{"id":120586,"date":"2024-10-31T21:57:46","date_gmt":"2024-10-31T14:57:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=120586"},"modified":"2024-10-31T21:57:46","modified_gmt":"2024-10-31T14:57:46","slug":"a-preview-of-disasters-to-come","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=120586","title":{"rendered":"A Preview of Disasters to Come"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div dir=\"auto\">\n<div class=\"captioned-image-container\">\n<figure><a class=\"image-link image2 is-viewable-imag\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8f9fa4c9-065b-4367-8fb8-9a144ca133fa_6000x4000.jpeg\" data-component-name=\"Image2ToDOM\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"image2-inset\"><picture><source type=\"image\/webp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8f9fa4c9-065b-4367-8fb8-9a144ca133fa_6000x4000.jpeg 424w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8f9fa4c9-065b-4367-8fb8-9a144ca133fa_6000x4000.jpeg 848w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8f9fa4c9-065b-4367-8fb8-9a144ca133fa_6000x4000.jpeg 1272w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8f9fa4c9-065b-4367-8fb8-9a144ca133fa_6000x4000.jpeg 1456w\" sizes=\"100vw\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8f9fa4c9-065b-4367-8fb8-9a144ca133fa_6000x4000.jpeg\" width=\"1456\" height=\"971\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/8f9fa4c9-065b-4367-8fb8-9a144ca133fa_6000x4000.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:971,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:3029042,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image\/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false}\" class=\"sizing-normal\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8f9fa4c9-065b-4367-8fb8-9a144ca133fa_6000x4000.jpeg 424w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8f9fa4c9-065b-4367-8fb8-9a144ca133fa_6000x4000.jpeg 848w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8f9fa4c9-065b-4367-8fb8-9a144ca133fa_6000x4000.jpeg 1272w, https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8f9fa4c9-065b-4367-8fb8-9a144ca133fa_6000x4000.jpeg 1456w\" sizes=\"100vw\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/picture><\/div>\n<p><\/a><figcaption class=\"image-caption\">(Photo by Doug Mills-Pool\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><em>TRUMP WAS ALREADY PRESIDENT for four years, and we survived. We could do it again\u2014what\u2019s the worst that could happen?<\/em><span> So goes the argument from many reluctant Trump supporters and anti-anti-Trumpers who are skeptical that Trump\u2019s deranged rhetoric and nonsensical proposals portend a dark future if he wins re-election. Let\u2019s leave aside, for now, the fact that a second Trump administration would likely have no \u201cadults in the room\u201d (many of the ones who served between 2017 and 2021 are now <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2024\/01\/18\/opinion\/trump-cabinet-election-2024.html\" rel=\"\">openly denouncing Trump<\/a><span>). Let\u2019s also leave aside the fact that \u201cthe worst that could happen\u201d could be the use of mob violence to subvert or dismantle the constitutional system, like what we saw on January 6th, but more organized and with more support from the federal government. The fact is, even if there are adults in the room, even if the guardrails hold, having Trump as president would still be dangerous. Consider the COVID-19 pandemic: It was obviously not a crisis of Trump\u2019s making, but his almost complete failure of leadership made it much worse than it needed to be. It\u2019s worth revisiting this record, because if he is re-elected, he, like every president, would eventually face another crisis.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2022\/02\/01\/science\/covid-deaths-united-states.html\" rel=\"\">high death COVID death toll<\/a><span> in the United States\u2014much higher than in other countries comparable in wealth and development\u2014cannot be blamed entirely on Trump. The causes include factors for which he was not responsible such as high levels of obesity, a known COVID risk factor. And it\u2019s also true that the rapid development of the COVID vaccine under the Trump administration was a genuine success\u2014one that, ironically, Trump has felt compelled to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebulwark.com\/p\/loony-and-the-beast-how-rfk-became\" rel=\"\">downplay<\/a><span> because it annoys the vaccine skeptics that have become a key part of his base.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Nevertheless, the fact remains that Trump\u2019s response to COVID was a hot mess from the start in which Trump appeared to look tough while frequently minimizing the disease. His occasional deference to experts alternated with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebulwark.com\/p\/trump-covid-response-worse-than-we-remember\" rel=\"\">petulant resistance to supposedly tyrannical mitigation policies and unhinged promotion of quack therapies<\/a><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>THE IRRESPONSIBLE POLICIES ARGUABLY started even before the pandemic, when the Trump administration dissolved the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/climate.law.columbia.edu\/content\/nsc-directorate-global-health-security-and-biodefense-dissolved\" rel=\"\">Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense at the National Security Council<\/a><span>, which was created under Barack Obama for the specific purpose of managing the response to global health emergencies. Many of its functions and personnel were <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.factcheck.org\/2020\/03\/democrats-misleading-coronavirus-claims\/\" rel=\"\">shifted to other parts of the government<\/a><span>. But central coordination from a dedicated office might have lent some coherence to the government\u2019s early efforts\u2014though, obviously, no one can know for sure.