Taking aim at the World Health Organization donald trump makes good on his threat to cut funding to the agency he says its failed its duty in the time of chrono bias but what about trump himself and what kind of leadership has he shown in dealing with the pandemic this is inside story. Hello and welcome to the program im Richelle Carey it will disappear one day like a miracle thats how u. S. President donald trump described the Coronavirus Crisis in the early days and he went on for weeks assuring americans we have it totally under control and now the u. S. Has the worst affected country with more than 609000 kovan 1000 cases and deaths topping 25000 Health Workers are struggling with medical shortages hospitals are overwhelmed and the president is under pressure hes accused of ignoring warnings of a full blown crisis and misleading americans at all trump and says hes doing the job right and is using his daily briefings to promote what he says are his achievements is just made another controversial decision by halting funding to the w. H. O. Accuse the u. N. Body of mismanaging the spread of the virus as critics say hes just trying to deflect blame for his own failures we have deep concerns whether americas generosity has been put to the best use possible. The reality is that the w. H. O. Failed to adequately obtain vet and share information in a timely and transparent fashion had the w. H. O. Done its job to get medical experts into china to objectively assess the situation on the ground and to call out chinas lack of transparency the outbreak could have been contained at its source with very little death very little death and certainly very little death by comparison this would have saved thousands of lives and avoided worldwide economic damage instead the w. H. O. Willingly took chinas assurances to face value and they took it just at face value and defended the actions of the Chinese Government even praising china for its socalled transparency i dont think trump it previously praised chinas response to the outbreak just last month he tweeted just finished a very good conversation with president xi of china and discussed in great detail the coronavirus that is ravaging large parts of our planet chinas been through much and has developed a strong understanding of the virus we are working closely together much respect the president says he has plans to reopen the u. S. Economy and some states by the beginning of next month thats despite the countrys Health Experts advise and caution anthony its top Infectious Disease expert says the u. S. Does not yet have the critical testing needed for businesses to restart trump also seems to have backtracked on his statements about who asked the authority to lift lock downs but he insisted the federal government would have the final say the governors are responsible they have to take charge they have to do a great. And were going to suggest that they check people through tests or other was coming into this states and they run their states very strong now if we disagree with it were not going to let them open. Were not going to let him open if some governor said you know has a lot of problems a lot of cases a lot of death and they want to open early were not going to let it happen so were there to watch were there to help but were also there to be critics previous announcement that he has total authority his words to decide on reopening the economy that sparked controversy because legal experts say thats not true a new York Governor Andrew Cuomo says the president is trying to pick a fight the president will have no fight with me i will not engage in ive sat here every day for 44 years asking new yorkers to remember that this is not about me its about we i understand your personally can it can be i understand youre frustrated and stressed and anxious and youre feeling pain think about we think about good get past your sell and think about society and think about your family think about interconnection and act responsibly for everyone else this is no time for politics and it is no time to fight. Lets introduce the panel now and washington d. C. Douglas sloan a democratic strategist and political consultant and Seattle Sarah polley a political analyst and professor of modern islam at Fordham University and in that lee new jersey Steven Rogers an advisor to the president on old 2020 Campaign Welcome to all of you so let me start let me start with you sara so President Trumps criticism of the w. H. O. In his choosing to cut funding what signal does that send to the world. Well of i think its unfortunate and of course i understand your point of view but i feel its unfortunate that as commentators and as the media are actually playing into. Donald trumps strategy here of diverting attention away from his catastrophic mishandle e of the pro virus Sarah Sarah Sarah were actually not doing that we have a we have a lot of time to talk and i have a lot of questions we are definitely going to get to some of those questions i was just starting with the dead because thats the most recent thing thats happened were going to were going to drill down on a lot i sure you oh sure yeah. Well its any signal to the world that. The United States is attempting to distract from dollar chunks mishandling of the issue by targeting the World Health Organization its sending the signal that there is this her precious leadership that will withdraw 400000000. 