The American people have been led to believe that democratic socialism is as dangerous as the coronavirus that is moving swiftly from one country to another as, here in the U.S., the federal government, led by the incompetent president Donald Trump, has, while the virus takes hold, exhibited his usual confusion about reality and has blamed everyone but himself for lack of planning to fight it.

Trump sees the coronavirus as a plot to undermine his perceived cruise to a second term and he, unbelievably, blames the Democrats and the news media for the outbreak and for the fact that he can only come up with a limited number of test kits in a nation of 325 million. That just won't cut it in keeping the virus in check or even just keep track of it. In a nation that is supposed to be one of the “first nations,” in terms of health and longevity of its people, he has either eliminated or severely cut the budgets and funding of departments and agencies that were created to counter what the country is facing now. And for this, he has blamed former President Obama, which he has done for most of the past three years. When something goes wrong, he blames Obama.

As is usually the case with the boy-man president, everything is about himself. He can't even discuss something as serious as coronavirus without bringing up how masterful he has been in dealing with the mortal threat that it presents. He always brings up his “genius” about most things and, in visiting the Centers for Disease Control (wearing his “keep America great” campaign hat) told the gathering of medical and public health experts that “others” have wondered aloud how he knows so much about the science of things like coronavirus. “I guess I just have an instinct for it,” he said, answering his own question. That's nonsense, but that's nothing new for the master of self-aggrandizement, a lifelong habit of his that he thinks elevates himself above all others, especially the members of his cult following, who would vote for him, even if he shot someone on Fifth Avenue in New York.

Trump is the one who has said that he would welcome immigrants from places like Norway, rather than those who are at the southern frontier seeking asylum from the chaos and mortal danger posed by the governments of this hemisphere, many of which have been unleashed by U.S. policies and actions which have resulted in the masses of peasants and workers who have been abused, mistreated, and killed regularly in their homes and villages. Norway, of course, is the land of light-skinned blond-haired inhabitants (at least in Trump's mind), who mostly live fulfilling lives because of their form of economics and government. They are not afraid to provide housing, healthcare, education, good food, among other goods in a healthy society, since they live in a democratic socialist form of government. They even leave enough room for millionaires and a handful of billionaires, none of whom seem fearful of living in a society, which provides for the well-being of all of its people.

Other countries have forged ahead of the U.S. in every aspect of facing up to coronavirus, with Chinese manufacturers able to produce more than 1.5 million test kits per week, according to the March 3 issue of Fortune magazine, which reported that South Korean officials have set up drive-through coronavirus screening facilities and other countries, like Italy and the U.K., are testing tens of thousands.

The magazine further reported: “In the U.S., meanwhile, inadequate coronavirus testing has become a full-blown scandal. As U.S. cases spike, the Department of Health and Human Services has launched an investigation into defective testing kits that delayed lab results by several days, and experts are worried that a slow federal response may have given the virus more time to spread.”

Most of the countries that have been compared with the U.S. have some kind of national health insurance program, for which there are no qualifications. Everyone is included. In the event of any outbreak of disease, these countries are ready with structures already in place to deal with any given problem. In the U.S., there is no such structure and, where there were structures being developed, Trump and his Republican followers did their best to reduce their effectiveness or eliminate them altogether. Public health is not a big concern for this president and it's why tens of millions of Americans have little to no access to routine health care. It's why our life expectancy is dropping lower and lower, compared with other developed nations.

One of the great fears of Trump, his cult followers, his Republicans in Congress, and some Democrats is that there could be, someday, a single-payer universal health care program in the U.S. The fear is engendered by the healthcare industry (most doctors, pharmaceutical corporations, hospitals, insurance companies and many others) which could lose out on obscene profits, if a single-payer universal system were ever created in the U.S. According to those who have crunched the real numbers (not corporate-paid shills), such a program would save taxpayers money and cover everyone in the nation.

Such a program would have provided a ready structure for dealing with crises like coronavirus. As always, money and profit (their own) top the list for those in power and the millions who are without can continue to go without. It's dangerous not only for individuals who are without access to health care, but to all of society, because the society is only as healthy as its most vulnerable, as is being made very clear in this emergency, during which Trump is about to learn that he can't bluff his way to a proper response. He already missed that train.

This week, the news website Common Dreams published comments from five Americans who moved to Norway. Although they moved for different reasons, their surprise at the benefits of living in a social democratic society was general. The following is from Erika, one of the five, who found that her benefits started immediately and that there is nothing that compares in the U.S.

