Trump’s WASP Policy of handing the Coronavirus pandemic
Written by: Hamidreza Gholamzadeh Natanzi
After denying the Coronavirus threat for days and calling it a partisan hoax, the Trump administration finally bowed to the reality and began to apply tougher measures against the pandemic. In a televised message, Donald Trump announced that he was suspending all flights from Europe to the United States to prevent more transmission of the COVID-19 coronavirus. The move was unprecedented and something not easily digested by the Europeans who have long been dubbed as US allies. But a review of Trump’s message and its rhetoric and discourse reveals how the White House is trying to use the situation in favor of its own bigger agenda.
Instead of addressing a nationwide anxiety over a global pandemic, Trump administration prefers to adhere to its agenda of destroying international structures and rebuilding American hegemony. For the last three years, the MAGA slogan has led to right-wing policies and any possible measures to weaken international or multilateral bodies such as the UN and EU.
Since the original Brexit vote in 2016, the current US administration has supported division and encouraged the British government to move towards separation from the EU. Washington is the only one who benefits from a division and distrust among the Europeans and EU members. But it also is very well aware that a balanced and cooperating EU can have political and economic power and turn into a threat against the United States.
A keyword in Trump’s statement was ‘allies’ with whom he said Washington had been in frequent contact. Unlike many situations in which allies would translate into European countries, this time they have all been a target except for the United Kingdom. To follow the same policy toward Europe, Trump blamed the European Union for failing to take necessary precautions and in continuation of his war of tariffs and other economic leverages they have used against these former ‘allies,’ he emphasized that “these prohibitions will not only apply to the tremendous amount of trade and cargo, but various other things as we get approval. Anything coming from Europe to the United States is what we are discussing.” The pandemic virus COVID-19 is mainly transmitted human-to-human and is not very difficult to sanitize cargos and stuff entering a country; yet by putting restrictions on cargos under the pretext of coronavirus, he is exploiting a global pandemic to put more economic pressure on Europe.
Moreover, he continues to dictate to the Europeans – who, by the way, had just less than a month ago discussed ‘Westlessness’ in Munich Security Conference – what an ‘ally’ for the US would mean, by clarifying that such restrictions are not applying to the United Kingdom. After weeks of denial – to some extent similar to the US – not accepting to close schools or public events; the UK is now dealing with a terrible coronavirus situation whereas PM Boris Johnson warned citizens on Friday that “many families need to be ready to lose many loved ones.” So, it is not science that is exempting the Britons from the rest of the Europe, but right-wing nationalistic and racist views which has re-surfaced. People in the White House are returning to WASP (White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant) views of early centuries of the US history.
Another sign of this nationalistic view is the term US officials have been using in recent days when talking about the internationally known COVID-19 novel coronavirus. They have been calling it the ‘Chinese virus’ or as Trump said in his speech, ‘foreign virus’. In the real world, a virus recognizes neither political borders, nor races or partisan affiliations. It is a nationalist viewpoint that can see a biological thing as a ‘foreign’ element.
The language of superlatives Donald Trump uses in speaking of his country reflects in another way this nationalism and rightist approach; “No nation is more prepared or more resilient than the United States. We have the best economy, the most advanced healthcare, and the most talented doctors, scientists, and researchers anywhere in the world.”
A pandemic must be addressed in a worldwide collaboration to be uprooted and cannot be addressed in a Monroe Doctrine way of separating your hemisphere from the rest of the world. That is what US government is doing right now. The age of American exceptionalism is over and Trump’s administration needs to face the truth and accept the catastrophe they are about to unleash onto the entire world.
Yet, in a time of global outbreak of a disease which is badly affecting markets across the world, Washington seems enthusiastic to take advantage of a humanitarian situation in every possible way. Drawing a line between the United Kingdom and the rest of the Europe; targeting economy of the EU by banning cargo flights from the Europe into the US; demonizing China by calling the virus Chinese, and further demonizing the Europe by making “the same life-saving move with early action” they did on China now with the Europe.