(And a Not-To-Forget Lesson For People In Our Business)
Arthur Solomon, Public Relations ConsultantThe deadly coronavirus hates people. It has separated people from their families. It has separated people from their friends. It has caused massive unemployment. It frightens people. It is also responsible for an increase in hate messages on social media, targeting all minority populations, ranging from African-Americans, to Asian-Americans to religious Americans who practice Orthodox Judaism and to Jews who don’t. It has destroyed our way of living. The virus makes people very ill. Worst of all it kills people.But there is also a victim that was only made possible with the assistance of humans – TRUTH.President Trump’s revisionist remarks about the coronavirus, which is happening as I write this, on April 26, continues. The result: For many Americans is there is no TRUTH. And politics and the media have played a large part in aiding the virus to put TRUTH on life support.While TRUTH had been ill since January, it took a sudden turn for the worse in the U.S. on February 28, during a rally in South Carolina, when President Trump described the virus as a Democratic “hoax.”Other presidential remarks like saying, anyone who wants a test can get one; there are plenty of PPE supplies; doctors and nurses are hording them; we have the situation under control; his hawking of medicines for people infected with the disease as if he was a medical scientist, and his contradictory remarks about blaming the coronavirus on China, to name a few of the president’s comments, all added to put TRUTH in a grave condition.On January 22, President Trump, in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” surprised everyone by using his previously unknown experience as an epidemiologist by describing the coronavirus as “one person coming in from China.” We have it totally under control. “It’s going to be just fine.”Never a believer in what scientists say, the president, on April 23, shocked the medical world and disinfectant manufacturers by asking medical researchers if injecting the sanitizers into people’s body might kill the virus.The president’s remarks caused Lysol, on April 24, to issue the following statement, in part: “As a global leader in health and hygiene products, we must be clear that under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route),"Also on April 24, The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning against using hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug that President Trump has suggested, to treat coronavirus outside of a hospital or drug trial. The FDA said, “The drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine can cause dangerous abnormalities in heart rhythm in coronavirus patients, and should be used only in clinical trials or hospitals where patients can be closely monitored for heart problems” The president often says, “What do you have to lose? When he pretends to be a medical scientist by touting his Common Sense Degree from Trump University, the answer is people’s lives.What finally moved TRUTH to the intensive care unit were the comments of Trump’s lackeys, on his staff and in the media.For weeks before Trump declared a national emergency TV personalities on Fox News played down the seriousness of the coronavirus. They support anything the president says. It’s safe to assume (even though assuming is a “no-no” for serious journalists) that many of Fox’s viewers have been infected with the virus because they believe the Fox News opinion entertainers version of accuracy. Many viewers also probably died. And for those illnesses and deaths Fox management and commentators are responsible. (How they look themselves in a mirror is beyond me. They are as guilty of causing illnesses and deaths as is Trump and his staff lackeys. Maybe more so, because Fox News parrot’s what Trump says on various programs throughout the day and evening, with no fact checking as major publications do.)When the president accuses the media of reporting “fake news,” he should be pointing fingers at Laura Ingraham, who for weeks promoted the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a cure for coronavirus illness, along with her Fox News colleagues Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity. During a discussion about the anti-malaria drug on his “Tucker Carlson Tonight” program, the host introduced Gregory Rigano as an advisor to the Stanford University School of Medicine. Stanford said Rigano has no affiliation with the school. Rigano also touted the drug on Ms. Ingraham’s program. A prime example of “fake news,” which the president disregarded while claiming that accurate news reports were “fake news.”
- (Media Matters For America reported, “During a two-week span between March 23 and April 6, Fox hosts and guests promoted hydroxychloroquine nearly 300 times.
- “Of these nearly 300 mentions, the vast majority came from four Fox shows: The Ingraham Angle(84 promotional mentions), Fox & Friends (76, including Fox & Friends First and Fox & Friends Weekend), Hannity (53), and Tucker Carlson Tonight (22).”)
