Well, the grand announcement from the Oval Office during prime time television viewing was certainly not what I expected tonight. I, along with millions of Americans expected to hear an important, sober, and universal message of unity amid this public health crisis.
Instead, using his political playbook and false accusations, Trump sat somberly behind his Oval Office desk and proceeded to divide, instead of uniting the American public.
After days of playing down the severity of the COVID-19 outbreak, Trump blamed Europe for not acting quickly enough to address the “foreign virus” and claimed that U.S. clusters were “seeded” by European travelers, according to the Associated Press.
“We made a lifesaving move with early action on China,” Trump said. “Now we must take the same action with Europe.” Trump added: “To keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days,” (He excluded the UK for some reason).
As usual, Trump overstated his economic measures meant to help workers and businesses rocked by the virus, while at the same time not being exactly clear on what he was planning on doing. Trump misspoke when he said the prohibitions would “not only apply to the tremendous amount of trade and cargo but various other things.” The official proclamation released after Trump spoke made clear it applies to people, not goods and cargo.
The State Department had to later clarify that the travel restrictions only apply to foreigners who’ve been in Europe within 14 days. Trump also said U.S. health insurers had agreed to waive co-payments for coronavirus treatment. A spokeswoman for America’s Health Insurance Plans, a trade group, said its members had agreed only to waive co-payments for testing, a big difference.
Needless to say, Trump missed his chance to prove he is on top of this outbreak and regain the confidence of the American public. It was obvious he was reading the teleprompter, reciting words written by someone else. He was nervous and ill-at-ease – not the sign of a real leader.
