Boris Johnson's Covid case has echoes for Trump
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard
WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2022
WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2022
  • Home
  • Economy
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Splash
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Long Read
  • Games
  • Epaper
  • More
    • COVID-19
    • Bangladesh
    • Infograph
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Thoughts
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Subscribe
    • Archive
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
    • Supplement
  • বাংলা
Boris Johnson's Covid case has echoes for Trump

Analysis

Therese Raphael, Bloomberg
04 October, 2020, 04:55 pm
Last modified: 04 October, 2020, 07:08 pm

Related News

  • Shanghai achieves 'zero Covid' status but normal life is weeks away
  • N Korea mobilises army, steps up tracing amid Covid wave
  • How to revive the pre-Covid teaching environment in educational institutions
  • UK PM Johnson orders ministers to cut 91,000 civil service jobs
  • How useful is big tech in a Covid lockdown, really?

Boris Johnson's Covid case has echoes for Trump

A quick recovery would probably be emboldening but a physical struggle with lingering aftereffects might lead to different public health policies

Therese Raphael, Bloomberg
04 October, 2020, 04:55 pm
Last modified: 04 October, 2020, 07:08 pm
A common experience. Photographer: WPA Pool/Getty Images Europe/Bloomberg
A common experience. Photographer: WPA Pool/Getty Images Europe/Bloomberg

When Boris Johnson announced on March 27 that he'd tested positive for Covid-19, Brits were in shock, much as Americans were on Friday morning when they heard President Donald Trump was infected. The U.K. prime minister was the first leader of a major country to be hospitalized with the virus, an event that was characterized as "routine" at first before the illness took a more serious turn.

Nobody knows how this will play out for Trump, just as they didn't for Johnson. But the president's "precautionary" hospitalization is an obvious concern given his age and weight. Thankfully, Johnson was able to return to work eventually after a stay in intensive care — a period when it wasn't always obvious who was running Britain. At least in the U.S. it's constitutionally clear who takes charge should the leader become incapacitated. 

The bigger uncertainty is how Trump's experience, like Johnson's, will shape his nation's Covid-19 policy and broader politics. Presidents and prime ministers can change a country's direction, but what happens when events change them?

A quick victory over the virus would no doubt be emboldening and lend itself to a narrative of virility and indomitability — something that has often characterized the Trump approach to Covid. A drawn-out physical struggle with lingering aftereffects, of the kind endured by Johnson, might lead to a different mix of public health and economic policies. It could also alter Trump's performance in office, assuming he returns, and public perception of the commander in chief.

It would be wrong to say it was only Johnson's illness that forced him to take the coronavirus seriously. He'd already abandoned a Swedish-style laissez faire approach to the pandemic after an Imperial College model (later found to be flawed) suggested the British death toll could be more than half a million people. Four days before his positive test was announced, Johnson implemented a national lockdown in a sober address that marked the first major departure from his trademark boosterist style. Without draconian restrictions, he told the country, the National Health Service would be overwhelmed. Many of his fellow Conservatives thought he'd gone too far, and worried about the economic toll.

Johnson's deteriorating condition ended that argument. When it was announced that he'd been taken to an ICU, there was a nationwide intake of breath. The U.K's streets were deserted, as the public came together to obey the lockdown rules and protect the NHS. Even his political enemies wished him well.

We don't know how much viral load has entered Trump nor the strength of his body's defenses. Like Johnson at the time, Trump is considered clinically obese, a comorbidity that increases the chances of having the virus in a more severe form. Johnson, who'd always disdained illness, put on a very British show of "carrying on" with work, a judgment that might have worsened his chances. Trump has been hospitalized immediately and treated with the experimental antibody drug cocktail by Regeneron. Like Johnson, he'll have the best care available.

Had Johnson brushed off the virus, he might have leaned more toward Sweden's minimalist lockdown approach. Instead he returned chastened and altered. His antipathy about nanny-state interventions, such as tackling obesity, was abandoned. When urged by Tory right-wingers to reopen the economy, he was cautious. Once restrictions were eased, his messaging was often hesitant and confusing.

There has been much talk about how the virus has impacted Johnson physically and mentally. We know that many of those infected, even without hospitalization, suffer lingering symptoms that can last months — ranging from fatigue to aches and an inability to focus. Johnson was never a particularly strong parliamentary performer, but his demeanor since his return has sometimes seemed more subdued, his grasp of policy poor and his speech less commanding.

Last week he misrepresented his government's own lockdown restrictions for the north of the country and had to apologize. Was that a temporary lapse from a leader under enormous pressure, and who happens to have a newborn baby at home? Or is he still struggling with Covid's aftereffects?

It almost doesn't matter. British party politics is a blood sport. A Tory prime minister serves at the pleasure of his parliamentary party, unlike the American president. Any sign of weakness from a leader, as Theresa May's bitter experience showed, and there are always rivals ready to pounce. Trump is not in the same situation, but he is fighting an election: A figure who depends on strongman appeal won't be eager to show frailty, whether or not he ends up in an ICU.

