By Raj Gonsalkorale

In July of 64 A.D., a great fire ravaged Rome for six days, destroying 70 percent of the city and leaving half its population homeless. According to a well-known expression, Rome’s emperor at the time, the decadent and unpopular Nero, fiddled while Rome burned.” The expression has a double meaning: Not only did Nero play music while his people suffered, but he was an ineffectual leader in a time of crisis – https://www.history.com/news

Sounds familiar?

The website noted above states that quote When the Great Fire broke out, Nero was at his villa at Antium, some 35 miles from Rome. Though he immediately returned and began relief measures, people still didn’t trust him. Some even believed he had ordered the fire started, especially after he used land cleared by the fire to build his Golden Palace and its surrounding pleasure gardens. For one thing, the fiddle didn’t exist in ancient Rome. Music historians believe the viol class of instruments (to which the fiddle belongs) was not developed until the 11th century. If Nero played anything, it would probably have been the cithara, a heavy wooden instrument with four to seven strings—but there is still no solid evidence that he played one during the Great Fire. Nero himself blamed the Christians (then an obscure religious sect) for the fire, and had many arrested and executed. But while Nero may have been guilty of many things, the story of him fiddling while Rome burned belongs firmly in the category of popular legend rather than established truth” unquote.

As of the 12^th December COVID 19 has so far killed 296,000 in the USA and 15.9 million have contracted the virus. It is reported that 2 people die every minute in the US and that the number of deaths may surpass 500,000 by February 2021. The entire World War 2 killed just over 400,000 US soldiers.

The impotence of President Trump let alone in dealing with the COVID pandemic but even recognising there is a pandemic and a very serious health issue, is beyond question. In the next few days, the number affected will exceed 16 million and the deaths will soar past 300,000. Neither the sick nor the dying seem to have had any effect on President Trump.

In an analysis published in CNN on the 13^th December, Maeve Reston, says slashing at Barr (Attorney General) on Twitter this weekend instead of focusing on saving American lives amid a deadly surge in coronavirus cases, Trump reminded the nation of one of the truisms about the way he has regarded his allies both in business and politics: everyone is expendable if they do not follow his dictates. No matter how loyal an aide has been — and regardless of how many times they put their own reputation on the line to do Trump’s bidding — the President has shown no compunction about casting them aside as soon he is convinced they are no longer useful as one of his political tools”.

In contrast, amongst some countries, Australia has taken this health issue very seriously from the outset, and has shown remarkable leadership both at Federal and State level. For the first time in the history of the Federation, a national cabinet was formed specifically to lead and coordinate the pandemic containment and treatment strategies, and today, Australia is a country that has drastically contained and virtually eradicated the spread of the virus. It has put in place emergency strategies to invoke necessary rules and regulations to deal with any resurgence however big or small that might be.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has shown strong national leadership in this regard and State Premiers have led the pandemic management at State level with efficiency and significant effectiveness. President Trump has never shown any inclination to lead where his leadership could have prevented deaths, and could have contained the spread of the virus. Australian leaders have always acted on advice from health professionals while President Trump has consistently denigrated his health professionals. He has virtually usurped his high office for personal benefit and nothing else.

It appears that contrary to the story that Nero fiddled while Rome burnt, records seems to show that the Emperor in fact returned from his villa at Antium, some 35 miles from Rome when the fire broke out in Rome, and he had immediately begun relief measures. Historical records acknowledge that he had been a decadent and unpopular Emperor but they also indicate he had returned to Rome to begin relief measures, and this does seem to give him some amount of kudos for his leadership during the time of the crisis.

Not so with President Trump. He has not taken any leadership and allowed the pandemic to go unchecked giving no regard to the sick and the dying. If this is not decadence, what is? While President Trump cannot be ascribed the same description as has been to Nero, his self-centeredness, lack of leadership in dealing with the pandemic and his performance since the US election brings him close to it.

President Trump has behaved like someone hiding his head in the sand, like an Ostrich, foolishly ignoring the problem in hand hoping it will magically vanish. While the ostrich story is a myth, the simile with President Trump is certainly not. 16 million people with over 300,000 dead, and a deeply divided country is the reality and the real Ostrich has occupied the White house for almost the last 4 years.

While the COVID pandemic has wrought havoc in the US, the occupier of the White House has wrought havoc in the country since the election in November. 74 million voters have demonstrated their own disdain of others by supporting a contemporary Nero. At least the mythical Ostrich hid his head in the sand as he sensed trouble, and wishing it would go away. 74 million voters did not even believe there was any trouble and did not hide their heads in the sand but openly supported one who had his head in the sand! Their oblivion to trouble came about because they were in a stupor having swallowed plenty of Twitter dupe dished out by the President.

One could wish one doesn’t care a hoot who becomes the President of the US, but unfortunately one cannot. The occupier of the White House does influence world events positively and negatively, and in fact is responsible for creating many such events. While some events have been and are beneficial to the rest of the world, there are many others that have not been so. Benefits will outweigh the negatives depending on the person who occupies the White House.

Trump has divided the US domestically, and internationally, he has emboldened leaders in China, Russia, India, Turkey, Syria, Iran etc. This might not be a bad thing as too much power in any one individual or one country has been counterproductive to a stable world order as has been witnessed for decades. In this regard, Trump may have done a favour for the rest of the world by walking away from globalisation that he inherited. The trouble with his stance is the fact that he did not offer any other credible alternative for his own country, and the rest of the world, and preferred to leave disorder and disarray to what he withdrew from.

There are lessons for the US and the rest of the world that could be learnt from the Trump phenomenon. In the longer term, the world should wean itself from the US economically as it is their economic power that gives them political and military power in the international stage. This is not to say the balance should shift to China. That could be worse. In fact, no single country should be economically dominant over others, and economic partnerships should counter such dominance.

Politically, the US nor any other country should engage in exporting democratic governance and champion human rights unless their own credentials qualifies them to do so. The disorder in the Middle East, the partiality shown to a country like Saudi Arabia which is neither democratic or an upholder of human rights, to Israel which has denied human rights to Palestinians and disregarded all international conventions and UN resolutions on Palestine, and the interventions for democratic” governance and human rights in Iran, Syria, Iraq, Egypt etc., have all shown the shallowness and duplicity of US policies.

The challenges that are before President Biden and Vice President Harris on the 20^th of January 2021 are substantial and perhaps unprecedented. Responding to the ever spreading pandemic and unifying a deeply divided country and lifting it from its economic morass are their biggest domestic challenges.

Internationally, working with all other powers, including the aspiring super power China and other powers and regional powers to chart a course for the world in key areas such as the economy, climate change, health and wellbeing of everyone in the world, and hopefully, descaling the race for military might and diverting resources for the wellbeing of the global village should be uppermost in their list of challenges.

The vacuous leadership of Donald Trump has made these challenges even harder to meet