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Both Trump and his supporters have often cited the China \u201ctravel ban,\u201d effective as of February 2, 2020, as evidence of his strong action against the pandemic. (The MAGA camp has also <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/arc-digital\/viral-politics-in-an-age-of-hyper-polarization-ccfde95f517f\" rel=\"\">falsely claimed<\/a><span> that the Democratic leadership and the \u201cmainstream media\u201d attacked the ban as racist.) In reality, public health experts <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/outlook\/2020\/10\/01\/debate-early-travel-bans-china\/\" rel=\"\">say<\/a><span> that the ban was belated\u201445 countries restricted travel from China before the United States did\u2014and largely ineffective. It <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/proclamation-suspension-entry-immigrants-nonimmigrants-persons-pose-risk-transmitting-2019-novel-coronavirus\/\" rel=\"\">barred<\/a><span> Chinese nationals and other foreign nationals who had been to China in the last 14 days from entering the United States, but U.S. citizens and permanent residents traveling from China were still admitted, often with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/04\/04\/us\/coronavirus-china-travel-restrictions.html\" rel=\"\">minimal screening<\/a><span>. In many cases, such travelers were simply advised to quarantine at home for 14 days, with no follow-up checks. In the first two months after the \u201cban\u201d went into effect, 40,000 people entered the country on direct flights from China\u2014thousands of them flying in from Wuhan.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Over the following month, Trump <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/maybe-i-have-a-natural-ability-trump-plays-medical-expert-on-coronavirus-by-second-guessing-the-professionals\/2020\/03\/06\/3ee0574c-5ffb-11ea-9055-5fa12981bbbf_story.html\" rel=\"\">bragged<\/a><span> about how he impressed doctors and scientists at the Centers for Disease Control with his grasp of the issues (\u201ca natural ability,\u201d he speculated) and resisted bringing infected cruise ship passengers ashore for quarantine because 21 new cases would make U.S. COVID statistics look worse. He <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/health-chiefs-early-missteps-set-back-coronavirus-response-11587570514\" rel=\"\">threatened to fire<\/a><span> a high-level CDC official, Nancy Messonnier, who enraged him by <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2021\/05\/07\/994685964\/cdc-official-who-warned-americans-coronavirus-could-cause-severe-disruption-resi\" rel=\"\">publicly warning<\/a><span> in late February that community spread of the virus was very likely and \u201cdisruption to everyday life might be severe.\u201d He <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/trump-calls-coronavirus-democrats-new-hoax-n1145721\" rel=\"\">derided<\/a><span> criticism of his handling of the coronavirus as the Democrats\u2019 \u201cnew hoax\u201d (undoubtedly giving ammunition to right-wing conspiracy theories that the disease itself was a hoax). He <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov\/briefings-statements\/remarks-president-trump-meeting-african-american-leaders\/\" rel=\"\">claimed<\/a><span> that his administration was doing \u201can incredible job\u201d and that, in any case, the virus might simply \u201cgo away\u201d: \u201cOne day\u2014it\u2019s like a miracle\u2014it will disappear.\u201d As late as March 10, Trump <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/interactive\/2020\/10\/politics\/covid-disappearing-trump-comment-tracker\/\" rel=\"\">repeated<\/a><span> his \u201cJust stay calm, it will go away\u201d mantra at a White House <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov\/briefings-statements\/remarks-president-trump-meeting-republican-senators-2\/\" rel=\"\">press briefing<\/a><span> and contrasted the 26 deaths from COVID at that point to 8,000 from the flu, while asserting that \u201cwe\u2019re taking this unbelievably seriously.\u201d And while the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/national-security\/one-final-viral-infusion-trumps-move-to-block-travel-from-europe-triggered-chaos-and-a-surge-of-passengers-from-the-outbreaks-center\/2020\/05\/23\/64836a00-962b-11ea-82b4-c8db161ff6e5_story.html\" rel=\"\">general consensus<\/a><span> is that most viral strains in the United States came from Europe, not Asia, he waited until March 11 to limit travel from European countries.