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What happened at the World Health Organization?
President Donald Trump is threatening to cut off funding to the WHO over its handling of the COVID-19 outbreak. On the Hill, Republican senators are calling for an investigation into whether China somehow manipulated the organization.
What went wrong, and what happens next? Here are three arguments to consider:
1. The organization did rely on China’s word in the early days—at a huge cost. “Inherent structural problems at the WHO do make the organization vulnerable to misinformation and political influence,” our national-security staff writer Kathy Gilsinan reports.
2. But the group shouldn’t become a plaything for great powers. “President Trump’s [call to defund] is precisely the kind of political bullying that contributed to the WHO’s missteps,” Zeynep Tufekci argues.
3. Trump is simply trying to distract from his own failures. “Cutting off money to the WHO is not about policy,” writes Graeme Wood. “It is misdirection.”
Meanwhile, in the presidential race …