In an interview with Agence France-Presse released Monday, renowned author Noam Chomsky again took aim at Donald Trump and his leadership amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed over 98,000 Americans.
“There’s no coherent leadership,” Chomsky said. “It’s chaotic. The presidency, the White House, is in the hands of a sociopathic megalomaniac who’s interested in nothing but his own power, electoral prospects — doesn’t care what happens to the country, the world.”
Chomsky pointed to the backseat role Trump’s federal government has taken amid the pandemic and suggested that he cares for nothing but “his personal power and gain.”
“Of course he has to maintain the support of his primary constituency, which is great wealth and corporate power,” the professor continued.
When pressed about how the pandemic is shaping the political landscape in the United States, Chomsky pointed to Trump’s decision to “dismantle the entire pandemic prevention machinery” that was put into place by Barack Obama .
“At the start, defunding the Center for Disease Control, which would deal with this. And canceling programs that were working with Chinese scientists to identify potential viruses. So the US was singularly unprepared.”
Although he acknowledged the wealth and advantages that America brings, he also claimed it’s under the control of private entities. He said Europe is worse than the States in many ways, but still has a social-democratic structure that the U.S. does not.
The 91-year-old also expressed his belief that the pandemic is not the most significant threat facing the planet. According to the linguist, the consequences of global warming — such as the rising sea levels and melting of polar ice caps — are a much more pressing issue.
Chomsky previously spoke to The Guardian about Trump and accused him of deliberately cutting funding for various programs that help the public while increasing profits and corporate power for him and his allies. When asked if the president is responsible for American deaths, Chomsky said yes, and suggested his influence extends beyond American borders. For example, he pointed to Trump’s decision to freeze payments to the World Health Organization and said it would spark deaths in Yemen and across Africa.
As The Inquisitr previously reported, Chomsky believes that Trump is working with the Republican Party to destroy democracy and maintain power over the country. Outside of America’s leaders, he pointed to Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro as another politician Chomsky believes carries the same destructive goals. All of these figures, he said, are laying the groundwork for the future landscape of the world.