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>When Trump did <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=xrPZBTNjX_o\" rel=\"\">announce<\/a><span> a 30-day ban on travel from Europe, he bungled his way into another fiasco. After the dramatic declaration that the United States was \u201csuspending all travel from Europe\u201d as of March 13, he mentioned only in passing, and after several other points, that there would be \u201cexemptions for Americans who have undergone appropriate screenings.\u201d Many panicked American travelers missed that part and scrambled to get home to avoid being stranded. Calls to airlines <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/national-security\/one-final-viral-infusion-trumps-move-to-block-travel-from-europe-triggered-chaos-and-a-surge-of-passengers-from-the-outbreaks-center\/2020\/05\/23\/64836a00-962b-11ea-82b4-c8db161ff6e5_story.html\" rel=\"\">surged<\/a><span>; arrivals from countries subject to the ban rose by about 50 percent in the two days after Trump\u2019s address. Airports were overwhelmed; packed waiting rooms and long lines became pathogenic petri dishes. At COVID screening checkpoints, passengers with a fever and other symptoms were often <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/national-security\/one-final-viral-infusion-trumps-move-to-block-travel-from-europe-triggered-chaos-and-a-surge-of-passengers-from-the-outbreaks-center\/2020\/05\/23\/64836a00-962b-11ea-82b4-c8db161ff6e5_story.html\" rel=\"\">ushered through<\/a><span> with nothing more than a guidance to self-isolate for two weeks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>On March 13, Trump issued several COVID <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncsl.org\/state-federal\/trump-declares-state-of-emergency-for-covid-19\" rel=\"\">emergency declarations<\/a><span>; three days later, under pressure from his medical advisors to do more, he finally acknowledged the urgency of the situation and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncsl.org\/state-federal\/trump-declares-state-of-emergency-for-covid-19\" rel=\"\">announced<\/a><span> federal stay-at-home and social distancing guidelines\u2014initially set to last 15 days, then <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/donald-trump-ap-top-news-international-news-pandemics-virus-outbreak-9c6a73aa56480cbace6bbbcc9fe81869\" rel=\"\">extended<\/a><span> for 30 more. In April, however, the question of when and how the states should phase out the restrictions devolved into classic Trumpian chaos.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>On April 13, after governors from both coasts announced regional plans for reopening, Trump <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/states\/california\/story\/2020\/04\/13\/trump-claims-total-authority-over-state-decisions-1275506\" rel=\"\">stated<\/a><span> at a press briefing that he had \u201ctotal authority\u201d over the issue\u2014which was <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/virus-outbreak-donald-trump-ap-top-news-politics-health-ba9578acf23bdb03fd51a2b81f640560\" rel=\"\">incorrect<\/a><span>. Then, three days later, apparently after pushback from aides, he seemed to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2020\/04\/16\/trump-plan-for-reopening-economy-191073\" rel=\"\">reverse<\/a><span> himself, releasing a national guidance for gradual reopening but also stressing that the federal government would defer to the states since \u201cwe love them all but they are very, very different.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The love didn\u2019t last long. The very next day, on April 17, Trump went on his now-infamous Twitter spree calling for the \u201cliberation\u201d of three states\u2014all with Democratic governors\u2014that maintained restrictive policies: \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/1251168994066944003\" rel=\"\">LIBERATE MINNESOTA!<\/a><span>\u201d, \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/1251169217531056130\" rel=\"\">LIBERATE MICHIGAN!<\/a><span>\u201d and \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/1251169987110330372\" rel=\"\">LIBERATE VIRGINIA<\/a><span>, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/realDonaldTrump\/status\/1251169987110330372\" rel=\"\">and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!<\/a><span>\u201d The invocation of the Second Amendment might have been a reference to the gun safety bills the Virginia governor had <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2020\/04\/10\/politics\/ralph-northam-signs-gun-bills\/index.html\" rel=\"\">recently signed<\/a><span>, though some radicals took it as a call to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/tech\/security\/trump-s-liberate-tweets-extremists-see-call-arms-n1186561\" rel=\"\">bring weapons to anti-lockdown protests<\/a><span>. Some <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/outlook\/2020\/04\/17\/liberate-michigan-trump-constitution\/\" rel=\"\">argued<\/a><span> at the time that Trump\u2019s tweets were incitement to insurrection against state authorities. Either way, they were grossly reckless.