The Premonition: A Pandemic Story

by Michael Lewis

On a Red Dawn phone call in early March, she was laying out her ideas about what California and every state in the country should do when a new voice came on the line. “This is Ken,” it said. Ken Cuccinelli, the acting deputy secretary of homeland security and a member of Trump’s coronavirus task force. “He said, ‘Charity, you need to push these things through. You’re the only one who can do this.’ ” She was taken aback by his insistence. “He wasn’t pleading with me to do the right thing. He was yelling at me. He was basically implying that the White House is not going to do the right thing. The White House is not going to protect the country. So California needs to take the lead.” That was the moment she learned that the White House was listening in on the calls—and also the moment when she realized just how lost and desperate the people at the top were. “He’s the deputy director of homeland security. He can just go talk to the president. And he’s relying on some random blond girl to save the country. Really?”