| On Feb. 24, President Donald Trump tweeted praise for the World Health Organization, saying it was "working hard and very smart" with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "The coronavirus is very much under control in the USA," he said. This week his tune changed. With more than 24,000 deaths and upwards of 600,000 confirmed cases in the U.S., the world's worst outbreak of the pandemic, Trump moved to cut off funding for the WHO, saying it was responsible for "so much death." Trump's central accusation is that the UN agency has been too deferential to China, where the outbreak was first identified. In January, as the virus spread in and around the city of Wuhan, the WHO stood by the country's leadership and praised its efforts to bottle up the virus, including unprecedented lockdowns. The organization initially held off on declaring an international health emergency or a pandemic before later reversing course as the illness spread beyond China's borders.  WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Photographer: Stefan Wermuth/Bloomberg It's fair to question the WHO's actions, as well as Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus's ties to Beijing. The agency's record includes missteps in dealing with previous health crises, including Ebola. Yet Trump, too, was pulling his punches back in January, praising China's response to the coronavirus. Later he pivoted, cutting off flights from the Asian country and ramping up his criticism—all while insisting that things were very much under control in the U.S. Now, with the crisis deepening at home, he's found a new punching bag in the WHO. With an election ahead, politicization of the virus is sure to intensify. As polls show that Americans have growing concerns about the president's handling of the crisis, Trump is trying to put a face on the invisible opponent he's running against.—Eric Pfanner | 
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