00 from the world body that is most qualified to handle a endemic at a time that we in the midst of have damage at a time that we need the most. Message to the world that unfortunately we are losing our stature as a reliable world leader do you think that the Global Response to this pandemic has been suffering and lacking because this object at least speaking the world is not looking to the u. S. For leadership as it has in the past. Yeah ive heard many different people around the world about how well depressing and just kind of destabilizing it is to their perception of the world order that the United States has abdicated its responsibility to this extent europe generally has looked to the United States as a beacon to the west of democratic norms the norm you rouge that donald trump has of kind of stood up on the United States over the last 3 and a half years has been something that people have been looking at with rave concern and now with the pandemic its just worse were going to see the consequences of what happens when you just allow this kind of erosion of democratic norms to go unchecked again and again and again and so not only is it concerning on the theoretical level but on the practical level. I would be concerned im sure many countries are concerned about travelers from the United States into every other area of the world this is problem and so president chavez talking about how he closed china or cut off china well i wouldnt be surprised if many other countries in the world and americans from traveling and steve in so donald trump is is criticizing the w. H. O. For basically saying that they went easy on china and we have already shown our viewers some tweets were donald trump was praising china weeks and months ago is donald trump the person to actually criticize the w. H. O. When it comes to this response just yet any critic credibility to do that. Yes he does look keep in mind that the United States is no longer the worlds a. T. M. The American People are fed up with funding organizations like the w. H. O. And in fact pretty much fed up with funding the United Nations with their tax dollars china for example did in fact go into very. Important trade agreements with the president theyre working out well some of that here we have a situation even were not going to stay all state and were not talking about trade agreements very specifically im asking you donald trump was singing the praises of china during the response to the krajina virus does he have any credibility to to cast aspersions upon the w. H. O. Right now while i was getting to that you asked me about his credibility and i was laying the foundation for that the fact of the matter is is that were dealing with a communist regime we theres a reality check here were not dealing with a democracy were not dealing with a free country were dealing with a communist regime so the question is are we going to believe with a communist government in beijing over the president the United States who also has a funny later than say evil white slave and donald trump believed them. Yes yes we believed them and pretty much the entire world believed them because they were acting and behaving in a little bit of a different matter than they did in the past via what via the trade agreements they kept their word with regard to trade agreements ok all sailing out the window and now ok so that credibility to hold on to 2nd let me ask you this question there may theres going to be a lot of questions to be asked once the world gets through this pandemic about how various organizations there iason ministrations respond that there may be some critiques of the dead late show that perhaps are legitimate but right now the focus is on the United States thats where the deaths are happening the majority of deaths is donald trump in any position well let me let me rephrase this why do you think donald trump is talking about the w. H. O. Now well i think its obvious that trump is using one of his used tactics to tried to flay some of the criticism and some of the. Focus away from him to another organization right now trump is being heavily criticized. For his. Bosh response to this pandemic so this is a typical troll tactic to deflect some of the attention away from himself during this time you know trunk should have been responding to what his medical experts were telling him back in december we didnt see this country start to get ready for this pandemic until march so this is just a typical trump tactic to try to deflect attention away from himself in the middle of a crisis and its not something that were calling for i mean there is some you could make the argument that in w o s u w h o should have acted differently that theyve she responded differently to this but a lot of this is on trump sarah how concerned are you about some of the language that donald trump is using at some of these press briefings for example hes he said obviously made things that are flat out not true one of them the particulars that the federal government has the total authority basically to flip a switch and decide that they want to turn the country back on when that is actually not how the country works at all that is not what america is built on how concerning how concerning should that type of language be but typically at a time of crisis it couldnt be more concerning the last thing we need now is a constitutional crisis in addition to a Public Health and political and economic crisis its very interesting that now president shop is claiming quote unquote total already when d when we needed the federal government to claim authority over the Pandemic Response as opposed to leaving it up to governors and the states suddenly the federal government was not a shipping carrier and the federal government you know puts up the. States and the governors are or why any jobs languished so it does. Contexts in which the federal government is extremely important you know they raise their hands and say this is not our job but suddenly when it comes to reopening the economy or reopening america as President Trumpets it now he claims king like powers so its completely incoherent and dangerous and you know its well i think its hard to say exactly whats going to happen one way of looking at this is that president chavez really peeping the way for governors more and more to increasingly ignore you know you have. West coast states between oregon washington and california and 5 North East States including interestedly the republican governor of massachusetts those 2 clusters of states have come together and said were going to Work Together to figure out when it is from a Public