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"button-wrapper\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.thebulwark.com\/subscribe?coupon=9bb65d03&amp;utm_content=150915949&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Get 30 day free trial&quot;,&quot;action&quot;:null,&quot;class&quot;:null}\" data-component-name=\"ButtonCreateButton\"><a class=\"button primary\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebulwark.com\/subscribe?coupon=9bb65d03&amp;utm_content=150915949\" rel=\"\"><span>Get 30 day free trial<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>Come to think of it, \u201cgrossly reckless\u201d describes a lot of Trump\u2019s COVID pronouncements from the start of the pandemic. At first he minimized the virus; then he started pushing discredited therapies such as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/politics\/house-panel-says-trump-staffers-pressured-fda-to-authorize-unproven-covid-19-treatment\" rel=\"\">hydroxychloroquine<\/a><span> (which the Food and Drug Administration briefly approved for emergency use before reversing the decision based on new data) and far more bizarre quackery such as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-52399464\" rel=\"\">ultraviolet light and disinfectant<\/a><span> injections.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>No less irresponsibly, he continued to downplay the pandemic\u2019s toll. On <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/transcript-fox-news-sunday-interview-with-president-trump\" rel=\"\">Fox News<\/a><span> in July 2020, Trump asserted that \u201cwe have one of the lowest, maybe the lowest mortality rate anywhere in the world\u201d (Chris Wallace laudably pointed out that the United States had world\u2019s seventh-highest mortality rate from the disease) and dismissed most COVID cases as \u201cthe sniffles.\u201d In media appearances and at campaign rallies, he peddled right-wing narratives claiming that <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rev.com\/blog\/transcripts\/donald-trump-swanton-ohio-campaign-rally-transcript-september-21\" rel=\"\">only elderly people<\/a><span> with other health problems were really at risk, or that the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/YI_XUG5u3EE?si=1XyH0f-rNY83u0yx\" rel=\"\">vast majority<\/a><span> of deaths officially classified as COVID fatalities were actually from other causes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Obviously, the Trump administration deserves credit for the swift development of the COVID vaccine\u2014perhaps its singular accomplishment over four years. But even there, the distribution of vaccines and the effort to encourage uptake was a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-us-canada-55721437\" rel=\"\">failure by the administration\u2019s own metrics<\/a><span>. And, as Philip Bump has <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2022\/03\/31\/ivermectin-is-signature-example-politics-trumping-health\/\" rel=\"\">pointed out<\/a><span>, Trump\u2019s post-presidency advocacy of the vaccine \u201cwas halting and constrained, recognizing that there was more political value in standing against the \u2018so-called experts\u2019 than in trying to persuade people to protect themselves against the virus.\u201d The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/health-shots\/2021\/12\/05\/1059828993\/data-vaccine-misinformation-trump-counties-covid-death-rate\" rel=\"\">vaccination gap<\/a><span> between \u201cred\u201d and \u201cblue\u201d communities and even <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nber.org\/papers\/w30512\" rel=\"\">between individuals<\/a><span> based on party registration is a well-known fact.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>NOT ONLY DID TRUMP FAIL to strengthen the country\u2019s morale in a national crisis; he actively undermined it. His outrageous, buffoonish, often contradictory rhetoric both contributed to a general sense of chaos and uncertainty and emboldened distrust and rejection of public health measures and \u201cestablishment\u201d medicine.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span>Some mainstream commentators today <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.persuasion.community\/p\/how-covid-broke-our-trust-in-government\" rel=\"\">argue<\/a><span> that COVID-related public health measures were largely misguided and imposed a severe economic cost while offering dubious benefits. But while the critique of some strategies, such as the delay in reopening schools in many states, is broadly shared today, the usefulness of social distancing mandates including lockdowns <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebulwark.com\/p\/covidiocy-marches-on\" rel=\"\">has not been debunked<\/a><span>. Sweden, sometimes touted as an anti-lockdown success story, had <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1660-4601\/18\/8\/3913\" rel=\"\">drastically higher death rates<\/a><span> than its locked-down Nordic neighbors until vaccination came along. What\u2019s more, maverick scientists who opposed lockdowns in 2020\u20132021 and pushed for mostly unrealistic strategies to protect the most vulnerable while letting the virus rip through the rest of the population, such as Jay Bhattacharya of Stanford University Medical School, have some credibility problems considering their history of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/01\/04\/opinion\/covid-pandemic-history.html\" rel=\"\">minimizing<\/a><span> the pandemic\u2019s toll. In other words, COVID revisionism doesn\u2019t get Trump off the hook\u2014especially since the distrust and paranoia toward \u201cestablishment\u201d medicine that he has fanned includes vaccination.