Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

The Trump administration, constantly seeking scapegoats for its own failings, has now begun to nonsensically chastise the World Health Organization. President Donald Trump claimed on Tuesday that the international organization was wrong in every aspect of the coronavirus pandemic. He said at a White House press conference "They really called, I would say, every aspect of it wrong."

In my opinion, WHO is deemed wrong because it has been too rigid and rigorous regarding scientific evidence. When faced with novel coronavirus, a virus previously unknown to humans, and still unknown to many, it was important that the WHO used evidence when it spoke. As a result, WHO's science based knowledge of viruses tends to slow the spread of a virus.

Not so with Trump, who spent the whole of February saying the outbreak wasn't at all serious. But after the outbreak worsened in March, he suddenly changed his mind, saying he had known for a long time that the outbreak was serious.

In the presence of this President who claims himself a "stable genius", any scientist or institution that has been tracking and trying to slow COVID-19 from the start must have been wrong. Why should scientists take the time to understand a virus that is so cunning and dangerous? The US top leader doesn't need a learning curve. He can simply edit any timeline. With a few choice sentences he can tamper with history, wipe out all his negligence, and make himself a prophet.

The WHO announced on January 30 that COVID-19 had become a public health crisis of global concern "a day before the United States secretary of health and human services announced the country's own public health emergency and weeks before President Trump declared a national emergency," the New York Times reported. While the WHO announced that COVID-19 had become pandemic on March 11, it took six days before Trump made a similar statement. Yet, Trump is bold enough to declare that he wasn't wrong - the WHO was.

Trump is not the only "stable genius" in the US. Republican politicians and conservative media spent all February saying COVID-19 was no more serious than the seasonal flu. Elites in Washington shamelessly blame others for the consequences of their ignorance and arrogance. They will never reflect on their own terrible mistakes.

Finally, the WHO actually did get something else wrong, when it announced on January 30 that while COVID-19 was a public health crisis of global concern, it was more worried about low- and middle-income countries.

The organization that is in charge of the global public health didn't realize that "stable geniuses" are running the US. It didn't realize that developed countries such as the US could also completely mess up their virus control measures.

The author is a freelance writer based in Beijing. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn