[chrisk]

In 1979, Iranians revolted and took American hostages in the US embassy in Tehran.  The fact that this was clearly an action taken by Iranian hardliners didn't absolve Jimmy Carter from mismanaging the hostage crisis, for which voters held him to account a year later.

However much culpability you want to assign China (and whether or not the virus originated in the institute of virology, the Chinese Communist Party has a lot to answer to) is irrelevant ; the response here has been pathetic at the federal level, and I firmly believe that the leaders who insisted that it was going to go away while cases started mounting should be voted out in November.

BC

That's just about all of them. 

I don't think the type of lockdown of the scale in which we are participating now was politically possible back in January. It requires a political will and public awareness that just wasn't there. The fact that there was no awareness owes much to Chinese disinformation.

Taiwan started early and competently, so they didn’t let the virus get out of control and require going from containment to mitigation phase. They are already playing basketball and baseball in Taiwan. It didn’t have to be like it is in the US. It was a lack of competence and political will. Sometimes, the America First meme gets tiresome. The US can learn a lot from other countries. That’s something Trump apologists are unable to grasp.

[chrisk]

In 1979, Iranians revolted and took American hostages in the US embassy in Tehran.  The fact that this was clearly an action taken by Iranian hardliners didn't absolve Jimmy Carter from mismanaging the hostage crisis, for which voters held him to account a year later.

However much culpability you want to assign China (and whether or not the virus originated in the institute of virology, the Chinese Communist Party has a lot to answer to) is irrelevant ; the response here has been pathetic at the federal level, and I firmly believe that the leaders who insisted that it was going to go away while cases started mounting should be voted out in November.

BC

That's just about all of them. 

I don't think the type of lockdown of the scale in which we are participating now was politically possible back in January. It requires a political will and public awareness that just wasn't there. The fact that there was no awareness owes much to Chinese disinformation.

Taiwan started early and competently, so they didn’t let the virus get out of control and require going from containment to mitigation phase. They are already playing basketball and baseball in Taiwan. It didn’t have to be like it is in the US. It was a lack of competence and political will. Sometimes, the America First meme gets tiresome. The US can learn a lot from other countries. That’s something Trump apologists are unable to grasp.