The Preexisting Condition in the Oval Office

David Remick: “The pandemic is an event in the natural history of our species, but it is also a political episode. Its trajectory is shaped by policy measures specific to particular governments. The fact that the United States is experiencing tremendous losses—that it has far more COVID-19 cases than any other country in the world—relates to a number of collective risk factors and preexisting conditions. The most notable one is to be found in the Oval Office…”

“The coronavirus has inflicted a level of pain that is deep and global. And yet many nations, from South Korea to Germany, have done far better at responding to it than the United States has. The reasons for the American failing include a lack of preparation, delayed mobilization, insufficient testing, and a reluctance to halt travel. The Administration, from its start, has waged war on science and expertise and on what Trump’s former adviser Steve Bannon called ‘the administrative state.’ The results are all around us. Trump has made sure that a great nation is peculiarly vulnerable to a foreseeable public-health calamity.”