Health perspective to ok reopen our economies in stages so the other thing thats really interesting about this and thats ok thats ok ill come back to Sarah Stephen i do want to ask you about that what of what the language that donald trump is use saying that that the president has the total authority basically over the country in a situation like this the constitution doesnt lie in and out that way thats just factually not true what do you say about the president using language like that. Well i believe youre absolutely right the constitution of this is not applied or theres not the allow that to happen but saying that the president had has the executive authority to do a lot of things and in this case the Public Health and safety of the country is in danger and he believes and it may end up that if this does go to the Supreme Court and i believe it will if it continues on this path he believes that he had the power to take what action necessary i just wanted health and safety of the people i just want a clarification that it what do you think will go to the Supreme Court oh i believe actually that whether he has the authority in a crisis to take the extraordinary actions that need to be taken with regard to the Public Health and safety of the people of this country i believe thats going to end up eventually no matter what the outcome is in the court theres a lot of debate of course the governors are claiming states rights the federal government has no right to step in well they sure that issue came up during our civil war where president has stated i dont really know why is this out it has the right to keep slaves even steven i understand i know traditionally republicans are the party of states rights that that is absolutely true and that all seems to be flip now but what im asking is are you saying that you can see a situation where a governor says i do not believe it is safe to lift any of these orders i need my people to stay in place and you can see a situation where the president tries to force a governor or force a mayor to to do something that they dont think its and is in the best Health Interest of their of their people well let me share this with you is a little reality check those of us who are out on the streets talking to people there are governors in this country and theyre not talking about what a state i think it was michigan or wisconsin. For me journalists are that as well we talk to the people who are very charnel lets do that as well we talk to the people also well well well well well will you keep on interrupting me you want me to answer your question but ive gotten to a point that we have a governor in this country get. You what youre asking me a question and then youre not allowing me to finish it youre talking about the powers of governors or is the president all right we have a governor in this country and there are other elected officials or mandating that people cannot even sit on park benches they cant go to their other homes that is against the civil rights the rights of the people we have issues in this country where government officials have gone rogue and thats not going to be tolerated by the people where my point is ultimately it is the people in this country who will make decisions as to how they will conduct themselves ok so what they can do it cant be so just a zealot or a process and just as she said that the president has a lot of powers in a lot of situations thats absolutely true but also when it comes to a Public Health emergency peoples elected officials do have a lot of leeway and telling people what they need to do for the health and safety of others thats actually not up for dispute and i dont know that there is a let me let me actually get to another question in this way let me ask you its is it concerning that different governors do Different Things depending on whether or not theyre politically aligned with the president so even. Well well it is it is concerning that governors are violating the Constitutional Rights theyre trampling on our constitution and the president is trying to avoid that this is why he didnt nationalize lets say for example a National Lockdown we have to be very very careful with regard to how where dressing this issue oh and were looking now at yes i agree perhaps a constitutional crisis where we have political leaders now trampling on the rights of people thats a big concern is a country let me ask you and just to be clear the president was the one that stated he had powers that are not in the constitution the president actually did that right so how concerned are you that peoples safety lot in some cases lies in the hands of whether or not their governor or their elected officials are politically aligned with the president what type of response is that to actually help the u. S. Get past this well it sure is think that the president seems to be playing partisan politics during a National Crisis is everyone remembers during Hurricane Sandy when that harbor category 4 hurricane battered the east coast barack obama president obama were to hand in hand with new Jersey Governor Chris Christie who is a republican to address the issue to meet the needs of the people that were suffering because of that catastrophe so that is the type of response that we want to see from our president and to address the earlier what were going to be a constitutional crisis this pandemic is unlike anything that weve ever seen before it is an airborne virus that can kill you no matter how old it doesnt have any. It doesnt care if youre black or y. If youre gay or straight if youre man or woman if youre young or old it can kill you and it can make you very sick so we are shredding. Into un charter territory here were guarding how best to deal with this virus in there and i understand that you know this can become a constitutional crisis this is constitutional has very clearly states. Given to american citizens how ever when it comes to matters of life and death we may have to make adjustments to how we govern and how