Trump has put in place a de facto hold on funds to the @who, requiring agencies to obtain what appears to be ⁦ @WhiteHouse⁩ clearance, which will cause needless delays & mean cuts at the worst possible time. A thread on why this is sheer madness: https://www.politico.eu/article/coronavirus-donald-trump-team-ramps-up-scrutiny-of-funds-to-world-health-organization/

. @WHO needs $$ to urgently scale up in poor nations where #COVID is arriving&where death toll likely huge. @BillGates warns of some 10 mlln possible deaths in Africa. Trump may not care abt African lives, but he cares abt return to normalcy here-not poss when C19 raging elsewhere

See my @Nytimes op-Ed on how walls can’t protect us from large-scale outbreak in developing countries, as we are linked via family ties, global supply chains, and trading relations: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/opinion/coronavirus-united-states-leadership.html

Trump is desperate to find someone to blame. He’s seeing his plummeting approval ratings and he’s panicking. He has lashed out at other nations, at state governors, and now @WHO. But the problem is that he is criticizing the WHO for actions & statements that mirror his own:

As I tweeted at the time, it was hugely problematic for @WHO to flatter Chinese officials for their response to #COVID when Beijing was in fact covering up vital info and denying other countries, @CDCgov & @WHO the thorough access & knowledge they needed to prepare. But Trump...

...himself offered fawning praise of Pres. Xi, on Jan 24 tweeting that “China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus,” & the comforting assurance, “It will all work out well.” Trump ended his tweet, “On behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!”

As was true w/Ebola, @WHO was VERY late in declaring global emergency, doing so only March 11. But part of what was (wrongly) influencing WHO was Trump who was then still downplaying the virus. On March 9, after 22 US deaths, Trump cited “common flu” says to minimize C19 risk...

On March 10, the day before @WHO’s belated emergency declaration, @realDonaldTrump met with @GOP senators and said afterwards, “We’re doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm.” And

...although it now feels like a decade ago, it was only on March 16 (5 days AFTER @WHO emergency declaration) that Trump announced new social distancing guidelines, warned the outbreak could last until July or August, and said he told his son who asked how bad it was, “It’s bad.“

. @WHO is more “China-centric” (Trump’s charge) than in the past. But that’s largely bc/ the US has checked out. Sure, Trump has funded WHO, but his contempt for science and international cooperation meant the US vacated leadership, leaving Beijing(far smaller donor) w/more juice.

Just when developing nations are abt to be ravaged beyond anything we’ve seen yet, Trump thinks attacks on @WHO will help improve his falling domestic standing. In fact, US mobilization of international cooperation is the only way this ends at home. WHO cuts make that far harder.

Correction: see caps - “..WHO was very late in declaring PANDEMIC, doing so only March 11..” & “WHO’s belated PANDEMIC declaration.” Rushing, I wrote “emergency” instead, which of course WHO declared Jan 30, signaling C19 “potentially require[d] a coordinated internatl response.”