Who REALLY Was The Bad Guy During The Pandemic?

This was originally posted on April 10th, 2020 under the title No, No, No...He's NOT "Doing a Great Job" With the Coronavirus. With the hysteria over Dr. Fauci asserting his constitutional rights, I thought I'd look in the rear view mirror at Trump's response. 

I could go on all day about different reasons that Trump should have been removed from office following his impeachment, and why he should be voted out of office in November, but his response to the Coronavirus crisis should highlight his incompetence. I know I wrote "should", but for his sycophantic, idiotic, cultic followers, they'll still think he's doing a great job and blame Obama, Pelosi, the Chinese, the media and whoever else ticks him off.

For most of Trump's presidency things have gone fairly well for the economy, at least for some parts of it. Even though not everyone was benefiting, Trump could brag about record high stock market numbers, record low unemployment and regular job creation. Even though anyone who could read a line graph of economic trends since 2008 could see that the positive numbers were simply extensions of Obama-era numbers, and in some cases worse than Obama numbers, his base was satisfied. Despite his belligerence toward our allies and threatening war with both North Korea and Iran, worst case scenarios never came to pass. To many, Trump's incoherence, incompetence and ignorance was simply background noise that didn't affect their daily lives in any meaningful way.

Now we have a problem that can't be bullied into silence by Trump: the Coronavirus. Trump's response to this pandemic has been erratic from the start.

• He played it down as a "Chinese problem" and bragged that it wouldn't effect the United States.
• The CDC was already responding to the possibility of infections in the U.S. in early January and was including warnings about the virus in Trump's daily security briefings. 
• HHS Secretary Azar is finally able to meet with Trump about the virus on January 18th, but Trump wanted to talk about vaping instead. 
• The daily security briefings contained warnings about the danger of a pandemic via the Coronavirus throughout January
• In Trump's first public statement on January 22, he claims that we have it under control and everything is fine. 
• On January 31st Trump finally institutes a partial travel ban on people coming from China. (He later brags that this shows that he took the virus seriously — this was after several airlines had already shut down flights to and from China). 
• Advisers call for a more forceful response; Treasury Secretary Mnuchin objects because of the possible effect on the economy. 
• Throughout February Trump is still insisting that "everything will be fine"
• In late February Trump is still saying it's under control and brags about the stock market
• On March 10, Trump tells the nation to "stay calm, it will go away"
• Trump claims that with only 15 people infected, soon down to zero, "we're doing pretty good"
• Finally Trump declares a national emergency on March 13th
• On March 16th he begins his revisionism and gaslighting by claiming that he never said the virus was under control, but that our response was under control
• Trump starts doing daily doing daily press briefings in the White House Briefing Room (they must have had to clear out the dust and cobwebs first) - despite social distancing concerns, he has his team standing shoulder-to-shoulder on the stage.
• Trump uses these briefings to:
• Promote unapproved treatments for Covid-19
• (One anti-malaria drug that he was pushing later turned out to be harmful when not used for its intended purpose)
• Although he didn't technically promote ingesting bleach, he did seriously suggest that doctors "look in to" injecting disinfectants
• Lied about who he was talking to about injecting disinfectants, incredibly suggesting that he was "sarcastically" addressing reporters "to see what they would do"
• Contradict the few experts on his team
• Lie about airport screenings
• Lie about availability of ventilators and other medical equipment
• Complain about governors who don't sufficiently praise him
• Threaten to refuse to help governors who are mean to him
• Recently he threatened to withhold Covid-19 support from states that had sanctuary cities or did not cooperate with ICE
• Blame Obama for having a "bad" treatment for Covid-19 in storage (Covid-19 did not exist 3 years ago)
• Blame the media for blowing the situation out of proportion
• Also blame the media for not taking the situation seriously enough
• Blame Obama for pretty much every shortcoming of his team
• Claim that he is doing a great job and rates an A+ for his handling of the crisis
• After his supporters blame Democrats for the slow response by distracting him with impeachment, he claims that he couldn't have done a better job, even if there hadn't been an impeachment
• Blame the Democrats for holding up relief bills
• Brag about how well he is doing responding to the challenge
• Turn the briefing into campaign rallies, complete with attacks on the Democrats and the media
• Lie about his daughter's job creation record
• Insult reporters who ask him questions
• Rewrite history by claiming to have done things he had not in fact done and denying saying things for which there is clear video/audio evidence

In short, this is an enormous fuck-up. Certainly there are things that Trump and his team have done right, but the whole goal of his plan for responding to this crisis seems to be making Trump look good and stroking his ego.

In times like this we don't need someone who puts themself at the center, someone who craves adulation and who lies about his shortcomings and failures, we need a leader who will selflessly and compassionately lead. 

From The Politicizing of Public Health, September 4, 2021

In the early days of the Covid-19 outbreak, the medical community was flying blind. No one really knew the best ways to prevent transmission or to treat an infection. Guidance regarding masks and social distancing changed frequently, as new facts came to light. This could have been a moment when politicians of all parties came together for the good of the country, but it was not to be. 

The incompetency of the Trump administration dominated the approach to the pandemic and doomed its execution. Rather than getting all his experts in a room and agreeing on a strategy, Trump simultaneously abdicated any responsibility for a federal response and narcissistically took on his usual "only I can fix this" persona.  Infectious disease experts and epidemiologists were trotted out to make public statements and shortly undermined by ignorant pronouncements by Trump. Rather than lead by crafting a consensus, he sowed doubt of medical experts' views among his followers. At the same time, he insisted that the on-the-ground response be left to the states, who he undermined as well by suggesting that his followers "liberate" states where governors issued mask mandates or shutdowns of businesses. All the while he took credit when things went well and excoriated others when they didn't. By giving his own ego and image priority over public safety he set the stage for the widespread skepticism of the main "win" in the fight against Covid-19: the fast development of a Covid vaccine. 

The damage had been done. Rather than elation that a vaccine was now available, enabling businesses to open and make people safer, disinformation about the vaccine itself began to circulate, with ridiculous claims about how the vaccine was more harmful that the virus itself. While the last time I checked, a majority of adults had been vaccinated, it's a slim majority, less than 55%, with some states significantly less than 50%. And many of the anti-vaxxers are not content to quietly pass up a vaccination, but loudly and obnoxiously rage against vaccinations and those who champion them. And because infections and deaths are rising, predominantly among the unvaccinated, masks mandates are back, concerts and other large events are being cancelled, and businesses are suffering. The skeptics are now insisting that masks don't work, when the use of masks coupled with social distancing and hygienic practices corresponded with the reduction in infection and deaths. How different would things have been if then-President Trump had actually lead, by expressing confidence in his experts and coordinating with the states instead of knee capping them? We'll never know, but I strongly suspect that many of those politically opposed to the vaccine would be first in line for the needle. 

Added August 10, 2026:

With all the focus by the Republican Congressional majority and by anti-vaxxers in general, on Dr. Fauci, it somehow escapes them that Dr. Fauci was just an advisor. Whatever opinions could be dreamed up about the quality of his advice, the buck didn't stop with him. I give Trump credit for pushing to get a vaccine ready and available in record time, but most of what he did and said worsened the problem. Senator Rand Paul and his conspiracy theorist fellow travelers aren't looking for the truth, they're looking for a scapegoat.