[Correspondent Column] The Burdensome Trump 'Corona Reality Show'

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] The novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) is driving American society into an era of division. The conflict patterns that expanded after the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump have become even more pronounced due to COVID-19 in the final year of his term.

A photo capturing medical personnel standing boldly in front of protest vehicles demanding the lifting of stay-at-home orders to curb the spread of COVID-19 most clearly expresses the current state of division in American public opinion.

The American tradition of uniting in the face of crisis seems ineffective this time. It is impossible to apply the nationwide unity seen during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, when New Yorkers worked together to rescue survivors and the missing from collapsed buildings, to the current COVID-19 situation.

The spirit of collective effort to produce war materials against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan during World War II has also disappeared.

The COVID-19 conflict is erupting again in the process of reopening the clogged economic lifeblood. The conflict, which means life to some and livelihood to others, is spreading as a political issue, with politicians even encouraging it.

Let’s turn back the clock to the era of the American Civil War, when the nation was most severely divided.

The division over slavery led to an unprecedented civil war with devastating results, but it is also evaluated as having reborn America as a proper nation.

Former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson diagnosed, "The Civil War created a national consciousness that had never existed before in this country." Even amid fierce division, there were clear achievements.

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

About 140,000 soldiers died during the 50-month-long Civil War. In the two months since COVID-19 emerged, the death toll in the U.S. has already exceeded 41,000.

Although the increase in confirmed cases and deaths has slowed, it is impossible to predict when this situation will end.

Compared to the U.S. government’s projection that 100,000 to 200,000 deaths must be prepared for, damage exceeding that of the Civil War is inevitable.

Former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln said that more challenges would arise after the passage of the constitutional amendment concerning the Civil War and the abolition of slavery. This diagnosis remains valid today.

President Trump recognizes that all the economic achievements he touted for reelection have disappeared. The solution he has come up with is a volume offensive through TV. He devotes 1 to 2 hours daily to briefings. He does not take a day off. Unconfirmed information is openly released through President Trump’s mouth. Videos promoting his achievements as well as scenes of opponents praising him appear. It is truly a Trump-style 'COVID-19 reality show.'

It would be fortunate if the problems were resolved through the show, but the situation is otherwise. Trump-style patchwork treatments abound rather than fundamental problem-solving. When faced with unfavorable situations, he seems to retreat but behind the scenes encourages conflict and protests among his supporters.

It is clear that we will have to continue watching this behavior until the U.S. presidential election in November.

Jeffrey Sachs, a professor at Columbia University, criticized, "Like the Wizard of Oz, the fraud behind the curtain will be revealed." It is time to listen to the concerns of intellectuals about the state of American society after COVID-19, but it is more likely that this will not happen. What more can be expected from him?