[oregontim]

Should Trump get credit for something any American president would do?

His supporters believe that he shouldn't get the blame for COVID-19 since that would have happened to any other president.  Ultimately, I have no idea what would have happened under a President Clinton or a President Rubio, so I have to give him credit for the things he does that result in good outcomes and blame for the things he does (or doesn't do) that result in bad outcomes.

BC

I've been using some simple math: if we have 4% of the world's population, and 20% of it's Covid deaths, then it seems reasonable to say we have five times (20/4) more Covid deaths than we would have had with rest-of-the-world level of national response. One fifth of our 210K Covid deaths would be 42K. I blame Trump for 210K-42K, so 168K.

Of course I realize that's over simplification. And it's cheating to give what seems like an exact number, 168K, for what is a collection of estimates and assumptions that could really be better stated as "about 150K" or "more than 100K."

The key underlying assumption here is that the criminal negligence of the executive branch of the federal government, which is all about the difference between Donald Trump and any other president we've ever had or (I fondly hope) will have, is to blame for our national failure.

And as I write this, he keeps proving my point. He's now telling everybody to stop worrying about it and ignore it. From the bully pulpit of the white house.

[oregontim]

Should Trump get credit for something any American president would do?

His supporters believe that he shouldn't get the blame for COVID-19 since that would have happened to any other president.  Ultimately, I have no idea what would have happened under a President Clinton or a President Rubio, so I have to give him credit for the things he does that result in good outcomes and blame for the things he does (or doesn't do) that result in bad outcomes.

BC

I've been using some simple math: if we have 4% of the world's population, and 20% of it's Covid deaths, then it seems reasonable to say we have five times (20/4) more Covid deaths than we would have had with rest-of-the-world level of national response. One fifth of our 210K Covid deaths would be 42K. I blame Trump for 210K-42K, so 168K.

Of course I realize that's over simplification. And it's cheating to give what seems like an exact number, 168K, for what is a collection of estimates and assumptions that could really be better stated as "about 150K" or "more than 100K."

The key underlying assumption here is that the criminal negligence of the executive branch of the federal government, which is all about the difference between Donald Trump and any other president we've ever had or (I fondly hope) will have, is to blame for our national failure.

And as I write this, he keeps proving my point. He's now telling everybody to stop worrying about it and ignore it. From the bully pulpit of the white house.