“We Did The Exact Right Thing," Says Our Glorious Leader - Nicholas Kristof

President Trump on Monday at the Republican National Convention in Charlotte, N.C.Doug Mills/The New York Times

“We Did The Exact Right Thing," Says Our Glorious Leader

By Nicholas Kristof Opinion Columnist

Whew! I’d worried about the coronavirus, but we’re fine! I’ve been watching the Republican National Convention, and it turns out that while everyone else stood helpless before the pandemic, our national lodestar, President Trump, stepped up and saved millions of lives.

That’s the narrative emerging from the convention, with Trump insisting that “we did the exact right thing” and “we saved millions.” He has moved seamlessly from the fantasy that the virus will “go away” to the fantasy that he has already dispatched it. Yet this is such a grotesque manipulation, dishonoring the deaths of almost 180,000 Americans, that I decided to take it on with my column. As the eminent health expert Dr. Peter J. Hotez told me: “The Trump Administration is responsible for the single worst public health failure in the last 100 years.” Please read!

Meanwhile, a Real Health Triumph — Against Polio

While Trump fakes a success against the coronavirus, there’s an authentic one to celebrate: Wild poliovirus has been eradicated in Africa. That’s a tribute to the work of the World Health Organization and to U.S. funding to W.H.O. for polio eradication. It saddens me that Trump has cut off funds for W.H.O., which is leading the fight against polio, for then the viruses win.