On Friday March 13th a presidential news conference was held in the White House Rose Garden to discuss the coronavirus pandemic. President Donald Trump addressed the public regarding the virus and declared a national emergency. He went on to explain what this means for the United States, and the actions he's taking to "unleash the full power of the federal government", and "open up access to $50 billion of very importantly - of very important - and a large amount of money...". Although it's difficult to interpret exactly what this means in the context President Trump gives, it is clear that this poses a great risk to society, and many people fear the next step in this process will be to institute martial law. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary states that martial law is "the law administered by military forces that is invoked by a government in an emergency when the civilian law enforcement agencies are unable to maintain public order and safety". The imposition of martial law gives a government a significantly larger amount of power over a country, and typically accompanies curfews, the suspension of civil law, civil rights, and habeas corpus (e.g. freedom of speech, freedom of the press, innocent until proven guilty, etc). After he made the declaration, President Trump went on to make a series of false claims regarding the travel ban, testing shortages, and Google's role in mitigating the outbreak. He said, "As you know, Europe was just designated as a hot spot right now and we closed that border a while ago". This is misleading, because while some travel restrictions were imposed on 26 European countries on Wednesday night, they don't nearly amount to a total shutting down of the border. Additionally, President Trump wrongly blamed the Obama administration for testing shortages and falsely claimed it "didn't do testing" during the swine flu epidemic of 2009. He expressed his gratitude towards Google for developing a website that he said is going to "determine whether a test is warranted and facilitate testing at a nearby convenient location". Mr. Trump misstated the company responsible for the website, an organization called Verily, a subsidiary of Google's parent company. He also exaggerated the scope that the website would have, which became apparent when Verily issued a statement on Twitter explaining, "Verily is in the early stages of development, and planning to roll testing out in the Bay Area, with the hope of expanding more broadly over time". These false statements, along with the possibility of the institution of martial law and the state of emergency, cause a great deal of suspicion and bring panic to many citizens in the United States.
1. The imposition of martial law gives the government total control over a country. Given the suspicious actions taken by and the accusations made against the Trump administration, do you think declaring a national emergency was the right decision? Or does it pose an even greater risk to the United States than the virus itself?
2. The lack of testing for the virus throughout the country continues to cause concern among medical professionals as well as ordinary people in the US. Currently, public and CDC laboratories are only testing those who have recently traveled to impacted countries or who have come in direct contact with anyone who has tested positive for the virus. Given the lack of sufficient testing equipment, do you think this is the right way to regulate who is tested?
3. Less than a month ago, many people blamed leaders in China and Italy for the outbreak of the virus. How do you think President Trump and the actions he's taken against the pandemic compare to those of President Xi Jinping of China and President Sergio Mattarella of Italy?
Sources:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-hold-friday-afternoon-press-conference-coronavirus-n1157981
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/13/us/politics/fact-check-trump-coronavirus.html
Declaring a national emergency was the right decision because we need to slow the exponential growth in order to not overwhelm our healthcare system. I highly doubt that trump meant martial law, he isn't THAT stupid. I don't think that it is something to be worried about, and is not a real viable option. Coronavirus needs to be contained and is definitely a national and international crisis.
ReplyDeleteI think that a national emergency was needed, but maybe not so soon. Hearing "national emergency" will scare anyone and just cause a panic when not everyone needs to panic. The panic is seen by stores being wiped out of necessities, lines to get into stores, and an overall global hysteria. I think that Donald Trump unintentionally mentioned martial law. Martial law at this point would be incredibly extreme and would disobey our constitution and democracies ideals. I also think that testing needs to be increased but I understand that it is difficult to do so because of the lack of testing kits available. Hopefully, advancements will be made in this field. I believe that people are quick to put the blame on leaders like President Xi Jinping and Sergio Mattarella. Our own president is obviously taken back by this pandemic and theres no doubt that there is a level of uncertainty in the white house right now.
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ReplyDeleteThe fact that the only people who can get tested are those who have recently traveled to impacted countries or come in contact with someone who has tested positive makes it apparent that there are many more cases of the virus than what is announced to the public. Additionally, people who HAVE been in contact with someone who has tested positive for the virus are even struggling to get tested. Since the symptoms of covid-19 are very mild and gradual, it makes it difficult for us to self-diagnose or to prevent spreading it to others. Although testing in the US is poorly regulated, it should not cause worry or panic; we shouldn't have to test positive for the virus in order to wash our hands properly and distance ourselves from others.
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