November seems a little early.

[Bucky]

My understanding is that Trump's first briefing on the novel coronavirus was in early January

Anyway, I think any speculation based on the assumption that Mr. Trump is capable of logical forethought is inherently flawed. He's not a planner, he's a seats-of-the-pantser.

In addition to being a psychologically damaged sociopath, Trump just isn't a particularly bright person or a gifted strategist. He's got one or two very particular tricks up his sleeve and he uses them over and over again. He can aggrandize himself--making him a brilliant salesman, or more properly a huckster--and he can agitate others.

He builds himself up by sewing discord. That is his management style, and that is his governing policy. That's pretty much all he can do.

Now the Founding Fathers, and Alexander Hamilton in particular, said it was good for the government to attract ambitious men. That way you have a system in which great men seek acclaim, to satisfy their love of fame, by doing great things for the country as a whole.

This explains a Lincoln or a Kennedy or an Obama... and even a couple of Roosevelts.

But an incompetent fool, a demagogue as James Madison warned, will seek power only for more power and personal benefit. Such a person, like Trump, does not plan for the future. He grasps what he can and he's always in reaction mode. He's not a builder, he's not an innovator, he's only an opportunist.

The reason Trump didn't see the pandemic coming was because it was something he didn't understand how to sell. And the reason he ignored all the warnings and advice on how to deal with it, is because his bloated ego refused to acknowledge what his brain could not grasp.

Mr. Broccoli, if you cannot see and understand the way Trump's mind works, accept your blind spot as a compliment from the universe. You're a compassionate person by instinct and are having trouble understanding the paradigm of a president who would not move the save his constituents.

He didn't refuse to act on the coronavirus because of some sick calculation of how it would help him. He didn't move on it because he doesn't give a fuck.