GEIS-新闻详情

Trump address sparks chaos as coronavirus crisis deepens

2020-03-12 00:00:00.0 美国有线电视-特朗普新闻原网页

(CNN)President Donald Trump set out to steady a rattled nation and a diving economy in a solemn Oval Office address, but instead sowed more confusion and doubts that he is up to handling the fast-worsening coronavirus crisis.

Trump spoke to the nation at a fearful moment, when the rhythms of everyday American life are starting to shut down -- with schools closing, the NBA suspended, hospitals on high alert and movie icon Tom Hanks saying he and his wife have the disease.

"The virus will not have a chance against us. No nation is more prepared or more resilient than the United States," the President said, before painting a rosy picture of an economy that is already taking a beating from the virus fallout. The President unveiled several measures to help on that score, to help workers who have to self-isolate and hard-hit by shutdowns, though his call for a payroll tax cut is not popular in Congress.

Trump's big announcement for keeping the virus at bay -- what he said was a 30-day ban on travel to the US by Europeans and restrictions on cargo -- was immediately engulfed in confusion.

The President later rushed to clarify on Twitter that he was stopping travel and not trans-Atlantic trade in goods, and officials said his plan did not apply to Americans or US permanent residents -- though such travelers would face mandatory quarantines.

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Trump also caused a muddle when he said he had convinced health insurance providers to waive all copayments for coronavirus treatments.

A White House official later said the President had meant to say that the copayments would be waived for coronavirus tests -- but would still apply to treatments for the disease.

Sowing confusion

READ: Trump's Oval Office speech on the coronavirus outbreak

The confusion was symptomatic of an administration that has often struggled to frame detailed policies and present them coherently. Trump's top assignment on Wednesday was to show that he was in charge and that he appreciated, finally, the grave nature of the weeks that lie ahead. But the confusion over the travel ban turned his speech into something of a debacle and may up exacerbating uncertainty over his leadership.

And his travel ban announcement was made apparently without consultation with the travel industry or US allies and seems set to cause massive disruption that will deepen already cascading economic damage unleashed by the crisis.

The move could cause mass cancellation of trans-Atlantic flights, which could throw the aviation industry into an moment of existential challenge. It is likely to do nothing to quell investor panic after Wall Street on Wednesday dipped into a bear market. For example, Dow Futures plunged more than 1,000 points after Trump's speech.

"This is not a financial crisis. This is just a temporary moment of time that we will overcome together as a nation and as a world," Trump said in his address.

On a more fundamental level, the travel ban plan raised basic questions about the President's understanding of a crisis he has minimized, blamed on Democrats and predicted will just go away soon.

Department of Homeland Security guidance suggested the restrictions exempted US nationals and permanent residents, who would face quarantine when they came home. And the President did not explain why his ban did not include citizens of the UK -- where the virus has also taken root.

But the biggest problem facing the US is not more cases of coronavirus coming from Europe -- it is that the disease has taken root on US soil itself by community spread.

Pressing issues now revolve around how Americans should respond to the situation and to what extent they should change their daily patterns. Trump did advise halting nonessential visits to care homes for the elderly -- the highest risk group from the virus.

But he didn't explain how he would alleviate what health officials fear will be a crowding of hospitals, the continuing lack of proper testing or the coming strain on resources such as breathing machines needed to keep the sickest patients alive.

He argued that the threat was still "very low" for all but the old and infirm, on a day when one of his top public health officials, Dr. Anthony Fauci, predicted the current scenario -- with more than 1,200 people sick in the US and 38 dead, is "going to get worse."

Trump speech likely to split the nation

JUST WATCHED President Trump's full coronavirus address to the nation

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