Could Trump have beat the hell out of Covid-19 AND won the election?

[WarGamer]

To preface this... in wargaming, you take past historical events and assume the opposite conclusion... then work out the details how it happened.

We might look at The Battle of Midway and then work out HOW the Japanese could have won the Battle.

What I've done here is laid out what would have been a winning strategy from Trump starting in January of 2020.

Fortunately, Trump wasn't intelligent enough or skilled enough to pull it off.

Here's how he could have:

By mid-January, Trump was getting mixed briefings from advisers. Some put too much trust in the reports being distributed by the Chinese government and some saw the legitimate danger involved.

January 28. Trump warned by his NSA.
“This will be the biggest national security threat you face in your presidency...This is going to be the roughest thing you face"

THIS is my first intercept point.

Trump SHOULD have seen this as a crucial point in his Presidency. He should have looked down the road and seen the possibilities. He SHOULD have played this like a seasoned politician.

Trump should have quietly reached out to Presidents Obama, Clinton, Carter and Bush using the "National Security" excuse. None of them could have refused, politically.

Let's say on a secure video-conference, Trump would have thanked the former Presidents for attending and announced the grave threat facing the country and the world. He could have humbly said "I know we haven't always been friendly but I'm here, as a fellow American to ask you all for your help".

Next, he would have proposed that all 5 of them make a public plea to the public to "shut down, mask up, distance and prepare for the worst". He could have had all of them film PSA's. They could all write editorials to be published in the nations greatest newspapers, TV appearances.

Bringing the former POTUS's on board would have been BRILLIANT. Yes, it could potentially lost TRUMP some of the credit if all went well, but if it would have gone upside down, all would share the responsibility.

In addition, none could have refused. It would have been a PR disaster for ANY of them to say no.

It would have created a "9-11 like" 90% public support for the gov't, including Trump.

The media would have been shocked by Trump's humble and Presidential attitude.

Next, Trump made HUGE mistakes by allowing himself to be the star of those daily briefings.

The "group of 5" could have been pushing the upcoming vaccine for the last year. Call it the US vaccine, whatever... and when the vaccine WAS available, ALL 5 would get the vaccination on a live stream ZOOM conference with millions watching.

"Go get your TRUMP vaccine, today"





Of course, when wargaming you can't change 1 battleship into 10 and turning Trump into a bright and politically savvy leader might have been just as unlikely...

Trump only has himself to blame. As usual, his arrogance and narrow minded attitude sank him.

[C_U_L8R]

1. Trump really blew it.

What an idiot.

[Ocelot II]

2. If my aunt had wheels she'd be a pastry cart.

[WarGamer]

3. We learn by taking apart the past.

[SoonerPride]

5. Hahaha

[Hekate]

38. True enough, and then I could get an eclair

[SoonerPride]

4. Yes. The fact that he is lazy and incompetent saved us

Any competent fascist wannabe would have solidified power snd be a dictator for life.

The only thing that saved us was that he was stupid and lazy.

Hitler never played golf.

[WarGamer]

6. unfortunately the lazy and incompetent part cost a lot of lives.

[SoonerPride]

11. Oh obviously it did

It was a horrible catastrophe and entirely avoidable.

[agingdem]

22. remember Trump, intent on destroying Obama's legacy, tossed Ron Klain's pandemic

playbook and dismantled the pandemic response apparatus long before the virus was a "thing".. everything the orange dung-heap did was ego-driven..he was never going to beat the virus...

[panader0]

7. He "could" have, but that's not who he is.

Dumb.

[pwb]

8. He didn't help himself at any turn.

He showed us who he really was for four years and we said fuck that.

[padah513]

9. I think disasters, pandemics, things like that are tailor-made to make any President to look good.

But trump is an idiot. Anything he touches he turns to crap. Can you imagine if he had treated this pandemic the way President Biden is treating it?

[Irish_Dem]

10. If he had handled the pandemic well, he would have won the election without a doubt.

American is racist enough to give him four more years.

