The Perfect Storm: US Missteps, Belligerence, and Racial Legacies

Abstract

As we watch COVID devastate our country, many wonder how we got here. I argue that in this paper that the crisis has been agrevated, if not a direct result of presidential missteps, and belligerence. Further, most impacted have been racialized groups. These factors, described here as elements of the perfect storm, are not by accident, but a series of miscalculations and errors, blatant disregard for reality and science, and deliberate attempts to mislead, minimize, and dismiss the severity, reality, and dangers associated with this pandemic. Early responses by President Donald Trump to COVID-19 can be characterized as inept, unfocused, and lacking leadership. