Trump Threatens Permanent WHO Funding Cut
Evan Vucci/AP
We ran the numbers: There are 2861 news articles covering this topic. 52% (1480) are left leaning, 30% (864) center, 18% (517) right leaning.
In a four-page letter to the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Trump said he is giving the WHO 30 days to commit to substantial changes in how it operates, or he will make his hold on U.S. funding permanent. While left-leaning articles highlight that Trump’s letter was criticized by numerous experts, right-leaning articles support Trump’s decision to continue withholding funding from the WHO.
CNN published a left-leaning article reporting that Trump has increasingly blamed others, including China and the WHO, amid scrutiny of his own administration’s response to the pandemic. Trump’s letter was criticized by numerous experts, who stressed the need for global cooperation, and European leaders announced messages for support for the WHO while speaking at the World Health Assembly.
NPR published a centrist article highlighting that Trump lodged a number of complaints against Tedros in the letter, including an accusation that Tedros should have declared the coronavirus a public health emergency of international concern before January 30. In response to Trump’s letter, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Trump was “trying to mislead the public, smear China’s efforts and shift the blame of U.S. incompetence to others.”
A right-leaning article by Fox News highlights that White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany told “Fox and Friends” on Tuesday that it is definite at the moment that President Trump will withhold funding from the WHO for another 30 days. McEnany also questioned why the WHO is so supportive of China and not the United States, who gives more money to the WHO than China.