We got unlucky on COVID-19. The wrong man is in charge during a once-in-a-lifetime crisis
At his most recent coronavirus briefing, President Trump said that determining when to reopen the country would be the most difficult decision he’d ever have to make.
He’s right. The calculations are complex, the stakes high, the tradeoffs unimaginable. He’s stuck between forcing millions of people out of their jobs and causing a downturn that could rival the Great Depression — or authorizing the deaths, possibly, of tens of thousands more people by reopening too soon.
If only such important decisions weren’t in the hands of a president so obviously unprepared and ill-equipped to make them. Not only has he repeatedly shown his disdain for science and scientists, but he is also so focused on business and Wall Street that he is likely to give disproportionate weight to the views of those who want to protect the economy over the views of those who want to save lives. He is averse to complex thinking, famously unable to concentrate on briefing books or details. He lacks empathy. He is an irresponsible decision-maker because of a lifelong tendency to trust his gut instincts over the opinions of experts.
It was hardly comforting when Trump was asked Friday what metrics he intends to use to decide when to ease up on social distancing and he responded by pointing to his head and saying, “The metric is right here. That’s my metrics. That’s all I can do.”
https://news.yahoo.com/column-got-unlucky-covid-19-210925787.html
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