Trump's Iran Hostage Moment: The Coronavirus
In April of 1980, the United States was at one of its lowest points since Pearl Harbor or the Great Depression. Relations with the Soviet Union had deteriorated quite a bit since the Afghanistan invasion right before Christmas of 1979. On November 4th, 1979 (which happens to be the day one of my good friends was born), protestors stormed the US Embassy in Tehran.
Nearly four decades later, an unpopular incumbent president is also facing a major challenge: the coronavirus (COVID-19).
On March 31th, President Trump said that the next two weeks would be difficult (the word he used was painful) "as we approach that really important day when we're going to see things get better, all of a sudden..." He's technically right. The current situation will only get worse before it gets better. Thousands of people will die for COVID-19.
Trump's address on the 31st reminded me of the pessimism that President Jimmy Carter had during the Iranian Revolution. In July of 1979, Carter delivered a speech, which has been retroactively titled The Crisis of Confidence. In it, Carter referred to the American malase as the crisis of confidence, remarking that "that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will." While I have immense respect for the former President and Sunday school teacher, Carter botched the Iran situation completely. Sure, Carter's naivety and humility didn't help, but his standing with the Iranian elite was the death blow, and the fact that it took until Reagan's inauguration for them to be released was a sign that the Iranians wanted a leader with as much pull as Reagan, even if ideologically enemies (the revolutionaries being fundamentalist Shia Islamic and Reagan being for all intent and purpose a fundamentalist Christian).
The Trump administration, which in my eyes lacks cohesive leadership abilities, has pitted states against one another. Governors have been afraid to upset the White House, and the lack of any concrete coordination has pitted states against one another. I'm blessed that our counterparts in Oregon are sending New York ventilators to assist with our efforts. Imagine if the Governor of New York in 1980, Hugh Carey, had gone to Iran to negotiate the release of the hostages.
Chuck Todd of NBC has made the same comparison that I have made here. And so far by my own opinion and observations, Trump is getting almost everything wrong. The only other leaders I see as bad if not worse is Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, who has dismissed aspects of the threat and Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, who has resorted to threats and violence to get his country under control. Never before has humanity fought a microbiological enemy like the coronavirus.
For the world to conquer this plague, we all need to make sacrifices. Unfortunately, there are some who are unwilling to do so.
Please note: I might make revision to this post as new developments are made as I receive additional insight.