On March 18, the S&P 500 index tumbled 7%, triggering yet another circuit breaker and a 15-minute trading halt, also as ridiculed by netizens as “Trump Circuit Breaker”. This was the fourth time that the US stock market had triggered a circuit breaker since March 9, and the fifth meltdown in the history of US stocks. As of this writing, the Dow has officially erased all the gains minted during the Trump presidency.

The Fed’s zero interest rate (ZIRP) and quantitative easing policies have also failed to ease the mounting anxieties about the future of the U.S. economy. Even Mr. Warren Buffett has lost hope on witnessing “miracles”, but just wants to live smoothly to his 90s.

The stock market's roller coaster was directly related to COVID-19. More than 19,000 cases have been diagnosed and 260 people have died. Meanwhile, only this number is growing steadily.

In South Korea, where the first case was reported on the same day as the United States, the number of new cases has decreased significantly than before, showing signs of curbing the outbreak. “This damn bastard!” Trump may have been restless in the round office of the White House, not even a glimpse of blooming tulips in the garden.

In a tweet he posted on March 17, Trump pointedly called COVID-19 the “Chinese virus” when the pandemic has already spread out more than 150 countries. “Together we will stay strong and overcome this challenge!” he wrote, “The United States will be powerfully supporting those industries, like airlines and others, that are particularly affected by the Chinese virus. We will be stronger than ever before!” Blaming China alone for the pandemic is a cover-up strategy of the Trump administration to pass the blame for the coronavirus outbreak in the US.

In a later tweet Trump talked about how US states were being affected, saying: “Some are being hit hard by the Chinese Virus, some are being hit practically not at all.” He wanted to deepen people's paranoia and ridiculous impression of the “China virus”, thereby blaming China for the spread of the new coronavirus in the United States and for the stock market crash. To this end, he provoked racial discrimination and got the Chinese Americans into a dangerous situation. Because it was much easier for Trump to blame other countries than to take responsibility.

When NBC reporter Kristen Welker asked Trump whether he would take responsibility for the lag in making test kits available to the public. Trump answered, “No. I don’t take responsibility at all”. But this doesn’t seem convincing. The coronavirus crisis now poses a direct existential threat to Trump, endangering his re-election and huge legacy, no matter that he said his test result was negative. But his daughter, Ivanka, the executive vice president in the Trump Organization, chose to work from home “with due care” and emphasized “not self-isolation”. And Trump once implied, “Melania wouldn’t cry if he got shot”.

Earlier, Trump told his senior advisers that the coronavirus would be a major issue in the election. He apparently noticed the clear and serious tone adopted by his rival Joe Biden during the Democratic debate on March 15. Democrats wanted to use this complex coronavirus to make cheap political gains.Trump seemed uncomfortable as Biden appeared in front of the camera.

Of course, the republican party itself is gearing up. 54% of Republican congressmen hope that China will pay for, or pay at least part of, global coronavirus costs. Rep. Jim Banks has put it bluntly, saying “The president could institute tariffs on China and designate the funds from that into a coronavirus victim relief fund to pay the cost incurred on Americans and American taxpayers due to the negligence on China’s behalf that’s led to the crisis in America today.”

According to a pro-Republican poll, the American people were very afraid of being restricted by China in the purchase of ventilator and anti-epidemic drugs, because they found that more than 90% of antibiotics and other pharmaceutical raw materials were in the hands of China. The United States’ efforts to fight the cornavirus might not work without China’s assistance. Additionally, Secretary of State Mike Pompe had previously described the coronavirus as “Wuhan virus” and wanted to put pressure on Beijing, but this was countered by Mr. Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, who posted the following on Twitter:“CDC was caught on the spot. When did patient zero begin in US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation!” The most annoying thing was that he actually mentioned the Fort Derick Laboratory.

    This topic is extremely sensitive. The Fort Derick Laboratory is the largest biochemical weapon base in the United States and the Army ’s top secret medical institute for infectious diseases. As for why it was closed in July last year, and then in August there was an outbreak of “e-cigarette disease” with the same symptoms as COVID-19, which killed more than 10,000 people, and there were five U.S. military contestants participating in the Military World Games in October who went to a local hospital for medical treatment due to “acute infectious disease” and then were urgently returned by U.S. military aircraft. No follow-up news. WHO failed to find the source of the clue? None of the above can approve that the United States is the origin of COVID-19, because the CDC was unable to dissect and compare cases of “e-cigarette” deaths in August last year. A large number of English-language news reports about the closure of Fort Detrick Laboratory were also deleted in March.

So Trump is very confident, even though there was one petition on the White House petition website asking for the “real reason” to close Fort Detrick Laboratory. But it’s gone, because it was said that after many people petitioned, only 500 signatures were displayed, which was far from 100,000 signatures.

Concealing the epidemic is very common in the United States. “The New York Times” once broke the news last April that there were outbreaks of Candida auris, a super pathogen, more than 600 cases occurred, and the fatality rate was extremely high. Nearly half of the patients died within 90 days of infection, mostly people with low immunity such as the elderly and people with chronic diseases. The matter was just covered up by the government and the CDC for fear of causing panic among the people.   

However, it was fine after being uncovered, because London too broke out in 2015 and had not been reported. And most importantly, the bacterium was found in the ear canal of a 70-year-old Japanese female patient in 2009. Even if attacked, Trump would say that it is “Japanese super pathogen” and the United States is the victim.

So “stigmatizing” China is just a trick for Trump to maintain his “political correctness” and divert domestic pressure, even if criticism from home and abroad is so fierce. The WHO commented, “The virus has no national borders, and it does not distinguish race color and wealth. The H1N1 pandemic began in North America, and we did not call it the North American influenza.” China's Xinhua News Agency condemns, “Using racist and xenophobic names to cast blame for the outbreak on other countries can only reveal politicians’ irresponsibility and incompetence”. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio responded, “Our Asian community-the people you serve-is already suffering. They don't need you to cheer.” A Chinese netizen evaluated Trump and his supporters in Chinglish -“Right your mother right".

Trump certainly poured scorn on this, although he couldn’t understand what she meant. He was more concerned about his votes. He believes that such political claims of narrow nationalism and neo-unilateralism as “United States First” and “Keeping the United States Strong” can not only bring a sense of security to the domestic public, but also draw votes, even though he was warned that COVID-19 could cause major unemployment, with the unemployment rate reaching 20%. Trump did the same. He wanted to make a German company to provide the vaccine to the United States only, and had a friendly contact with the company in private. But at the G7 meeting that followed, allies assailed him for this behavior and forced him to issue a joint statement. “By acting together, we will work to resolve the health and economic risks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and set the stage for a strong recovery of strong, sustainable economic growth and prosperity.”

Today, some members of Congress in the United States are also infected. Trump is considering having another press conference, because first of all he has to tell everyone that he is still alive and that he will still give his job full marks.

So he called his own make-up artist to make his face retouched. It is said that Mr. Trump likes tanning the bed. Although the bags around his eyes are white, the orange skin looks younger and more energetic. Besides, if he often changes his face, or even fails to show his true face, how can we trust him?   

Finally Trump stood on the podium, saying “God bless America!”