The Politics of Lockdowns, Masks, and Vaccines

Born in 1945, Donald Trump’s early medical history is unclear, but the likelihood is that he also had all four “childhood diseases” before the vaccines emerged. Perhaps that is why he is known as a “germaphobe” (Lippman 2019). That he survived the diseases may have led to family praise that his genes were good. Evidently, he had no serious illnesses later in life, not even a case of the flu.

When President Trump was informed of the coronavirus in early 2020, he was told that the disease could be the major crisis of his presidency. He evidently thought otherwise.

My medical history, however, is quite different. When the news of the coronavirus emerged, I was concerned and soon began wearing masks while shopping in Hollywood and Studio City, California. When vaccines became available, I hunted for appointments on a California website. Each time I clicked to what appeared as open appointments, the next screen indicated that no time was available. My County Supervisor’s staff demonstrated no interest in resolving the issue. Then I got lucky. Tyrone Haas found an appointment for me at a supermarket 6.6 miles away in the San Fernando Valley. I got two shots by early March.

One day, email requests were sent from an editor of a journal published by the American Political Science Association to submit essays about the coronavirus. Rather than writing an academic paper, I embarked on a political history of the pandemic. The journal editor suggested finding another outlet. You are now reading the result.

What follows identifies his manyfold conception of the problem in a rough chronological order. First of all, the initial capabilities of the United States to deal with the pandemic are identified. Then Trump’s initial actions are reviewed, notably in regard to shortages of equipment and supplies, as requested by governors. Next, he sought to return the country to normal business, but proposed snake oil remedies, and attacked science and scientists. Statistical evidence is presented on the communities and places most affected. Although many observers blame Trump for the disastrous course of events, I conclude with an assessment that identifies blunders in many quarters, leaving quite a burden for the administration of President Joe Biden, who assigned himself the role of ending the pandemic with comprehensive government action. In Appendix A, I explain more closely Social Darwinism, one of the main lenses used by Trump to evaluate options.

I want to thank journalists for their coverage of the situation, though some contradict one another. Since I subscribe to the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, and the Washington Post, reports from all three newspapers are quite numerous. Other sources are from the Internet. In most cases, the articles cited were read on the same or following day. Although it is customary to provide a date when references are accessed, that is only necessary when the website provides no date and thus is constantly updating the information. Internet citations without access dates were read in most cases on the day following their appearance.

Journalists Michael Lewis, Philip Rucker, Andy Slavitt, and Lauren Wright of the New Yorker should be congratulated for providing a lot of new information on civil society efforts in recent books. Yasmeen Abutaleb, Carol Leonnig, and Damian Paletta, and Philip Rucker, reveal good information about administration infighting. I am indebted to Tyrone Haas for recalling a Sixty Minutes episode. Extremely helpful comments have been provided by peer reviewers.

My style is academic and analytic, providing a crisp narrative of how the coronavirus was handled during the administration of President Donald J. Trump. Accordingly, I point out many things that journalists have missed, especially the inexplicable rejection of tests developed in other countries that could have been imported in mid-January to nip the virus in the bud.

I do not seek to make judgments. Readers should make up their own minds based on facts rather than prejudices. The book aims to be an outline of the most important developments in regard to the coronavirus outbreak during an administration now past history.

Michael Haas