[Genuine Realist]

Might I humbly suggest we refrain from discussion of the November election.  It's one thing to discuss the administration's response, but once we start talking electoral politics, I'm afraid we are going to very quickly devolve into dangerous territory.  Let's just stipulate that some of us think Trump is incompetent and it's demonstrated in the pandemic response and will show in the November election.  Others of us think he's done as good a job as he can under the circumstances and that in any case the other candidate will be worse.

BC

My apologies to Teejers and BC for imprecision. I agree that the handling of the virus will be the ONLY issue on the 2020 election, and Trump - not Biden - will win or lose on it. What I meant was that looking for issues by micromanaging in hindsight the development of the crisis in January and February isn't going to get you anywhere. Almost no one in the Western world  had the foresight to see what is so obvious in retrospect. Even if it had existed, the political will and popular acceptance was completely missing. What the public accepts now was impossible before mid-March.

With that, I'm done on this line. I agree with BC that discussion of the event in connection with the elections should be kept to a minimum. It tends to take over.

[Genuine Realist]

Might I humbly suggest we refrain from discussion of the November election.  It's one thing to discuss the administration's response, but once we start talking electoral politics, I'm afraid we are going to very quickly devolve into dangerous territory.  Let's just stipulate that some of us think Trump is incompetent and it's demonstrated in the pandemic response and will show in the November election.  Others of us think he's done as good a job as he can under the circumstances and that in any case the other candidate will be worse.

BC

My apologies to Teejers and BC for imprecision. I agree that the handling of the virus will be the ONLY issue on the 2020 election, and Trump - not Biden - will win or lose on it. What I meant was that looking for issues by micromanaging in hindsight the development of the crisis in January and February isn't going to get you anywhere. Almost no one in the Western world  had the foresight to see what is so obvious in retrospect. Even if it had existed, the political will and popular acceptance was completely missing. What the public accepts now was impossible before mid-March.

With that, I'm done on this line. I agree with BC that discussion of the event in connection with the elections should be kept to a minimum. It tends to take over.