"The Trump Pandemic"

There have been, and will continue to be, articles on how moron vector Donald "COVID Donnie" Trump caused unnecessary death and privation due to his incompetence (see Morning Reading below, and also here and here, for example).  As weary as some of us may be becoming reviewing the lies, bungles, and self- dealing that got us to this place, this piece by Will Saletan is as well-researched and documented as any so far and should be part of any contemporaneous historical record.  Here's just a snippet, but please read the full article (our emphasis):

Trump has always been malignant and incompetent. As president, he has coasted on economic growth, narrowly averted crises of his own making, and corrupted the government in ways that many Americans could ignore. But in the pandemic, his vices—venality, dishonesty, self-absorption, dereliction, heedlessness—turned deadly. They produced lies, misjudgments, and destructive interventions that multiplied the carnage. The coronavirus debacle isn’t, as Trump protests, an “artificial problem” that spoiled his presidency. It’s the fulfillment of everything he is.

Then follows a detailed narrative of Trump's manifold failures to protect the American people, while at the same time working hard to protect his own orange hide.  Saletan concludes:

It’s hard to believe one person could get so many things wrong or do so much damage. But that’s what happened. Trump knew we weren’t ready for a pandemic, but he didn’t prepare. He knew China was hiding the extent of the crisis, but he joined in the cover-up. He knew the virus was spreading in the United States, but he said it was vanishing. He knew we wouldn’t find it without more tests, but he said we didn’t need them. He delayed mitigation. He derided masks. He tried to silence anyone who told the truth. And in the face of multiple warnings, he pushed the country back open, reigniting the spread of the disease.

Now Trump asks us to reelect him. “We had the greatest economy in the history of the world,” he told Fox News on Wednesday. “Then we got hit with the plague from China.” But now, he promised, “We’re building it again.” In Trump’s story, the virus is a foreign intrusion, an unpleasant interlude, a stroke of bad luck. But when you stand back and look at the full extent of his role in the catastrophe, it’s amazing how lucky we were. For three years, we survived the most ruthless, reckless, dishonest president in American history. Then our luck ran out.

Maybe our luck will turn 85 days from now, but only if a blue tsunami washes over this malignant moron and his rotted out party.  We've got work to do.

(Image:  "It is what it is"/  Doug Mills, New York Times)