LANSING– Recent University of Michigan grad Molly Foulkes highlighted Donald Trump’s failed COVID-19 response and the damage it has done to young adults graduating into an economy Trump has allowed to spiral downward. Read more here:
The Michigan Daily: Op-ed: Things lost — graduation and great leadership
By Molly Foulkes
- If we had real leadership from the federal government that heeded the warnings about this global pandemic and took swift action to protect Americans, we could have mitigated the damage done by COVID-19. Instead, we have a president who ignored warning after warning, downplayed the risks and is now careening between crises, leaving myself and millions of Americans with the feeling that we must overcome this challenge alone.
- Even as parts of our state tentatively begin to reopen and the curve appears to be flattening, it’s hard for myself and many of my fellow graduates to feel hopeful for our future. Months after being promised, “anybody who wants a test gets a test,” our country still faces testing shortfalls. And day after day, we’re faced with a federal government that clearly has no cohesive plan to reopen safely. The most we get are half-hearted messaging gimmicks and empty words while Trump flounders. Instead of addressing the pandemic that has killed thousands of Michiganders and forced over 1.65 million from their jobs, he chooses to pick fights with our leaders, like Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and spout baseless conspiracy theories.
- In the past, presidents have stepped up in times of collective struggle to help Americans feel confident about the future. They were compassionate and decisive in the face of uncertainty and wanted to understand and relate to our struggles. Even if the future felt hopeless, we could — at the very least — count on our president to show some empathy during times of extreme hardship. But not anymore.
