[Goose]

But this has come up before. Others on this forum are convinced that we are as a citizenry so much less "compliant" than Canada and Australia that this disaster would have happened even under other leadership. We can only guess on that one. It's hypothetical. But we can be pretty sure that our president made this all much worse. IMO.

I would agree with your opinion that our president made it worse. How much worse is in most ways also hypothetical IMO. What I think we can say for sure is that the president did not present a picture of a competent leader. Disagreeing with his own experts is a horrible message to send to the population. Under other presidents, that wouldn't have happened. That is not because the president always agreed with the experts, but rather because  they would mutually agree upon and stay on message. While that would make us all feel much better (i.e. we are competently led), it may or may not result in markedly better outcomes.
If POTUS was more competent his "point of view" (whatever it actually is) might have prevailed to a larger extent than it has. Thank goodness that was not the case. If the POTUS was a stronger leader in a particular direction, would the state governors have behaved differently? That is hypothetical too, but IMO it would not have changed their actions significantly. Serious mistakes have been made (and continue to be made) by governors of both parties. Both Cuomo and Newsom have done things that I believe were errors, and certainly they weren't following Trump. Abbott and DeSantis may have been, but there is plenty of evidence these guys were "that way" without any help. Ducey supposedly saw himself as the "next Trump", so there may be some traction there. OTOH if that's how you see yourself, things may not go well anyway.

[Goose]

But this has come up before. Others on this forum are convinced that we are as a citizenry so much less "compliant" than Canada and Australia that this disaster would have happened even under other leadership. We can only guess on that one. It's hypothetical. But we can be pretty sure that our president made this all much worse. IMO.

I would agree with your opinion that our president made it worse. How much worse is in most ways also hypothetical IMO. What I think we can say for sure is that the president did not present a picture of a competent leader. Disagreeing with his own experts is a horrible message to send to the population. Under other presidents, that wouldn't have happened. That is not because the president always agreed with the experts, but rather because  they would mutually agree upon and stay on message. While that would make us all feel much better (i.e. we are competently led), it may or may not result in markedly better outcomes.
If POTUS was more competent his "point of view" (whatever it actually is) might have prevailed to a larger extent than it has. Thank goodness that was not the case. If the POTUS was a stronger leader in a particular direction, would the state governors have behaved differently? That is hypothetical too, but IMO it would not have changed their actions significantly. Serious mistakes have been made (and continue to be made) by governors of both parties. Both Cuomo and Newsom have done things that I believe were errors, and certainly they weren't following Trump. Abbott and DeSantis may have been, but there is plenty of evidence these guys were "that way" without any help. Ducey supposedly saw himself as the "next Trump", so there may be some traction there. OTOH if that's how you see yourself, things may not go well anyway.