IIt is astonishing with what speed the American stock has eroded in the wake of apparent maladministration and mismanagement by the Donald Trump administration in the last few weeks in the United States. The inefficiency and apathy of the Trump administration was apparent in the blundering ways in which it dealt with the coronavirus pandemic even as a lakh of people lost their lives with the President showing scant understanding and good sense. Even as this unfolded came the economic catastrophe and the cold reality that 40 million jobs had been lost across the US and economic deprivation was giving the country’s poor and middle class a harrowing time. As if this was not enough, came the brutal killing of an under-privileged black American on the roadside in Minneapolis by a policeman that sent shock waves across the world. Riots broke out in several American cities and the situation was exacerbated by the President’s insensitive comment that the rioters were ‘thugs’ who needed to be dealt with sternly. There was no show of remorse by Trump at the goings-on at the brutality with which George Floyd was killed and no attempt to douse the flames even as mobs in cities took to looting and ransacking of shops.
It is hardly surprising that Trump’s popularity ratings have plummeted and there is a sense of revulsion at the events of the last few days. This could well severely jeopardise Trump’s re-election bid later this year when the country votes to retain or replace the current President. Trump has earned some brownie points due to the tough stand that he has taken against China as the originator of the virus and it seems unlikely that Trump would win a second term.
