Tom Paine 1949
Diamond Member
- Mar 15, 2020
- 5,407
- 4,509
- 1,938
Without the travel bans, we’d be a lot worse. I get it that you need to criticize Trump at every turn but a travel ban during a global pandemic is just common sense. Only judgement clouded by anger and hate could state otherwise.
No, it was a stupid idea, because instead of having a regular flow of traffic over time, you had a bunch of people who all panicked and fled back here while they still could before the planes stopped flying.
I disagree with you, JoeB131 on the Chinese tourist travel restrictions, though I agree with you overall in your argument with Trump supporters like LeftofLeft. I have mixed American-Chinese family in Beijing now and we were personally effected. I also lived in China for eight years, and follow developments there as close as I can.
First of all the tourist travel ban was supported and publically defended by Fauci and other experts. Trump of cause loves walls and moats and thought that his ban somehow guaranteed our safety, though Fauci and many others explicitly told him it did not.
At the time of the "shutdown" the virus was already circulating in the U.S. and around the world, though it probably did buy us a little time to prepare (which was wasted). It was just a prudent measure, in my opinion, though in fact never complete as 175,000 Americans and their families living in China (and many others) were always exempt. Reduced flights from Beijing and other cities outside of Hubei continued throughout and until today. There are now ten U.S. cities where arriving flights from China are allowed to land and where usually quick health checks are given. Today, of course, the bigger danger of Covid-19 spread is from Chinese nationals living or studying in America and Europe returning to China.
So while the Trump administration can be blamed for many things, this was not one of them. The China-American relationship is complicated, and it is crucial that we don't let it fall into a so-called "Thucydites Trap" or a new Cold War. I'm sure we agree on that. I also agree with you that the tendency to blame China in general for American decline is absurd and self-defeating, and utterly typical of the narrow and arrogant U.S. mindset.
Last edited: