[oregontim]

I assume we'd all agree the pandemic was inevitable and we can't start blaming Trump or any other public officials for the inevitable component of what's happened. The whole world was doomed to cases, deaths, and economic impact from when the virus got out.

However, it's also reasonable to try to parse out the impact of our government's response. I have no doubt that both the deaths and the economic impact were made that much worse by response from the top. Including:

• The president's failure to understand and lead during February and early March. He did treat it as a hoax and tried to minimize. The video evidence is there. He focused for weeks on keeping the Dow Jones Index safe.
  
• The delay in testing and PPE, corruption and disruption in the supply chains. The son-in-law. The competition for scarce goods. The lack of national policy and management. The wavering.
  
• The April-May and continuing incompetence in messaging and consistency. The president featuring his hunches.
  
• The ongoing attack on experts, IGs, dissenters, and scientific advice.
  

And so on. We can compare the deaths and economic cost we have to what there might have been had we had optimal national leadership during the pandemic. Of course we'll never really know because the "might have been" numbers will always just be guessing. My guess is that the difference is substantial.

[oregontim]

I assume we'd all agree the pandemic was inevitable and we can't start blaming Trump or any other public officials for the inevitable component of what's happened. The whole world was doomed to cases, deaths, and economic impact from when the virus got out.

However, it's also reasonable to try to parse out the impact of our government's response. I have no doubt that both the deaths and the economic impact were made that much worse by response from the top. Including:

• The president's failure to understand and lead during February and early March. He did treat it as a hoax and tried to minimize. The video evidence is there. He focused for weeks on keeping the Dow Jones Index safe.
  
• The delay in testing and PPE, corruption and disruption in the supply chains. The son-in-law. The competition for scarce goods. The lack of national policy and management. The wavering.
  
• The April-May and continuing incompetence in messaging and consistency. The president featuring his hunches.
  
• The ongoing attack on experts, IGs, dissenters, and scientific advice.
  

And so on. We can compare the deaths and economic cost we have to what there might have been had we had optimal national leadership during the pandemic. Of course we'll never really know because the "might have been" numbers will always just be guessing. My guess is that the difference is substantial.