Nicholas Kristof
25 October 2020
The U.S. now is setting new single-day records for new coronavirus cases, with hospitalizations also soaring and deaths rising again. The Dakotas and rural America are now suffering the highest infection rates. So what went wrong? Whose fault is this? I have an investigation running in today’s Times that attempts to assess responsibility. I say that George W. Bush gets considerable credit, for beginning in 2005 he pushed the government to develop a pandemic preparedness plan that anticipated many of today’s problems. Unfortunately, the plan was not followed. China bungled initially, and so did the agencies and local leaders, but experts say the largest fault lies with President Trump. They also say that while other countries erred and then corrected, Trump still has not developed a Covid strategy (other than a vaccine, which they say he has done a reasonably good job accelerating). He continues to downplay the virus and continues to marginalize epidemiologists while elevating charlatans (like Dr. Scott Atlas, the MRI expert now shaping the pandemic response). Historically, the prime example of a leader bungling an epidemic was President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, for his denialism about AIDS cost 300,000 lives. And now, the experts say, Trump is America’s Mbeki: https://nyti.ms/3koDfnA Read and share your thoughts.