Readers Write: An admirable leader?

The Island Now

In response to John Mangin’s dissatisfaction with negative media portrayals of President Trump’s response to the global pandemic, here are a few “pesky facts” that Mr. Mangin failed to mention:

1) Trump disbanded the White House global pandemic response directorate; 2) At a rally in South Carolina on Feb. 28, Trump labeled the virus the Democrats’ “new hoax;” 3) On Trump’s watch, the U.S. squandered a critical month in developing and scaling up Covid -19 testing; 4) Trump balked at leading a national, coordinated response to the pandemic, leaving many key challenges to the states; 5) Trump spreads dangerous medical advice, such as ingesting Lysol and taking chloroquine as a preventative, to those people who still listen to what he says; 6) Trump fails to take his own experts’ advice, such as wearing a mask in public and he encourages armed mobs to oppose public health regulations.

This list could go on, but I would simply ask Mr. Mangin, when have we ever had a president who refuses to take responsibility for problems — in this case, an unprecedented national crisis — happening on his watch? What kind of a leader, after three  years in office, would blame his predecessor for this national crisis?

Certainly, it is impossible to respect a man holding the most powerful position in the world who is unable to accept any responsibility for the more than 100,000 Americans who have died of this virus.

Lee Parker

Roslyn

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