I work for a large company. Sometime early last year, they started planning for some kind of "economic downturn." And most large companies did the same. You can't foresee a pandemic, but you do know the market has been riding high for a while, and there was a likelihood of a recession happening. Thats the nature of our economy. So you do some planning.
If you are the CEO of a company and you didn't do that, and this happened, then went on to blame everyone and anyone and say it's not your fault, you would likely receive a no confidence vote from the board and your shareholders - and be looking for work.
Trump sees himself as this perfect executive, and yet he did nothing to plan for a downturn. In fact he was counting on the market staying high. Because that's the only economic indicator he uses and since unemployment was low, why look at anything else?
See where I'm going with this? Average CEOs saw something and acted, while he ignored it.
Okay that's fine, whatever, he missed that. But there was this thing lurking in China that was causing panic, and people were dying. It spread out of China, and started wreaking havoc other places around the world.
Mr trump was briefed on it at least several times that we know of, starting in January, and maybe before. It was a potential threat to us. And he ignored the warnings, called it a hoax, and assumed that we were better than any silly virus (because Murica!) and it wouldn't come here.
And then proceeded to do things that made no sense. Conspiracy theories, passing blame to Obama, still ignoring the bigger problem, preventing the CDC from doing its job, and not coordinating anything. And then saying "I don't take responsibility"....
(Aside: he sent the navy hospital ship to NY to help, but he made getting patients on it fairly complicated, and anyway moving patients who had reached a point where this might be helpful would have been hard. So again he didn't handle it quite right).
Here's the thing. After that first briefing, he should have taken a breath and assembled a team to start preparations. Not his friends, cronies, partners in crime, and family - but rather scientists, doctors, pandemic experts, business people, and maybe a few politicians with a broader understanding of our nation.
This team should have been tasked with some of the planning. If it does come here, what should we do to prevent the spread? What can we do to ensure that we plan for this economic downturn? How do we plan for a possible hole in our economy? How can keep most people at work?
And from there, promote the idea of American exceptionalism that we seem to hold so dear. We have great minds and amazing technology. Can we find a means to slow the spread? Can we track or trace contacts? Can we focus our efforts on *us* leading the world in finding solutions? Innovate. Get people focused on being the best. Instead of them freaking out and buying toilet paper, stimulate us to get creative. Maybe we find nothing. But at least we're focused.
And then we should have also led on another front: early on, we had an opportunity to slow the spread and try and get ahead of this. Why not simply setup a screening checkpoint at airports before you get to TSA? Whether you simply check temperature or get something else more sophisticated, you stop some people from flying and maybe spreading this.
After 9/11, we deployed the national guard and police to airports, so while this may seem far fetched, it's certainly do-able.
And we saw what happened off the coast of Japan on a cruise ship. Mike pence, our gov dimwitty, and both of our idiot senators stood in port Everglades and talked about coming up with a plan "in a few days" to protect the cruise industry (to be clear they did not indicate that they wanted to protect passengers in their stupid statements, just the industry). It's been 8 weeks ... and we're still waiting.
Coordinate efforts like you would at airports. Test people before they get on and after they get off. Coordinate with a hospital or even a hotel to provide a place for passengers to go if they do have symptoms.
And now you have a starting point to understanding what's happening and slowing the spread as you come up with solutions.
And as it progresses (no doubt it still would have spread, just maybe slower and with a little more understanding of it), he could have, or rightly should have, directed efforts to actually try and help. Coordinate aid to states, and ensure they have equipment. Direct companies to work on things that need attention. Maybe even come up with a public works plan to engage people, and help them get back to being productive.
I mean this is what a leader would do. Lead by example. Surround yourself with the best and brightest. Find a way to make us the best.
Don't argue with the press. Heck, don't deride them when they ask how you would calm a nation.
Trump is responsible. Full stop.
So if you're still supporting trump, then truly you don't get it. He failed in leadership, and should get a vote of no confidence from his board (the senate) and from the shareholder (us) and should be looking for work.
