[chrisk]

Nobody should be surprised.  Even a conventional politician, when accused of not doing enough to address a crisis, will point at what he or she did and say "it could have been worse".  While I think the travel ban(s) did diddly squat to protect Americans because they were enacted once there was already community spread in the US (so, akin to shutting the barn door once the horse is already out), if I were in Trump's situation I would be making the very same claim he is.

And, of course, his claim of having saved 1.5 to 2 million lives is not falsifiable.  But it is just as easy to say that we'd be looking at more like 25,000 deaths and milder shutdowns if Trump had taken the threat seriously from the beginning been proactive about testing and tracking, and worked with local officials to craft an adequate response.

BC

If Trump's administration was as effective as Tsai Ing-wen's, the US would have 100 deaths.

[chrisk]

Nobody should be surprised.  Even a conventional politician, when accused of not doing enough to address a crisis, will point at what he or she did and say "it could have been worse".  While I think the travel ban(s) did diddly squat to protect Americans because they were enacted once there was already community spread in the US (so, akin to shutting the barn door once the horse is already out), if I were in Trump's situation I would be making the very same claim he is.

And, of course, his claim of having saved 1.5 to 2 million lives is not falsifiable.  But it is just as easy to say that we'd be looking at more like 25,000 deaths and milder shutdowns if Trump had taken the threat seriously from the beginning been proactive about testing and tracking, and worked with local officials to craft an adequate response.

BC

If Trump's administration was as effective as Tsai Ing-wen's, the US would have 100 deaths.