Cartoonish comparisons between Johnson and Trump are impossible to avoid, even beyond the distinctive blonde hairstyles. They aren't entirely facile either. Both rode to power on a populist backlash, aided by the discontent of working class voters and the support of traditional conservatives.

Even so, Trump is the far more polarizing figure and the more extreme personality. Johnson was hugely popular when the pandemic hit and had just won a handsome election victory only months before; Trump is behind Joe Biden in the polls with just over a month before the U.S. vote. The prime minister has taken the virus seriously since March; the president downplayed it.

Johnson's gaffes, U-turns and bungling of Covid policy — and his standing by aides that break the lockdown rules — have severely diminished his public standing recently, but his attitude to the pandemic has never seemed ideological, unlike that of his U.S. counterpart. Americans may wonder now whether a command-and-control center that couldn't protect the president can protect them. While Britons have a long while to wait before they can express a verdict on how their government handled the pandemic, Americans will do so imminently.


Therese Raphael is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. She was editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe.

Disclaimer: This article first appeared on bloomberg.com, and is published by special syndication arrangement.

Top News

Boris Johnson / Covid / Trump

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Social safety budget to stay same despite inflation rise
    Social safety budget to stay same despite inflation rise
  • RMG makers worried over move on power tariff hike
    RMG makers worried over move on power tariff hike
  • A packet of US five-dollar bills is inspected at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington March 26, 2015. REUTERS/Gary Cameron
    Dollar hits Tk100 mark in open market

MOST VIEWED

  • Photo: Bloomberg
    Putin sets Russians on wild hunt for Dollars in black market
  • People shop for cooking oil made from oil palms at a supermarket in Jakarta, Indonesia, March 27, 2022. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan/Files
    Why Indonesia's palm oil export ban has not cooled cooking oil prices
  • Despite Bangladesh having about 24,000 km of waterways, only a few hundred kilometres are covered by commercial launch services. Photo: Saad Abdullah
    Utilising waterways: When common home-goers show the way
  • Illustration: TBS
    How Putin revived Nato
  • Food inflation pain puts emerging markets between rock and hard place
    Food inflation pain puts emerging markets between rock and hard place
  • NATO prepares to add Finland and Sweden to northern defenses
    NATO prepares to add Finland and Sweden to northern defenses

Related News

  • Shanghai achieves 'zero Covid' status but normal life is weeks away
  • N Korea mobilises army, steps up tracing amid Covid wave
  • How to revive the pre-Covid teaching environment in educational institutions
  • UK PM Johnson orders ministers to cut 91,000 civil service jobs
  • How useful is big tech in a Covid lockdown, really?

Features

Despite Bangladesh having about 24,000 km of waterways, only a few hundred kilometres are covered by commercial launch services. Photo: Saad Abdullah

Utilising waterways: When common home-goers show the way

12h | Panorama
Illustration: TBS

How Putin revived Nato

14h | Panorama
The reception is a volumetric box-shaped room that has two glass walls on both the front and back ends and the other two walls are adorned with interior plants, wood and aluminium screens. Photo: Noor-A-Alam

The United House: Living and working inside nature

14h | Habitat
Pcycle team members at a waste management orientation event. Photo: Courtesy

Pcycle: Turning waste from bins into beautiful crafts

15h | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

The first mosque in India was built Prophet Mohammad time

The first mosque in India was built Prophet Mohammad time

5h | Videos
After six decades ,the Archies is back

After six decades ,the Archies is back

5h | Videos
Exporters in discomfort, expatriates preferring Hundi

Exporters in discomfort, expatriates preferring Hundi

5h | Videos
Can your coworker be your closest friend?

Can your coworker be your closest friend?

15h | Videos

Most Read

1
Representative Photo: Pixabay.
Bangladesh

Microplastics found in 5 local sugar brands

2
Mushfiq Mobarak. Photo: Noor-A-Alam
Panorama

Meet the Yale professor who anchors his research in Bangladesh and scales up interventions globally

3
The story of Bangladesh becoming a major bicycle exporter
Industry

The story of Bangladesh becoming a major bicycle exporter

4
How Bangladesh can achieve edible oil self-sufficiency with local alternatives
Bazaar

How Bangladesh can achieve edible oil self-sufficiency with local alternatives

5
Govt tightens belt to relieve reserve
Economy

Govt tightens belt to relieve reserve

6
Impact of falling taka against US dollar
Banking

Taka losing more value as global currency market volatility persists

The Business Standard
Top
  • Home
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • About Us
  • Bangladesh
  • International
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
  • Contact Us
  • Economy
  • Sitemap
  • RSS

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net

Copyright © 2022 THE BUSINESS STANDARD All rights reserved. Technical Partner: RSI Lab