No one has blamed Trump for the virus or suggested that the large percentage of deaths could have been avoided had he acted differently. We are not an authoritarian country whose political system would have tolerated a complete China-type lockdown. However, even Trump’s own advisors acknowledge that a stronger initial response at the NATIONAL level in terms of closures of high-risk activities, immediate invocation of the DPA to coordinate production and distribution of PPE, setting an example by having the President and his team wear masks and practice social distancing etc. would have reduce the numbers of those infected and the death rate. Instead, the non-stop “happy talk” of “the virus will just disappear” etc. and boasting about not wearing a mask and mocking those who did, organizing indoor and outdoor rallies contrary to his own Task Force advice and pushing to “reopen” even when CDC guidelines on reopening have not been met has further polarized Americans and caused more deaths. Its not just Trump. Cuomo’s stupid guidelines on moving covid victims back to nursing homes from hospitals and other governors who tried to imitate the Trumpkopf also share the blame. The country could have done much better than it has.
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