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The huge mistake made by the prior administration wasn't about policy. It was turning the government pandemic response into a front in the culture war.
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Agreed.
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It was Trump's mistake, a function of his own schizophrenia about whether he wanted to run the government or foster grievances about it. Because he couldn't really control himself, he did both at different times. Whatever you think of the administration's policy, it was undoubtedly undercut by conservatives who railed against masks, virtue-signaled by superspreading, questioned the science, etc. If Trump had been able to resist his own impulses, maybe he could have gotten re-elected. He certainly cost lives, killed jobs and wasted money.
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A friend whose parent worked for Nixon, Ford, and Bushes I and II said it best: If he'd adopted masks early on, he could have sold a million red ones with Trump or MAGA on them, and from that free advertising, and having done the smart and cautious thing, he'd probably be President today.
Trump's war on masks might be the greatest political strategy blunder in history.
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Was the virus ever going to be "contained"? That's the wrong question. It's like not studying for the bar exam, failing it, and then saying, well, was I ever going to get a perfect score?
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That's a facile analogy. A more honest one would be having an incredibly complex event that hasn't occurred in a century unfold, responding to it in a manner that was flawed in some regards, not flawed in others, and then being excoriated for everything you fucked up, regardless of whether it was deserved (which some of it very much is) or not (which some of it is). Oh, wait -- that's not an analogy.
Trump's politicizing the pandemic was inexcusable. His Administration's action in response to it, however, is a different thing. These things can and should be separated. I'd give the Administration a C+ for its handling. And I don't think an A is possible in a free country even approaching our size (see Germany). Trump I give an F, or an incomplete. Whatever good he might've done he more than offset with his politicizing of the crisis.
