Trump And Johnson's 'Anti-Globalization' Approach To Coronavirus Crisis

Donald Trump, Boris Johnson — President Donald Trump shakes hands with British Minister of Foreign Affairs Boris Johnson during the "Reforming the United Nations: Management, Security, and Development" meeting during the United Nations General Assembly, Monday, Sept. 18, 2017, in New York.

Hannah Uebele is a producer for Under the Radar with Callie Crossley and previously worked as associate producer for Boston Public Radio. She graduated from Tufts University with a B.S. in English and Environmental Studies. She's a proud Delawarean but has found herself saying "wicked" more and more often, so the Bostonian metamorphosis is well underway.Contact: hannah_uebele@wgbh.org

March 30, 2020

Updated August 07, 2023

WGBH News Analyst Charlie Sennott spoke with Boston Public Radio on Monday about President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Boris Johnson's similarities in handling the coronavirus crisis.

"What's similar is how cavalier both Trump and Boris Johnson were in the very early phase of this, sort of dismissing it as media hype," he said. "They were dismissing the whole WHO and the EU's warnings, and putting the coronavirus in this framework, which they share, which is a nativist, anti-globalization approach."

Trump and Johnson's anti-globalist instinct is dangerous, Sennott noted.

"The anti-globalist, populist, nativist streak runs counter to the moment we're in, which is that we have to think globally," he said. "We have to think about the role government will play in solving this crisis."

Charlie Sennott is a WGBH News Analyst and executive director of The GroundTruth Project.