[Demsrule86]

25. It is not just that...Incumbents mostly win. Only what three in 50 years failed to win.

Carter, Bush I and now Trump. I don't count Ford as he was never elected.

[Irish_Dem]

26. yep

[Demsrule86]

51. This is why I hope Biden can run in 24...seems to be doing fine healthwise.

[Kingofalldems]

12. He had no business being president in the first place.

[Pobeka]

13. Back in January 2020, China had locked down Wuhan province

I think that's about 60 million people -- and not the USA soft style lockdown -- serious lockdown. You could tell from a *satellite* the loss of activity. It was extremely clear how serious China took this. Experts were telling Trump how serious it was.

If Trump had gone full lockdown, banned air travel, insisted on social distancing in late January, and then masks when it was well known to use them by Mar 1, the virus would likely have been under control, contact tracing effective.

He would have been a *hero*, and completely unable to lose the November election no matter how poor his taste. McConnell and the dogs of facist hell would be devouring this country whole right now if Trump had governed like a grown-up.

[Mike Nelson]

14. Yes...

... I think so... a monumental Crisis can bring out the best in a President. However, Trump had no best.

[Mr.Bill]

15. The way I see it, in the hyper-partisan atmosphere we live in now,

half the country would not have listened to the three Democratic past Presidents, and they would have called Bush a traitor.

[sop]

16. That's one hell of a choice: 550,000 dead Americans or Trump winning a second term.

[Cracklin Charlie]

17. He could have won easily...

If he had sent out a $2000 stimulus check in September.

We dodged a bullet.

[70sEraVet]

18. Beyond the realm of possibilities that make alternate history novels fascinating

I much prefer '1942: a Novel', by Robert Conroy.

[LanternWaste]

19. He could have done a billion things diffrerently.

But he didn't.

In history, we take past historical events and NEVER assume without supporting evidence, then work out the details WHY it happened, and in many cases, how to prevent it from happening again.



(I'll take Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy over PanzerBlitz by Avalon Hill any day... as one is, as advertised, merely a game.)

[FakeNoose]

20. I think you're missing the point - Chump delayed the response on purpose

Chump and Jared Kushner knew exactly how dangerous Covid was - long before the rest of us. They delayed the response ON PURPOSE because they were looking for ways to make money.

Chump and Kushner wanted a vaccine that they would own and sell to the highest bidders. They wanted PPP (masks, ventilators etc.) that they could get rich by selling which is why they cancelled orders made by the hospitals. That's why states had to bid against each other for PPP orders. Chump and Kushner delayed approval and production of vaccine because they thought they could get more from Russia and the European countries rather than provide it to the USA - even though the USA had already paid for it to be produced.

OMG they tried to profitize everything. It all blew up in their faces because Covid spread way faster and deeper than they ever thought it would.

Screw Chump and Damn him to Hell

[Tree-Hugger]

21. Yes.

When it all began, I told my husband it was a golden ticket for Trump's reelection. I said - obviously erroneously - that Trump was going to hit Covid HARD and use it to show how Presidential he can act. I didn't think he actually cared, but he is an opportunist. Well, I overestimated him. Trump and the GOP were all too proud to parade their stupidity AND murder 550,000+ Americans.

[gratuitous]

23. And if a frog had wings . . .

It's easy to reverse-engineer a way that the former guy could have improved on his abysmal response to the pandemic. The trick is to do so while retaining those characteristics that make the former guy who he is. Getting down to cases right off the bat would have been an improvement for sure, but being who he is, the former guy avoids hard work like the plague (you should excuse the expression).

Early on, he convinced himself that the rosiest scenario was the one that was going to play out, and he didn't need to do anything, just let it happen (then take credit for it). In the earliest days, there weren't many cases, and the former guy chose to believe that they would be swiftly corralled, quarantined, and resolved, and the whole thing would go away in weeks if not days. What he chose to ignore was the incubation period of the pandemic, and that by the time the medical community reacted on Thursday to the situation on the ground on Monday, they were already way behind but didn't know it yet.

