U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated calling of the rampant coronavirus the “Chinese Virus” is indicative of an “art” of a deal, a deal not with other countries but with the American people and with his own bigotry.
In his most boastful biography “The Art of Deal,” Trump summarizes 11 principles to follow in his business deals, which include “maximize the options,” “think big,” “use your leverage,” “get the word out,” “fight back” and “have fun.”
Doubtlessly Trump has proved himself a most successful businessman, and he preens himself into a master of deals, on which his self-greatness is based. He often boasts of the greatest negotiating team in his government under the leadership of him being the greatest deal-maker. In his biography he says, “I do it to do it,” meaning he makes a deal just for the deal. “Deals are my art form. I like making deals, preferably big deals.”
The COVID-19 pandemic is of course a big deal, a deal in which Trump cannot afford failure. Trump in the past two months has tried to brush aside and downplay the scale and intensity of the coronavirus, saying that “we have it totally under control. It’s just one person from China,” “the coronavirus is much under control in the U.S.A.” and “the risk to the American people is very low.” But suddenly, the epidemic snowballed into a pandemic that has engulfed over 100 countries and regions. He feigned calmness as he was urged to be tested for the virus, and when his physician released the negative test result March 14, Trump celebrated the result instantly, tweeting “When America is tested, America rises to the occasion,” according to the Associated Press. When the virus seemed to be out of control and was raging in all the states with a sharp increase in the number of infections to more than 10,000, Trump began to lose his composure.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian’s tweet on March 12 that “It might be the U.S. Army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan” gave Trump a vent to his despair about the current worsening situation in the U.S. Trump first used capitalized “Chinese Virus” referring to the COVID-19 in his March 16 tweet. According to CNN, Trump has, quite clearly, crossed out “corona” before “virus” and replaced it with the word “Chinese” during Thursday’s daily coronavirus task force briefing. Trump responded when pressed about the shift and how it was perceived as potentially playing on xenophobic and racist tropes: “It’s not racist at all, no, not at all. It comes from China, that’s why. I want to be accurate ... I have great love for all of the people from our country, but China tried to say ... that it was caused by American soldiers. That can’t happen, not as long as I’m president. It comes from China.” As CNN says, that shift “is part of a concerted effort by the president and some in his administration to change the public understanding of this as a global pandemic that’s every nation’s responsibility to: China did this.”
On one hand, Trump’s shift in tactics is in line with the principles of his “art of deal.” Trump wrote in his book, “When people treat me badly or unfairly or try to take advantage of me, my general attitude, all my life, has been to fight back very hard.” So by deliberately using “Chinese Virus,” Trump is fighting back very hard.
On the other hand, Trump’s shift is a proof that he is under great stress and his mind is left in tatters in combating the virus. As the “greatest” president of the world’s most powerful country, Trump did not scruple to label the ravaging virus with a country’s name, which contradicts with the basic principle of the WHO and international protocols. Although Trump is a notorious defier of international principles and protocols, his blatant denigration is eye-popping.
Re-election for him is another big deal. The number of the infections and deaths in the U.S. are soaring, reaching more than 20,000 and 277 respectively by March 21; a record number of Americans had filed unemployment claims last week; his most boastful stock markets were sent into a meltdown; a global recession is now a foregone conclusion; and experts warn that the pandemic could drag the world’s economy into a depression. With the mismanagement of COVID-19, Trump risks being kicked out from the White House by U.S. voters. Being defeated is not a word in his dictionary, and a concession election speech is against his philosophy and art of deal.
While China-bashing has been a common practice for presidential candidates, it is now becoming a great option for Trump to shirk blame and responsibility and to find a scapegoat for the mistakes made by his administration. It is in his character and is also in conformity with his rules of the art of deal, as he says in “Maximize the options” rule: “I also protect myself by being flexible.” Yes, his flexibility is based on his needs of satisfaction, no matter whether his needs are moral or immoral. So flexibility means amorality.
But Trump’s desperation to defame China reveals his inner weakness and contradicts with one of his rules of the art of the deal: Use your leverage. He says, “The worst thing you can possibly do in a deal is seeming desperate to make it. That makes the other guy smell blood.” When Trump is having fun in playing the dirty game, do Americans and the Democratic party smell blood?
(The author is the executive deputy editor-in-chief of Shenzhen Daily.)