But the New York Times reported on April 25, when Fox’s prime time commentators, the most closely watched shows on Fox, had a chance to warn viewers against ingesting disinfectants as a cure for coronavirus, as the president had mentioned, they sidestepped that matter entirely on Thursday, (April 23) said the article.Of course, Ingraham, Hannity and Carlson aren’t the only Fox entertainers to earn the title of Trump lackeys. On “The Five” telecast on April 24, Greg Gutfeld defended Trump’s statement about how a disinfectant might help in curing the coronavirus by saying, “how could anyone believe that Trump meant it when he said people should inject Clorox into their bodies.” Also Dana Perino said the president wasn’t suggesting that people should drink bleach. (What about injecting it, Ms. Perino?) And as usual, as she does on all her “Media Buzz” appearances, another lackey, Mollie Hemingway, a senior editor at The Federalist, bashed the media’s coverage of Trump on the April 26 program.Whether he meant it or not Trump’s remarks showed the danger of his delving into medical issues. Maryland’s hotline received more than 100 calls about using a disinfectant after the president’s comment. And The Maryland Emergency Management Agency issued a warning for people not to ingest or inject disinfectant on social media shortly after Trump suggested doctors could study whether disinfectants could be injected or ingested to fight coronavirus. In Washington state, officials urged people not to consume laundry detergent capsules. In New York City, the Daily News reported that the Poison Control Center saw 30 cases of "exposure to Lysol, bleach and other cleaners in 18 hours after Trump's suggestion" that cleaning products might be used to treat coronavirus. (April 24 was not a good day, scientifically speaking, for Trump, and he refused to take questions after making his opening remarks at his daily presser.) A headline on CNBC on March 17 said, “Trump dismissed coronavirus pandemic worry in January — now claims he long warned about it.”But that didn’t prevent the lackeys on the president’s staff (including Dr. Jerome Adams, the Surgeon General, who fails to correct the president’s pseudo science medical statements) to pretend that everything Trump says, along with his Fox News sycophants, about the virus is handed down to him from God. Led by chief lackey Vice President Pence, the president’s other lackeys thank him for his leadership almost every time Trump takes a breath. Prominent among them are Attorney General William Barr, the president’s lawyer, and Robert C. O’Brien, the White House national security advisor.
On April 9, after the president said he wanted to open the economy, The Hill, the political insiders’ web site, reported, “Attorney General William Barr late Wednesday suggested that the federal government in May should begin relaxing some of the "draconian" social distancing restrictions imposed throughout the U.S.”Barr said in an interview with Fox News that the U.S. had to be very careful to ensure some of the measures being adopted are fully justified, and there are not alternative ways of protecting people amid the novel coronavirus outbreak, said the article, written by Justin Wise. (I assume Barr made his suggestion based on his medical training at Trump University’s health facility. I also don’t recall the president’s lawyer being concerned about the states ordered shut downs until Trump said it was time to reopen the economy. Just a coincidence, I assume.)Further down in the article by Wise: “The comments arrived as the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus, continued to climb in the U.S. As of Thursday morning, the U.S. had reported roughly 432,000 confirmed cases of the virus and more than 14,800 deaths from it.” (That was then. The numbers as I write at 4: 25 pm on April 26 are much worse now. According to CNN in the U.S: Infected 957016, deaths 54435.)In a Wall Street Journal April 21 Op-Ed column titled, “Seven Fateful Coronavirus Decisions,” national security advisor O’Brien’s opening paragraph said, “Facing a once-in-a-century pandemic, a crisis that some have likened to a world war, the U.S. is fortunate to have President Trump in charge. I have witnessed him make the tough decisions necessary at every turn to keep America safe. Seven of these decisions stand out.” (Google the Op-Ed to read the entire revisionist history article.) The Op-Ed concluded with O’Brien, or maybe his ghost scribe writing, “In my assessment, the president’s decisions outlined here have saved tens or even hundreds of thousands of American lives. The war on this virus isn’t over. But I am confident that under Mr. Trump’s leadership, America will prevail.”The president’s chief lackey, Vice President Pence, who always praises Trump’s leadership, said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that appeared on April 23, that the coronavirus epidemic can be “largely in the past” by early June. (I assume he based that remark on his medical science degree from Trump University, the medical school of choice for Trump defenders.)What type of leadership is President Trump providing? My opinion: Trump’s leadership reminds me of another president’s leadership: Jefferson Davis during the Civil War, or closer to our time Neville Chamberlain.What the country needs now is leadership like Franklin Delano Roosevelt showed during the great depression and during World War 2. Leadership like Winston Churchill showed during the blitzing of London, when