Tragic and catastrophic events are often times “made for TV moments” for politicians. World wars, great depressions, the 9/11 attacks and natural disasters should bring out the best in our leaders. And that leadership role is made somewhat easier because these events inspire bipartisanship and open the federal spending coffers. And Americans rally behind our leaders because we know how to face adversity.

You would have to be very incompetent to mishandle one of these crises. Enter Donald Trump. He lied to the American people about the severity of the virus because he said we could not handle the truth — we would panic. He compared COVID-19 to the flu and said that only a handful of people would die. How many times did he say we were “rounding the corner”?

He undermined the science and health care professionals and politicized the wearing of masks and social distancing. Because of Trump, we have a divided America with regard to acceptance of best practices to limit the destructiveness of the virus.

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Trump now wants to take all of the credit for the development of the vaccine. Without Operation Warp Speed, we would be nowhere near having a vaccine, he says — even though the Pfizer vaccine was developed with no Operation Warp Speed funds.

The development of the vaccine has been a worldwide effort, and thanks to global capitalism and competitiveness, we are on the cusp of having many vaccines available to fight this pandemic. Even Forbes magazine — that bastion of socialism — makes note that one of the major scientists involved in developing the vaccines was an immigrant — a group that Trump has often vilified.

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No one man can take credit for the vaccine. But you have Trump saying not to give Biden credit for the development of the vaccine. “The vaccines were me,” Trump said.

That last phrase says it all.

It is said of great leaders that they take more than their share of the blame and less than their share of the credit. Trump is a tiny tyrant.

There is a saying that there is often a silver lining in many tragedies. In the case of COVID-19, that silver lining was that Trump got ousted from the presidency. It is too sad that it took the pandemic to get rid of him.

Lou Coggia

Steamboat Springs