As the coronavirus forces thousands of Americans into intensive care units and unemployment offices, President Trump is attempting to rename the pathogen as the “Chinese Virus,” hoping to divert the blame for the administration’s botched response. The new title was quickly met with global condemnation, as both domestic and foreign commentators accused the President of attempting to stoke racist and xenophobic sentiments for political gain. Never one to let a little bigotry get in the way of a political victory, Trump pressed on.

Shielded behind a benefit of the doubt he no longer deserves, the “Chinese Virus” ruse (some days it’s the “Wuhan Virus”) has given Trump his first political victory since the pandemic began. The moniker is a sly attempt to shift the blame for the U.S.’s bungled response to the pandemic onto the Chinese while simultaneously fueling the chauvinist fires that sustain the MAGA movement.

Just as predictable as the President trying to scapegoat his failures onto an ethnic group is the defense he received from his media supporters. From National Review to Bill Maher, the President’s politicking has received a predictable, yet still misguided justification from voices across the political spectrum. Not only does this bad-faith explanation aid the President’s bigotry, but it is also distracting Americans from solving the most momentous challenge they have faced since the second world war.

“What About 'The West Nile Virus' and 'The Spanish Flu?'”

It is a certainty of the Trump Presidency that no matter how ludicrous or prejudiced he behaves, the ostensibly sensible voices of conservatism will be close behind to “explain” the President’s nonsense in a legible, yet usually just-as-intolerant message. Sticklers for tradition, these intellectual custodians moved in to clean up the President’s mess. Point to other pathogens named after their place of they claimed this was just another case of liberals crying racist wolf. The argument goes like this: “If the West Nile Virus, Ebola, and countless other diseases take their namesake from a region or country, then why is it racist for Trump to call the coronavirus “Chinese”? Great question. Because Trump isn’t naming the virus. He’s renaming it to avert the nation’s ire from himself to the Chinese.

Oppressive regimes be damned — you’ll find no defense of the People’s Republic of China here — but the government of the world’s most populous country isn’t the victim of the President’s racism. It’s the people. Around the globe, Asians are experiencing a surge in vicious hate crimes. Unjustifiably blamed for the virus’s damage, those perceived to be of Chinese descent have been the targets of racial slurs and assaults. Trump and his aforementioned intellectual custodians who clean up his mess will claim that the President holds no ill-will to Chinese Americans; he is only lambasting the Chinese government. Here lies the advantage of the dog whistle: it gives Trump supporters a rationale they can use to convince themselves he’s not racist, while he shirks his failures onto an entire ethnic group.

Smoke and Mirrors

Despite the obfuscation attempts of his defenders, no conscious individual actually believes Donald Trump is using the “Chinese Virus” label to clarify medical taxonomy. Even more bizarre is Ben Shapiro’s defense that the term is useful for blaming the Chinese government, which seems to suggest each disease should be named after an opposing political entity. Not only is this contradictory to Trump’s justification of clarifying the international vocabulary, it’s breathtakingly petty. The “Chinese Virus” name is merely a charade designed to inoculate Trump from what he fears most: responsibility.

When forced to answer for his inept governance, Trump’s standard defense is to pick someone who represents “the other side” of the issue and go on the attack. Accused of a sex crime? “Bill Clinton did it too.” Donald Trump Jr. was found to have had illicit dealings with the Russians? “Hunter Biden did worse in Ukraine.” But, because this problem — the coronavirus — can’t be represented by anyone in the deep state or the Democratic party, Trump is left without an individual to blame. So he’s blaming an entire ethnic group.

As we have seen, the Trump Administration’s failure to prepare the American healthcare system (which is inadequate to meet the needs of a pandemic) cost thousands of American lives. Desperate to distract from his cataclysmic failure, the President has resorted to a particularly cruel smoke and mirrors strategy of perpetuating the myth that Asian-Americans are too blame. What’s evident is that Trump doesn’t care where the ire for the staggering coronavirus fatality rate, increasing C.D.C. cases, overcrowded prisons, and historic unemployment numbers is directed, just as long as it isn’t towards him. His cowardice is placing Asian-Americans in danger, and conservative media is a willing accomplice.

Trump Wants More Confusion

Agreed upon terminology is paramount for accomplishing a task. If two people are building a car, it is crucial that they both know what the other is referring to when one says “piston.” The same is true with intergovernmental action. If the virus didn’t already have a name, then one derived from its geographic source would be fine. But the disease currently besieging the globe already has a common identifier; when a newspaper says “COVID-19” or “coronavirus,” medical professionals and laymen alike know exactly which pathogen is being discussed, just as they do when they hear “Ebola” or “The Spanish Flu.”

The existence of an agreed-upon designation, coupled with even the briefest familiarity with Donald Trump, leads to the obvious conclusion that the President isn’t trying to clear up confusion with his “Chinese Virus” nickname; he’s trying to create more confusion, hoping it clouds his culpability for the thousands of preventable America deaths.

Despite what they publish, Trump’s defenders know exactly what he is doing. For them to pretend Trump’s “Chinese Virus” charade is designed to provide the medical community with the shared vocabulary they need to combat the disease is comedic. Even the most naive observer can see the President is trying to suggest the Chinese — both the executive body and the ethnic group — are the real reason we have to dig mass graves. To pretend “The Chinese Virus” label has a more altruistic purpose isn’t only discrediting, it’s detestable.