we live our lives in the middle of a pandemic otherwise people could die that is there and also measure sara let me ask you this. Briefly stephen how is he wrong i did want to go to sara but i will let you respond. Look we cannot change our lifestyle with regard to the rights of the citizens of this country that was not the intent of the founders of this country so ill be real quick on this stephen here we have to change maybe our behavioral patterns he interrupted me to death i just stated that you know i didnt want to sound bytes or you want an intelligent conversation well we are both having a bite i know this sounds like about having an intelligent conversation stephen this is a pandemic this is a pandemic oh rules are different are they not yes the rules change not what pulled the rules look the rules regarding behavior yes are different but when youre trampling on the rights of the people thats where we have a problem look people were going to church they were going to worship theyre being fined that 1000. 00 and their social distancing by the way theyre in their cars they say their right to worship has been taken away in some states thats going to the courts in fact i believe the attorney generals investigated so my point is when you start trampling on the rights of the people we have a problem ok so people also have a right not to get sick when they when they step outside people have a right for the government to protect them sorry let me just ask you about this Going Forward and it may seem really crass to talk about this in political terms but its not because elected leaders are who you need at times like this so this is very much political Going Forward what do you think is going to be on the minds of voters as they go to the polls in the coming months and as we get to november. Can i Say Something on the previous point churches that you know im an american and i pay taxes i pay quite a bit in federal taxes well let me tell you all of you cant speak for every single American Voter but there is a huge swath of americans who pay their taxes in what we understand now we are funding the World Health Organization youre funny the c. D. C. And the Pandemic Response we place trust in the federal dollars. To keep us safe so that we can conduct the everyday business of our lives so this idea of absolute like theoretical absolute freedom that we can just walk into our debts i dont agree with that as an american i dont this is not my understanding of freedom this is a more complicated debate what about the freedom to walk outside and get groceries with somebody with the coronavirus who is not in detention to any of the guidelines who is listening to the misinformation from donald trump hopping in a grocery aisle an eating meat critically ill if not debt thats it thats infringing on my freedom so lets not pretend that this is just like this very simple question of you dont versus tyranny right now so to answer your question about whats going to happen in november we have a decision to make in this country whether we value science whether we value competence look at what president obama did when he left office in 2016 is National Security advisor susan rice have prepared if 40 gauge document explaining that we are going to have a pandemic and president obama actually spoke about it in 2014 and theyve even though president obama a President Trump had been led basking in insulting. President obama in most egregious terms throughout his campaign and since he had the class dignity and competence to actually have a president. Susan rice handed the new administration outline of what to do if there is a Pandemic Response susan rice went on record a few days ago saying she thinks that trump trashed it so this is incompetence these are people not doing their job these are people going tomorrow lotto and to the golf course and just testing the political winds to see 2nd get reelected sarah thats a good. Thats going to have to be its going to have to be the last or thats it we we are out of time i do appreciate the discussion this doesnt seem like this pandemic is going to go to waste any time soon so lets try to continue the discussion appreciate your insight very much thank you to Douglas Sloan sarah and Steven Rogers and thank you for watching as well you can see the program again visit our website aljazeera dot com for further discussion of our Facebook Page thats facebook dot com forward slash a. J. Inside story you can also join the conversation on twitter or less at the inside story for me Richelle Carey and the entire team bye for now. A policy imposed decades ago no pregnant woman thought that she could selectively goods and have only boys changing demographics across asia with far reaching consequences for creating a pool of socially disadvantaged young men so you have the system where people at every level are being hit being given money money to agree to start was ation our money to get other people to agree to sterilization outages there examines the politics of population control. Medieval western society it was a Feudal Society to detail to keep the wind out of the ball and as soon as the pope ended his speech some people stood up and said god will sit down and the entrance to the city was horrific they killed people in the streets in their houses and in. The crusades an arab perspective at the sold one shop. On the jersey of. The u. S. Is always of interest to people all right the world people Pay Attention to focus on you know does it is very good to bring the news to the world from here. A bit. Im rob matheson in doha the top stories on our jazeera President Donald Trump says the number of corona virus infections in the u. S. Is slowing despite a record 2300 deaths in 24 hours he says restrictions could be lifted in up to 30 states in 2 weeks but hes also struck another threatening note as mike hanna reports these daily news briefings are purportedly to keep the nation informed about the battle against the coronavirus but invariably the president strays off message