As reported by Common Dreams: Erika: “When I lived in the U.S., I was deeply engaged in movements for universal healthcare, and for workers and women’s rights. Nonetheless, I didn’t truly understand the impact of the rights I was championing until I first moved to Norway. When I arrived, I was five months pregnant with my first child and I was excited about the prospect of a new life in a land with generous public provisions. At the same time, I was scared and unsure, mostly because I couldn’t fathom a system where I could be seen by a doctor, right way, without significant paperwork or cost to me or my partner. With my first pregnancy check-up in Norway a week after arrival, I experienced firsthand my new reality. It felt strange and incredible to have access to these services, with no questions asked.

I had a difficult childbirth and was completely exhausted for several weeks after my son was born. At the time, I was enrolled in a demanding master’s program, for free! My twin sister, living in the US, gave birth to twin daughters in that same time period. She had felt the pressure to begin to work again almost right away and based on everything I knew, it never occurred to me that I shouldn’t do the same. I took 10 days off after the birth and slogged my way through the snow to go to my classes, leaving my son’s Norwegian father to use his parental leave and stay home with our son. I remember feeling proud of my strong work ethic when I completed my studies, but also feeling exhausted—both mentally and emotionally.

Two years later, I gave birth to my second child. In the years that had passed since the first, I’d continually seen Norwegian friends and colleagues taking 8 months to a year’s parental leave—paid leave from their jobs, from their studies, from all parts of life outside of caring for a newborn. This time, there was no doubt in my mind that I would do the same. With a huge feeling of relief, I took the weeks I needed before the birth and I took the months after. Although my politics had been far to the left when I lived in the US, it was only first after I’d lived some years in Norway that I actually felt I deserved to receive universal health care and paid parental leave. It was only then that I understood the everyday, emotional impact of what it was to have that right.”

It was a similar experience for the other four Americans, if only from the viewpoint that all of these social programs accrue to everyone in Norway. That is, healthcare as a right, decent housing is a right, free or low-cost education is a right, free speech is a right, and many other human rights that exist for millions of Americans only on the margins, where they exist at all. The stark difference between the U.S. and Norway, or the U.S. and any other “first world” nation is evident in the experiences of these five Americans.

Protecting a populace against something as potentially destructive as the coronavirus is made much easier when there are systems in place to care for the sick and vulnerable. In the U.S., there is no system. Rather, it is a slapdash conglomeration of private, for-profit corporations and demonstrates the folly of Republicans and other rightwingers who are trying to privatize every government function where a profit can be made.

By early March, Norway reported 56 cases of coronavirus, the highest ratio of all of the Nordic countries, but the Norwegian Institute for Public Health said that many of those affected had recently traveled to Italy during the Norwegian winter break. Health authorities, however, point out that they expect the origins of future cases of coronavirus will be harder to track. The U.S. has neither the agencies in place to perform widespread testing on the same scale as Norway, or the personnel in place to perform the tests. In the rush to find money for his military and his southern wall, Trump has slashed the budgets for human welfare so the money can be spent on two of his pet projects.

Given that there are differences between Norway and the U.S., the latter is much richer and should have all of the same safeguards in place (if not, more), but Trump in his impulsive and uncaring way has run the nation's safeguard agencies into the ground and is preparing to finish off many of them. The people can stop him, if they have the will and this virus may be the catalyst for such action.

Things are looking bad enough that yesterday, the business news website MarketWatch ran an editorial calling for high-ranking public figures to call for Trump's resignation, because he is unable to do the job. Chris Edelson, assistant professor of government in the School of Public Affairs and a fellow with the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies, both at American University, wrote: “It’s painfully obvious that no normal person — let alone any typical president — would respond in the way President Donald Trump has (to the coronavirus)...We may not be able to fix the damage that Trump has already caused, but at least we can stop him from doing any more harm. Public figures ought to be calling on the president to resign from office, to get out of the way and let competent people step in...It is clear even to casual observers that Trump is in over his head and is interested mainly in public messaging that he thinks will mitigate personal political damage to him in an election year...In calling for Trump’s resignation we are refusing to accept the assumption that Trump exists outside of normal rules, and that this is something we simply must accept. We know he isn’t up to the job. The question is whether we, as citizens in a constitutional democracy, are up to ours.”

Enough said.