As we pass the horrible milestone of 100,000 coronavirus deaths in the United States, the Trump Administration is handling the COVID-19 pandemic in the same way the Trump Organization has handled the real estate business—with bluster, overconfidence, and fudged numbers. If they talked themselves into some favorable real estate deals, surely they can talk themselves out of a global health and economic crisis, right?
Worried about the severely lacking coronavirus testing capability? Don’t. That’s been passed off to the states in one of the most tremendously wonderful Testing Blueprints the world has ever seen—so get back to work now! (Just ask top White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett how thrilled our nation’s “human capital stock” is about the future.) Unfortunately, infectious diseases don’t go away by staying confident and never admitting mistakes.
We are witnessing Trump’s deadliest con game yet. Rather than actually doing everything they can to fight the virus and leveraging the power of the federal government, the Trump Administration instead focuses on talking down mortality numbers, patting themselves on the back, and sending out tweets.