President Trump has catastrophically underreacted to the coronavirus, writes jonathanchait
Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images When one of Donald Trump’s incriminating confessions is reported in the news media, and audio tape makes the claim impossible to deny, the only recourse is to construct a defense. Trump’s confession to Bob Woodward that he “wanted to always play [the coronavirus] down” is especially challenging to defend, but the president has come up with his line: He was just trying to forestall panic.
Obviously the idea that Trump is, or ever has been, guided by a desire to soothe the public and maintain a steady hand on the ship of state is ludicrous on its face. The president who routinely communicates in ALL-CAPS TWEETS and warns Americans that their placid communities are about to be overrun with minorities and anarchist mobs is obsessed with fomenting panic.
A world in which the president had to guard against overreaction to the coronavirus has no relation to the actual reality. In the actual history we are living through, Trump has catastrophically underreacted to the coronavirus. The president ignored or silenced his scientific advisers, failed to organize a plan, and undermined the leaders who were working around him by attacking social-distancing guidelines and even staging his own superspreader events.
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