England alone battled the Nazis. Leadership like former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani showed after 9/11.A close relative of mine, a supporter of President Trump, told me that no matter what Trump does he should be respected because he is the president. I'll respect the president when he respects the people and stops lying to them.Because of the lackeys in the media and on Trump’s staff TRUTH is now hooked-up to a ventilator. But there is hope that it will recover. Poll after poll, even among Republicans, have shown that people do not believe what the president says about the coronavirus situation. (An Associated Press poll released on April 23 said that only 23% of Americans believe that what Trump says about the coronavirus is truthful. That’s 22 % more than I do.) They believe governors like Andrew Cuomo of New York, a Democrat, and Larry Hogan, the Republican governor of Maryland, and Ohio governor Mike DeWine, another Republican, all of whom have gained national recognition.Hopefully, because of medical scientists, like Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Robert Redfield, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and to a Very, Very, Very, Very, much lesser extent Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, who too often tries to placate the president, and explain what he really meant to say, instead of telling him that his junk medical science remarks are dangerous and wrong, and Dr. Rick Bright TRUTH will recover.(Dr. Bright was removed as the Director, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he had been leading the federal effort to develop a coronavirus vaccine because, the medical scientist said, he disagreed with the president’s attempt to fund hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug as the preferred coronavirus treatment without thorough vetting by medical researchers. Dr. Bright also served as Director of the Influenza and Emerging Infectious Diseases Division in the BARDA, where he was responsible for preparing the nation for influenza pandemics and coordinating production, acquisition and delivery of medical countermeasures during a pandemic response. In that role, he managed a portfolio of projects for advanced development of vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics and respirator devices to aid in the response and protection against pandemic and seasonal influenza. But, it appears, that his medical/scientist background didn’t match up with the ones that Drs. Trump, Pence, O’Brien, Barr, Ingraham, Hannity and Carlson received from Trump University.) The U.S. has always recovered from other epidemics caused by viruses. But recovery from the coronavirus will be a very slow one because the president’s lackeys will continue to spread the president’s lies, along with his snake oil remedies. The president will continue to say, and his lackeys will back up his claims about the virus being contained, like he has said numerous times on his pressers, while the virus was spreading and is still efficiently distributing its deadly toxins. And new “hot spots” emerge.How long it will take for the epidemic to subside is any ones guess. But what isn’t a guess is that Trump’s witch hunt of blaming everyone but himself for the spread of the virus in the U.S., despite his inept delaying actions and denying there was a problem by calling it a Democratic “hoax,” will continue at least until the November election, if not longer. And his lackeys will provide the broom sticks for the president to fly on as he searches for the witches. You can bet the farm on it. He has already blamed China and the World Health Organization. He has already blamed Democratic governors. He has already blamed the media for over blowing the extent of the coronavirus. It’s only a matter of time before he blames reporters for causing the virus because they didn’t clean their computers properly.
Intentionally or not, President Trump has provided people in our business with a not-to-forget lesson: Never lie to the media. Because once you’re caught in a lie even when you tell the truth reporters will be skeptical of what you say. It’s called the “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” syndrome, which apparently has spread to Trump and his lackeys.Some years ago, there was a philosophical, political comic strip called “Pogo,” (by Walt Kelly) in which Pogo would occasionally say, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” Substitute “Trump” for “Pogo” and the word “me” for “us” and you have a real life comic reality show featuring medical/scientific advice gleaned from the president’s comments on his daily corona virus pressers.An article in the Sunday, April 26, New York Times magazine tells of a former White House employee who tweeted that Trump is a “pathetic human being.” In my estimation, that’s too compassionate a description of the president.
About the Author: Arthur Solomon, a former journalist, was a senior VP/senior counselor at Burson-Marsteller, and was responsible for restructuring, managing and playing key roles in some of the most significant national and international sports and non-sports programs. He also traveled internationally as a media adviser to high-ranking government officials. He now is a frequent contributor to public relations publications, consults on public relations projects and is on the Seoul Peace Prize nominating committee. He can be reached at arthursolomon4pr (at) juno.com and artsolomon4pr (at) optimum.net
