I think there’s a few things going on.

On one side, you have Americans that have deep-rooted anti-intellectualism. You see this as the myriad of anti-woke, anti-vax, anti-science attitudes. These ideas aren’t grounded in anything useful or real, but leaders in the far-right find these attitudes useful in various ways for pushing their cause. I don’t think there’s an actual goal of promoting disease necessarily… it’s more that the further right-wingers can push people into extreme points of view, the easier it is to keep them there. It wouldn’t surprise me if a lot of drivel in the anti-woke/anti-science sphere today became popular due to clickbait engagement, though, this movement has been promoted generally by the right wing for a long time.

I also wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some aspect of foreign influence going on as well. Russia has been working for decades at destabilizing the US. The spreading of disease here would definitely work towards that goal, so long as it doesn’t generate a new pandemic that might bite them too.

I think it’s more about finding something that clearly gets under his skin.

Weird that name-calling is that thing, but I guess it makes sense given how much time he seems to spend crafting names for other people.

The point? I think he expected the world leaders to come bearing personal gifts and favors. Trade some of the US’s global position and power for his own personal wealth and power? I don’t have proof, but it would be on-brand for Trump.

He’s also surrounded himself with yes-men and crazy people (e.g. Navarro). He clearly has an elementary understanding (at best) of economics. Money good. China bad. Money go to China bad (trade imbalance). Tariffs keep money here.

Combine all that with the fact that he never admits responsibility for anything. When China pushed back, he retaliated. When they stopped participating, it leaves us in a stalemate that I believe will hurt us a lot more than them.

So, I think the trade imbalance is the justification. The goal is likely just personal power for Trump. But he doesn’t really know what he’s doing, doesn’t care to learn, just thinking he’s the greatest being in existence and everything bad is not his fault.