President Donald Trump’s announcement to defund and scapegoat the World Health Organization to cover for his own failure to respond to the coronavirus pandemic has drawn condemnation from around the globe, and even from former President Jimmy Carter.
During a press conference/campaign rally, Trump accused the WHO of engaging in a cover-up of the pandemic and failing to warn the world of the virus, even though the WHO warned the United States in January long before Trump called the virus a “hoax” in February.
In fact, recent analysis shows that Trump is the one who engaged in a cover-up, not the World Health Organization.
Trump spent weeks downplaying the virus and insisting that he had everything under control even after 15 Americans contracted it. Now the death toll stands at more than 56,000 and upwards of one million are infected across the country.
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The United States currently provides 15 percent of WHO funding, making this loss devastating. In fact, more people could die because of it. It’s simply unacceptable for Trump to blame the WHO for his own incompetence and to strip critical funding for it, especially at this time.
World leaders have since condemned Trump, and China is taking advantage of it by increasing its leadership role within the organization, which will likely include more funding. Once again, Trump surrendered our leadership within the international community.
The decision not only angered current world leaders, but it also angered Jimmy Carter as well.
Carter issued a statement through the Carter Center denouncing what Trump has done.
“I am distressed by the decision to withhold critically needed U.S. funding for the World Health Organization, especially during an international pandemic,” Carter wrote. “WHO is the only international organization capable of leading the effort to control this virus.”
Here’s the statement via Twitter:
Statement by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter: pic.twitter.com/6W5DUcH2aF
— The Carter Center (@CarterCenter) April 15, 2020
Clearly, Trump’s decision to defund the WHO is incredibly unpopular. The world is in the middle of the worst pandemic in 100 years, yet Trump decided that now is the time to defund it as punishment for imaginary offenses that are actually projections of Trump’s own failures to respond to the pandemic when he had a chance to do so.
Make no mistake, this is a blunder that blights our nation’s standing in the world and will turn other countries against us. Someday, perhaps soon, the United States is going to need international assistance and the world will have every right to deny it to us in retaliation for abandoning them.
Featured image via screen capture
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