United States President Donald Trump talks to the media at the White House. Photo / AP
United States President Donald Trump talks to the media at the White House. Photo / AP
Editorial
EDITORIAL:
As we watch too much television while in lockdown, duelling daily coronavirus news briefings compete for our attention.
United States President Donald Trump holds one, with Vice-President Mike Pence and medical experts Dr Anthony Fauci and Dr Deborah Birx.
They are free-wheeling, rambling events, with the President usually speakingfirst, employing his flamboyant rhetoric, touching on topics outside the pandemic, working on themes he hopes will be politically useful, and sparring with White House correspondents.
Pence presents himself as the loyal deputy on a sombre mission, while Fauci and Birx inject doses of uncomfortable realities and possibilities.
Hours later we get our own no-nonsense versions, with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and the Director-General of Health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield - together or separately - where the focus is on updating data with context, outlining decisions and imparting messages.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield give one of their many Covid-19 updates. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Whereas the US press conferences feel like they could go on and go anywhere – including Trump promoting a medicine with "what have you got to lose?" – the local ones seem tightly scripted with limited time.
Democratic activists charge that the White House briefings are effectively a substitute for the campaign rallies Trump can no longer hold and give a president up for re-election in November free national airtime.
However, the New York Times reports some Republicans want Trump to curtail the press conferences, arguing Trump is "handing [Democratic opponent Joe] Biden ammunition".
It's hard to disagree when Trump comes out with made-for-attack-ad soundbites such as "I take no responsibility at all" in reference to the initial slow rollout of testing. On the scramble for basic medical equipment, he told state governors in March: "We will be backing you, but try getting it yourselves."
There's a damning quote to go with every stage of the process in which the US squandered precious time and forceful national leadership was lacking. Delays make a difference to the extent of the damage.
The US has 525,000 Covid-19 cases, more than 20,000 deaths and nearly 17 million people have filed for unemployment. The long-term health consequences for those who get the virus and survive are unknown.
Polls show a narrative that Trump botched the first few months of the pandemic response has taken hold. Ironically, Trump benefited in 2016 from Hillary Clinton's inability to shake her email saga throughout the presidential campaign.
In a YouGov poll, 63 per cent said Trump was unprepared to deal with the crisis. A CBS poll put it higher, at 71 per cent. A total of 65 per cent in the YouGov survey said Trump could have limited the fallout had he acted sooner.
Ardern, who also faces re-election, has been praised for her decisive actions to contain the outbreak and mix of seriousness, competence and empathy in handling it. New Zealand's death toll has risen, but we are still in a fortunate position compared to most countries.
It hasn't been perfect. The initial low testing rates and slowness to impose quarantines have been explained in retrospect as problems of building capability.
Still, we can feel confident that careful plans based on reason and research, and what's best for public health, are being worked on for the next stage of bringing us out of lockdown and rebooting the economy.
Trump recognises his best hope politically is to get America working again fast. But there's no sign a necessary, massive scale, test-and-trace programme for that purpose is being ramped up.
Asked on Saturday what metrics he will use to decide when to relax social distancing, the President pointed to his head and said: "The metric is right here. That's my metrics. That's all I can do." He also said: "I have a big decision coming up, and I only hope to God that it's the right decision."
About the only thing that links the US and NZ briefings has been the public appreciation for the steady contributions from Fauci and Bloomfield.
It has certainly been a tale of two countries' leaders and two different approaches.