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s COVID report card matters not only for an accurate assessment of his presidency, but also because of what it says about the prospects of a second Trump term. Every president eventually faces a crisis of some kind or another. The next crisis might be war, or a financial crisis, or a thousand other things that no one imagines\u2014but what if it\u2019s another novel pathogen?Who would Trump have with him during a public health crisis in his second term?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span>Out: Dr. Anthony Fauci; in: anti-vaccine crank, conspiracy zealot, and newly minted Trump supporter <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebulwark.com\/p\/loony-and-the-beast-how-rfk-became\" rel=\"\">Robert F. Kennedy Jr.<\/a><span> \u201cI\u2019m going to let him go wild on health,\u201d Trump <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/campaign\/4956319-trump-says-hell-let-rfk-jr-go-wild-on-health-and-food-in-potential-second-term\/\" rel=\"\">told<\/a><span> an ecstatic crowd at his Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday. \u201cI\u2019m going to let him go wild on the food. I\u2019m going to let him go wild on the medicines.\u201d The post of CDC director <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.medpagetoday.com\/washington-watch\/washington-watch\/105249\" rel=\"\">now requires<\/a><span> Senate confirmation, and a kook like RFK Jr. probably wouldn\u2019t be able to clear even a Republican-controlled Senate. But he still could do tremendous damage in a \u201chealth czar\u201d role with no actual powers, simply by giving validation to the next ivermectin and by boosting anti-vax nonsense.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Out: Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, who led the crash program to develop a COVID vaccine, Operation Warp Speed. In: Some Trump lackey like <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/magazine\/archive\/2024\/10\/kash-patel-trump-national-security-council\/679566\/\" rel=\"\">Kash Patel<\/a><span> whose allegiance wouldn\u2019t be to the country or the Constitution but to Trump\u2019s whim.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Out: Dr. Deborah Birx, a giant of the public health field who failed to stand up to Trump and refute his nonsense about a magically self-curing virus and bleach injections but at least provided some pressure on the side of science. In: Dr. Scott Atlas, whose approach to public health was, in essence, <\/span><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2020\/11\/30\/940376041\/dr-scott-atlas-special-coronavirus-adviser-to-trump-resigns\" rel=\"\">laissez faire<\/a><\/em><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It\u2019s easy to look back at the Trump years and declare, \u201cWe survived!\u201d\u2014unless you\u2019re one of the thousands of Americans whose death from COVID <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2021\/feb\/10\/us-coronavirus-response-donald-trump-health-policy\" rel=\"\">might have been avoided<\/a><span> if not for Trump\u2019s mismanagement, demagoguery, selfishness, penchant for conspiracy theories, and incompetence. There\u2019s no guarantee that any of us, in the next crisis, will be lucky again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"captioned-button-wrap\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.thebulwark.com\/p\/the-next-crisis-vs-trumps-pandemic?utm_source=substack&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=share&amp;action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;}\" data-component-name=\"CaptionedButtonToDOM\">\n<div class=\"preamble\">\n<p class=\"cta-caption\">Take a moment to share this post with your friends and followers on social media.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"button-wrapper\" data-attrs=\"{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.thebulwark.com\/p\/the-next-crisis-vs-trumps-pandemic?utm_source=substack&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=share&amp;action=share&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Share&quot;}\" data-component-name=\"ButtonCreateButton\"><a class=\"button primary\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thebulwark.com\/p\/the-next-crisis-vs-trumps-pandemic?utm_source=substack&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_content=share&amp;action=share\" rel=\"\"><span>Share<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebulwark.com\/p\/the-next-crisis-vs-trumps-pandemic\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Photo by Doug Mills-Pool\/Getty Images) TRUMP WAS ALREADY PRESIDENT for four years, and we survived. We could do it again\u2014what\u2019s the worst that could happen? So goes the argument from &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=120586\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-120586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=120586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120586\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=120586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=120586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=120586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}