No one is unaware of the global pandemic that is currently going on right now, regardless of whether they choose to alter their behavior. However, as it has been approximately four months since the entire world has been on lockdown, it's been clear which nations have taken the coronavirus seriously and which have not. Based on the trend lines and data, cases in the US have only been increasing and our leader has continually been downplaying the gravity of the issue, while other countries are on a steady decline, if not completely free of COVID-19. I find this phenomenon quite peculiar, as it seems that this virus, science, and the acceptance of it has been a political statement. Simply put, accepting certain realities indicates that you must belong to a particular political party.
And it doesn't stop at the coronavirus either. Climate change is a phenomenon that 97% of climate scientists agree on, and yet, in the United States politicians cannot agree on whether or not they should take action. In other words, whether it is even a considerable issue to focus on. One party has climate change as one its biggest issues that it wants to tackle, while the other simply deregulates so that the fossil fuel industry can continue polluting the Earth. The politicizing of science started with this issue, but it became exacerbated with the onset of coronavirus.
I'm not saying that leaders of other countries had absolutely no disagreement with how the virus should be handled, but regardless of party, leaders understood that COVID-19 was a serious issue that threatened the lives of citizens. Governments all over the globe made strict social distancing rules and increased testing in order to detect as many cases as possible. However, Trump has said that the virus will fade away. It hasn't. He said that we are doing the most testing per capita in the world. We aren't. Meanwhile, in the United States there are people un-ironically saying that local governments mandating people to wear masks in public is tyrannical. Clearly these people do not understand tyranny. In a global pandemic, the general public deserves straightforward answers and a confident leader, not a cocky leader who downplays the seriousness of issues and thinks they can never do any harm.
I am not going to sit here and just berate President Trump and his party though. No one country or leader can be completely prepared for a pandemic. But at the same time, it is time to put our political bias/nonsense aside and listen to the FACTS, whether it is about a pandemic threatening thousands, or climate change threatening millions. Otherwise, I believe it is safe to say that America will be doomed.