Once the situation had gotten out of hand, the former guy reverted to form and began blaming everyone else, just as he had done throughout his business career. He had no understanding of the power of the government and no appreciation for the resources at his disposal. Despite people proffering really good advice (like invoking the Defense Production Act to ramp up industry response), the former guy was incapable of being advised. His ego was far too dependent on himself, his ideas, and being recognized as the smartest guy in any room. Again and again, he bragged (baselessly) about how well he understood pandemics and the public health response, but his actions and the predictable course of the pandemic betrayed him.

When his usual tactics didn't work, the former guy simply gave up and turned his back on the country. He stopped his daily bragfests about how great he was doing and bullying the media for noticing that all was not hunky-dory. In a petulant snit, he replaced public health officials who displeased him and ignored others he couldn't bring himself to cashier. He pulled the country out of the World Health Organization. He began exploring quack remedies, and ignoring the best advice of medical professionals.

He held super-spreader events to stoke his ego, consigning some of his most ardent supporters (like Herman Cain) to an early grave. Then he tried to run around to the front of the vaccine parade and pretend that he'd been leading that all along. But once his political demise was assured, the former guy couldn't even bring himself to carry out his promise of a measly 20 million vaccines by the end of December 2020. Being who he was all his life, the former guy could not have had things turn out any other way than how they did.

[Big Blue Marble]

24. Hiis myopic vision of the importance of "his economy" saved the country

in the long run, while costing hundreds of thousands of lives during the remainder
of his term.

He stubbornly believed that the robust economy would be his ticket and only saw the
pandemic as a threat to his economy and therefore his reelection. So he both denied and
then played down the growing health crisis to his own detriment.

He was, is, and always will be the fool.

[Eugene]

27. Easily within his reach, if true leadership wasn't against his nature.

He tried to bullshit his way through the crisis, just like he did in business. Just ignore the bankruptcies.

If enough people bought into the illusion that all is well, he could point to the "best economy ever."

He staked his presidency on fooling the people, instead of protecting them.

[UTUSN]

28. There is *nothing* he could do to stop being a giant turd. I agree with a point in xtian theology

that "works/good works" won't save somebody. There are plenty of horrible wingnuts or whoever who have raised/donated tons of cash or whatever to good causes, but that doesn't change them.

And plenty of great and good leaders have been thrown out after their deeds are over with. And just winning an election isn't predicated on accomplishments.

[Raftergirl]

29. He banked his whole reelection

On the Wall Street economy. That’s why he didn’t want to close down the country and why he was all behind the Free Michigan crap and opening up by Easter.

If he had handled it even half decently but not lied about everything, he would likely have won re-election.

[malaise]

30. No - he's too fucking stupid and incompetent

That is all

[HipChick]

36. +1000!

[malaise]

39. Hi there

are you watching La Soufriere in St Vincent? Feel it for my friends and former students.

[HipChick]

41. Yes I am...

Praying for all the ppl there

[Johonny]

56. This I believe is the correct answer

He had examples from Korea and China to follow.

He's just too stupid to have been able to handle this thing. Imagine the vaccine roll out right now if Hillary was president. We'd all be vaccinated already. They had a year to ramp up production and make the stuff and be ready just in case they worked. The failures of the vaccine lines that didn't work would be insignificant losses compared to what we would have gained vaccinating in mass in December. But he never even had a meeting with his team after Nov 19th!

The man's failed his whole life. Why would anyone think he could have owned this thing. He couldn't. It's not in him as a person.

[malaise]

57. THIS

The man's failed his whole life. Why would anyone think he could have owned this thing. He couldn't. It's not in him as a person.

[Skittles]

31. Trump was jealous that coronavirus got more attention than him

there was no way in hell Trump was EVER going to be successful dealing with ANY crisis

[meadowlander]

32. Yes. Marginal competence was all that was required.

Jacinda Ardern and the Labour party in New Zealand won a simple majority in Parliament for the first time in New Zealand history last year almost entirely on the strength of the Covid response.

