(Hyosub Shin/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

Donald Trump expected to spend his summer rallying around the country on the wave of a strong economy, hurling insults at “Sleepy” Joe Biden, and espousing whatever conspiracy theories made it into Sean Hannity’s opening monologue. The message was clear: the economy is doing well; vote for Trump and America will stay the course. In a sudden turn of events, as the coronavirus spreads across the country, the Trump campaign might have to reconsider their re-election slogan, “Keep America Great”.

(AP)

The coronavirus has changed life in America as we know it. Schools are closed indefinitely, the stock market is in free fall, major league sports have suspended their seasons, amusement parks, restaurants, and bars are closed, and elections are postponed. Virtually every industry is impacted by the fallout and state unemployment websites are crashing. As the United States stares down the barrel of a historic economic crisis, all eyes are on the Trump administration and their failures have been put on full display for the world to see.

In late January, Donald Trump dismissed the early concerns of the virus, saying, “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. It’s going to be just fine.” With the help of his allies in right wing media, Donald Trump sought to alleviate the panic by downplaying the severity of the outbreak. Ainsley Earhardt of Fox & Friends said, “It’s actually the safest time to fly.” Medal of Freedom recipient and right wing radio host, Rush Limbaugh, told his 15 million weekly listeners, “The coronavirus is the common cold, folks.” On Sean Hannity, Trump said the World Health Organization’s coronavirus death rate of 3.4% was a “false number,” based on his “hunch.” The Trump Administration’s political interests are to convince the public that everything will be fine and declare victory, but the harsh reality of this serious crisis continues to conflict with his message. As the virus spread and several Governors declared states of emergency, the spotlight turned on Trump.

Americans began to ask questions and the administration didn’t have answers. Concerns over the lack of testing, poor preparation, and mixed messages from the White House have dominated the headlines and conversations of everyday people. Reality has set in: Donald Trump has no clue how he’ll get us out of this mess. On March 11th, in a botched Oval Office address, Trump laid out his plan to combat the spread of the coronavirus. He said he would be banning travel from Europe, causing Americans abroad to buy plane tickets at premium prices back to the U.S. in a panic. This statement was quickly corrected by the Department of Homeland Security, clarifying that the ban doesn’t apply to permanent U.S. residents, citizens or immediate family of citizens. It will only apply to foreign nationals who have been in the Schengen region of Europe within 14 days of arrival in the U.S. To ease the fears of unexpected medical expenses, Trump claimed “[insurers] have agreed to waive all copayments for coronavirus treatments.” The health insurance industry had to immediately correct his statement, since they agreed to cover testing but not treatment. The address, which was intended to ease concerns and lay out our path to recovery, exposed the administration’s complete lack of a coordinated plan and caused the markets to take a historic tumble.

As the administration’s lack of preparation becomes apparent to most, past decisions are coming back to haunt them. In his 2021 budget, he proposed cuts that would reduce CDC funding by 16% and cut $3 billion from global health programs. It’s now widely known that the Trump administration disbanded the Pandemic Response Team and cut 80 percent of CDC funding used to fight global pandemics in 2018, drastically handicapping our global pandemic preparedness. The funding, which went to training local health professionals and bolstering emergency response across 49 countries, was reduced to just 10 nations (China not included).

Right now, the policies championed by Democrats for years are becoming an increasingly attractive remedies to the crisis. Even Mitt Romney and Steve Mnuchin have called for a temporary universal basic income to relieve families of the financial uncertainty caused by the virus. A party calling for universal healthcare and a strong safety net doesn’t sound too radical when tens of millions of Americans are facing an economic and health crisis. The unfettered capitalist system supported by the Republican Party will not pay the bills of laid off workers. The Republican message will need to shift if they want to secure any victories in November. The question becomes: will the Trump brand of chaos politics survive the shift, or will this moment force Republicans to abandon the insults and trolling for compassionate and more progressive leadership?

By the looks of it, Trumpism is in critical condition. The ideology is defined by attacks on government, news media, and attempts by the left to expand the social safety net. The proof of concept was a strong economy and a series of declared victories by the President. As the outbreak crumbles our economy and leaves working class Americans vulnerable and scared, the enemies of Trumpism become the heroes of America. Government is needed for guidance, news media is needed for information, and a social safety net is needed for financial relief. If Trumpism intends to survive, it must change direction. If it changes direction, it won’t pack the punch that made Trumpism’s takeover of the Republican Party successful in the first place.