After weeks of downplaying the severity of the coronavirus pandemic and calling it a “hoax,” President Donald Trump has finally changed his tone — declaring coronavirus to be a national emergency and joining Democrats in calling for aggressive social distancing. But liberal economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman — who was warning about the dangers of coronavirus when Trump still considered it a “hoax” — is not impressed. Trump’s overall response to the pandemic, Krugman asserts in his column, has been “catastrophically adequate” from both a health standpoint and an economic standpoint. And as Krugman sees it, the real leaders in the United States this week have been House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
“At every stage,” Krugman writes, “Donald Trump minimized the threat and blocked helpful action because he wanted to look good for the next news cycle or two, ignoring and intimidating anyone who tried to give him good advice.”
But even before the Covid-19 strain of coronavirus emerged, Krugman adds, Trump did things that have made it harder for the U.S. to cope with a pandemic — most notably, Trump “disbanded the National Security Council’s pandemic response team in 2018.” And Trump, according to Krugman, has “staffed his administration with obsequious toadies who never tell him anything he doesn’t want to hear.” Continue reading.