Trump should have gotten the kind of huge "rally around the flag" effect that Bush got after 9/11 (he had 90+% approval in late 2001 despite still being the most demonstrably incompetent person to hold the office until 2016). But Trump was too big of a fuck up for even the foul-weather patriots to check their brain at the door and support him.

[Arkansas Granny]

33. He didn't have to beat the hell out of Covid. If he been engaged and put out

even a minimal effort he could have won. However, the former guy doesn't do things that way.

[budkin]

34. If he'd been serious about it he would have won re-election despite his other crimes

But he's Trump, so he simply couldn't do it.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

35. Not the way he was going about it

[bullwinkle428]

37. Honestly, his complete lack of ability to think of anyone or anything other than himself

was his ultimate downfall in terms of handling the pandemic.

[dchill]

42. It's not in him to do good things.

His only transactions are "deals" - in which he must perceive himself to be screwing the other party.

[Midnight Writer]

43. His personality disorder forbids him from following anyone's advice.

He always has to be "smarter", and he feels the need to display that by being all "mavericky" and disputing anything he is told.

If you told Trump not to look into the sun during an eclipse, he would do it anyway. Every time. Just to prove a point. He will be compelled to do so. We know this.

[NNadir]

44. Your argument is that Trump should have been someone other than Trump.

The problem is that he was a marketing phenomenon and not even close to being a competent or intelligent human being, or for that matter, a decent human being.

The idea of a lifelong racist reaching out a vastly more intelligent and competent human being, his predecessor is absurd, rather the equivalent of Adolf Hitler soliciting advice from Albert Einstein.

All Trump is, and all he has ever been, is a small minded redneck carny huckster with too much money, none of which he earned or deserved.

[quaker bill]

45. Could a President have used this to make himself untouchable at the polls?

Certainly.

Think Churchill during WW2 England. Competent politicians thrive in the face of a big enemy. You can lose battles and win elections if you are seen on the people's side battling with the rest of us.

Trump did not shortchange us. He gave it his all. He did not hold any of his dysfunction in reserve, he was as fully incapable as he could be. A very small man being eaten by a very large job. He was never any better or worse, it just became more apparent how bad he was when the bodies stacked up.

[tinrobot]

46. Great scenario, but impossible. He's absolutely incapable of putting others first.

And yes, he did sink himself, and took many others down with him.

He's done it many times before, just not with such deadly consequences.

[brooklynite]

47. IOW -- Could Trump have been a competent President?

[spanone]

48. Evidently, he couldn't.

[Dorian Gray]

49. If trump

were capable of behaving in a way that didn't destroy everything, he wouldn't be who he is.

[VarryOn]

50. The popularity of mail-in ballots was his downfall. Nt

[GusBob]

52. In this post the truth hides!

Trump knew the pandemic was bad. He told Woodward so. He also knew his election chances were off if more people voted by mail

The pandemic was going to mean more people voting by mail. He started claiming election fraud before it even happened. He was relying on a lap dog press who spread his every lie and SCOTUS to help him get appointed

In a way he was using the Pandemic to get elected

[GusBob]

53. This is interesting but flip the switch on DUers in this game

Trump goes all in on COVID on his own. His ego would not let him ask former presidents

Think man, if he went all in he would want all the credit

So he goes balls to the wall....how would DUers react?

This is a political game I play....the shoe is on the other foot

Instead of hearing about all the arm jabs around here, this place would be ant-vax. There is a chance we would be those railing against masks

The MAGATS in return could be the arm jabbing masking crowd

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction

[MissMillie]

54. Things could have been done

45 was intellectually and emotionally incapable of doing them

[Hotler]

55. Oh they thought about it, but, when they realized they couldn't steal vaccines or money

because of all the eye on it, they gave up. They tried it with ventilators and PPE from the National stock pile.