Trump Has Begun His Corona Campaign. We Don’t Have to Play Along.

So how do we, citizens and — to stick to my particular beat here at The Times —  journalists, handle this?

We keep it in perspective. The briefings are important; Mr. Trump is important. But the big story — of this year, of this decade — is the coronavirus. That isn’t a story about Mr. Trump, and there’s no reason to cover it that way.

It’s not a story about Mr. Trump for a number of reasons.

First, because this is, above all, a public health story. The most important voices are the experts who have some grasp on our situation — like the 20 professionals working in public health, medicine, epidemiology and history whom Donald G. McNeil Jr. spoke to last week. You can follow those voices on Twitter — here’s a good list — or, increasingly, watch them on cable news channels that have had to bench their talking heads for physicians. Dr. Anthony Fauci remains one of the most trusted figures in America for a reason.

Second, because it’s a global story. Mr. Trump is one of dozens of national leaders who are trying to find their way through this crisis. The best practices have not, so far, been developed in the United States. The breakthroughs, so far, have not been American. State and federal leaders are scrambling to imitate South Korean and German practices. Everyone, everywhere, is hoping that someone, somewhere, develops a vaccine. And whenever that happens, the highest costs will not be paid here, but in slums in poorer countries.

And finally, because most of the issues we face — of science and medicine; of economics; of federal, state and local planning; and of individual and business decisions — don’t revolve around Mr. Trump. In the absence of a strong federal and functional central government, the U.S. response adds up to thousands of different players and to millions of citizens listening to hundreds of voices, of which Mr. Trump is one. The president has shown no patience for complexity, and so we have the briefings — a corona campaign that largely spins and pantomimes a response rather than carrying one out.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/19/business/media/donald-trump-coronavirus-campaign-media.html