The fragile truce between Trump and public-health authorities is suddenly on the precipice of coming undone
Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Bloomberg via Getty Images Earlier this month, the White House became aware of studies showing the coronavirus, if unchecked, could kill 2 million Americans, and Trump suddenly reversed his public stance. After having minimized the dangers of the virus, he began promoting social distancing and presenting himself as a “wartime president” who would defeat the “invisible enemy.
But there is also a strong ideological undercurrent to Trump’s reversion. The conservative movement never fully abandoned Trump’s original Pollyannish stance toward the coronavirus, and many conservative intellectuals have spent the last week arguing against the primacy of public health. Supply-side devotees Stephen Moore and Arthur Laffer, close allies of chief Trump economist Lawrence Kudlow, have been “lobbying the White House for more than a week to strongly consider scaling back the recommendation that restaurants, stores and other gathering spots be closed,” according to the Post, which reports that “leading Wall Street and conservative media figures have also embraced the idea.” Trump has gravitated toward these arguments.
Within the administration, the public-health skeptics, led by the supply-siders and their wealthy business allies, have seized influence back from the relative handful of pro-science advisers. The most notable of the latter is Dr. Anthony Fauci, a respected public official who has served under presidents of both parties, and whose recent ascent coincided with Trump’s lurch toward taking the coronavirus seriously.
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