QandA: ‘Compare our Covid response to the US’s’, says Kim Hoggard

Monday night’s panellists on ABC’s QandA discussed the upcoming US presidential election, starting with the recent death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

US-born author Cole Brown on Monday’s QandA.

Monday night’s panellists on ABC’s QandA discussed the upcoming US presidential election, starting with the recent death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Cole Brown, an author who was born and raised in Philadelphia, said the Supreme Court vacancy left by Ms Ginsburg could dramatically reshape the presidential race as US President Donald Trump makes moves to fill it.

“It’s hugely consequential,” he said. “The two justices Trump has put on the court already, both replaced pre-existing conservative judges. This is one where he would be able to flip. He would be able to appoint a conservative one.”

A former adviser to Ronald Reagan, Kim Hoggard, said Mr Trump’s presidency was not a normal one, saying she could not recall any former US president who “incited people, inflamed a situation, liberated their states or locked them up”.

She said she could see Mr Trump “ratcheting up the rhetoric” in the event of a contested outcome through his campaign of creating distrust around the US’s election system.

“He’s done it to such an extent that the Republican Party had to ask him to stop because so many of his base were going to vote in person and it was going to be difficult during COVID for that to be done,” Ms Hoggard said. “It could cost him votes.”

The debate then moved on to the recent Black Lives Matter protests, which began in May following the death of George Floyd during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Brown said the use of the term “riots” to describe the demonstrations was a “fallacy”, arguing that between 93 and 95 per cent of them had been peaceful.

“This understanding that there are certain cities that are rife with violence, amid these BLM protests, is really just as a result of a president who is lagging behind in the polls attempting to elevate law and order and spreading this narrative is fundamentally untrue,” he said.

Journalist and former Washington correspondent Kylie Morris said during her time covering the 2016 election the majority of people who were voting for Mr Trump were conservatives “who simply wanted lower taxes” who were disinterested in the drama associated with him.

“Even though they might not have liked the drama or uncertainty, they liked the idea that the Republicans after the election won the House, the Senate and the White House, he could get things done,” she said.

“For the people who supported him, he has delivered what they wanted.”

Ms Morris said the more chaotic Mr Trump is, “the more delight there is amongst his base”.

Next, Mr Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic came under scrutiny, to which author and Liberal Party insider John Ruddick said the President of the US, which has lost 200,000 lives since the virus broke out, “shoots his mouth off” by claiming the virus will “miraculously go away”.

“A lot of people have said we want a non-politician as the president. We got one. He’s not a polished speaker. People know what’s in his heart,” he said.

Mr Ruddick continued by asking the other panellists why it is Mr Trump’s fault for the US’s high infection rate and huge death toll, to which Ms Hoggard responded by reminding Mr Ruddick that Mr Trump has himself said” “I am not responsible.”

“He has abdicated his responsibility and handling of this and left it to all of the states to come up with some sort of solution,” she said.

“You compare that with Australia, where you have to hand it to Scott Morrison. He learned his lesson after the bushfires. He got his act together. He called together a national cabinet. And they attacked this thing. Together, non-partisan. No politics involved.

“It’s breaking down a little bit because of the pressure of the months and months of this but people are working hard in a non-partisan manner and that is to be commended in this country. And I hope Australians will be proud of that. But Americans are not proud of the response that they’ve had.”

Brown said democracy in the US had declined and that the “descent into fascism and chaos”, while gradual, could be the path Mr Trump was taking.

“Hitler obviously has been mentioned. It is a major and extreme example,” he said.

“But what’s happening right now and what you’re seeing day in and day out is Donald Trump sort of dismantling democracy.”

Former first lady White House press officer and Trump supporter Barbara Heineback said while she has mostly voted with the Democrats, she feels “the Democratic Party has left me”.

“We had a Democratic convention a couple of weeks ago, after May 25, that’s when George Floyd was killed and held down for 8 1/2 minutes, he was killed, and from May 25, right through the Democratic Convention, not one word,” she said.

“That was the third week in August, a couple of weeks ago, not one mention of the demonstrations and all of the terror that it has caused in so many cities with no mention of it at all.”

While the US’s relationship with China will be on the agenda of both the Republicans and Democrats, Ms Hoggard said managing Beijing will come down to the strategy adopted by each administration.

“How effective are you going to be if you’re going to be tough? You have to be strategic and you have to recognise Chinese culture,” she said.

“How effective they are at doing it, whether it’s the strong men tactic, up against another strong man, President Trump probably won’t have the backing within his own Republican Party to be able to do that effectively.”