential impact on his Election Day fortunes. If he loses, Covid-19 will be in the first sentence of his political obituary.
Jerry Kremer was a state assemblyman for 23 years, and chaired the Assembly’s Ways and Means Committee for 12 years. He now heads Empire Government Strategies, a business development and legislative strategy firm. Comments about this column? JKremer@liherald.com.
