Covid-19 appears perfectly engineered to destroy the houses of sand built by populist leaders.

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April 26, 2021

Stephen Collinson and Caitlin Hu

'America is not a racist country'

Among its deadly properties, Covid-19 appears perfectly engineered to destroy the houses of sand built by populist leaders.

Back in January, Narendra Modi poured scorn on experts and scientists who warned his country faced a "tsunami"of infection. Now the Indian Prime Minister is being harshly criticized for premature triumphalism amid a terrible surge that has people dying in the streets.

Modi is only the latest populist crusader to come unstuck. Former US President Donald Trump's denialism appears to have cost tens of thousands of lives. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro fueled a disaster by rejecting Covid-19 countermeasures in favor of crank cures. UK PM Boris Johnson paid a heavy personal and political price for ignoring the threat of the pandemic early on, though he has since become more cautious.

Covid-19 doesn't have political preferences. Even some leaders praised for their scientific approach have seen their standing consumed by the virus. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's final months in power for instance are being tarnished by a wave of infections worsened by Europe's slow vaccine rollout.

But the pandemic is guaranteed to expose leaders who undermine truth, create alternative realities, ostracize experts and scientists and refuse to take precautions to keep the public safe. Earlier this month for instance, Modi boasted of huge rally crowds ahead of elections in West Bengal. His hubris in the face of the virus recalls Trump's refusal to give up rallies last year at which he boasted the virus was being driven out -- even as his crowds contributed to a building wave of lethal infections that winter.

Having their negligence exposed may not deter the truth-twisting populist leaders inspired by Trump (who is already spoiling for a comeback). Populism will find fertile soil in the economic and social detritus left in the pandemic's wake. But when leaders prioritize their political image over public health, millions of people suffer.

A man performs last rites for a relative who died of Covid-19 during a mass cremation Saturday in New Delhi, India.

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Southeast Asian leaders say they reached an agreement with Myanmar's military coup leader.

Searchers found the wreckage of an Indonesian submarine carrying 53 crew members.

At least 82 people died after oxygen tanks exploded in a Baghdad hospital.

And a chainsaw-wielding "maniac" is felling trees in Southern England.

Meanwhile in America, US President Joe Biden declared the historic killing of Armenians by Ottoman forces a "genocide."

"Unsettling" gaps remain in vaccine coverage across the country.

And baby diapers are getting even more expensive.

'America is not a racist country'

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham argued on Sunday that "America's not a racist country," though he did allow for the presence of "bad actors." "Our systems are not racist. America's not a racist country," he told Fox News, citing the elections of former President Barack Obama and Vice President Kamala Harris as evidence. "Reform the police, yes, call them all racist, no," he added.

"Senator Graham is basically trying to tell us that the sky is not blue," Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar responded on CNN.

'A colossal domestic and foreign policy blunder of epic proportions'

Joe Biden has won widespread praise from environmental campaigners for his pledge to cut US carbon emissions by 50% of 2005 levels by 2030, made at his virtual online summit of world leaders last week.

But we are already beginning to see domestic opposition that will complicate efforts to honor that commitment. West Virginia's attorney general on Friday threatened to sue Biden to halt implementation of the climate plan if the President fails in his long-shot goal of getting it through Congress. His offensive is certain to be joined by other Republicans in states that voted for Trump last year.

"President Biden's promise that America wants to take radical, transformational and too rapid reductions in carbon and carbon emissions by the end of the decade, is a colossal domestic and foreign policy blunder of epic proportions," West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey says. "These types of transformational and highly controversial changes are not dictated by the whims of one man, not even a President."

Morrisey argues overhauling the US economy and energy industry as Biden's plan requires will be impossible before 2030, and will send the price of electricity shooting up for many Americans. He also warns that the plan will be detrimental to US national security since China will not be making significant cuts in emissions in the short term, despite its far horizon effort to control carbon output.

Morrisey's warnings do not just explain the challenging political domestic path for Biden as he tries to reinvigorate climate change diplomacy. They show that whether the US holds on to its reinvigorated leadership role depends on who wins the White House in 2024.

Thanks for reading.

On Monday, Vice President Kamala Harris holds virtual immigration talks with Guatemala's President Alejandro Giammattei. American space launch company ULA sends off a Delta IV rocket for the US military. Boris Johnson holds talks with Indian PM Modi over videoconference.