The president had tried to bend beleaguered public servants to his will. Some felt paralyzed to act, even in the face of this great peril they had been trained to battle, because they might anger the king, risking a tweetstorm or an abrupt firing. America’s mighty institutions were not strong enough to overcome Trump’s perversion of the government’s responsibility in a crisis. Trump was motivated to help not the American people but himself—specifically, to perpetuate his power. His response to the pandemic was almost entirely fashioned with his reelection in mind. The virus did not
...more
