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In struggle against pandemic, populist leaders fare poorly

10 Comments
By JOHN DANISZEWSKI

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10 Comments
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Elections have consequences. I can only speak for the US, but I think too many people thought the 2016 election was kind of a game, almost a kind of sporting event. Sure, if you vote for Trump, he will "shake things up", but the problems will happen to other people, not to you. All of the warning signs for Trump were there, but people didn't take them seriously enough. Now it's too late.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

NO ONE expected or was equipped to handle a pandemic of this magnitude...

Yes they were. Plenty of countries handled the pandemic quite well, and their leaders have seen their popularity skyrocket as a result.

Even the US had a comprehensive pandemic plan in place for the Trump administration, and in the handover, the information was presented to them. They even had a pandemic task force.

Something changed in between Trump taking office and the pandemic though...

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Don't blame these leaders. NO ONE expected or was equipped to handle a pandemic of this magnitude...not even the critics and opponents of these leaders.

Apart from all the people who did predict it, including Obama in 2014 who said this.

“So that if and when a new strain of flu, like the Spanish flu, crops up, five years or a decade from now - we’ve made the investment - and we’re further along to be able to catch it”

So yeah, incompetent leaders who care more about 'optics' or stock markets get both barrells of blame.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Populism by definition ridicules the contributions of educated elites, so it is not surprising that those who ridicule the value of education and science should do poorly in handling situations which are best handled by educated professionals, rather than bombastic fools.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Who knew that despots and demagogues were bad leaders? /s

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Don't blame these leaders. NO ONE expected or was equipped to handle a pandemic of this magnitude...not even the critics and opponents of these leaders.

Blames the ones who started this pandemic and kept quiet about it for weeks.

China.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

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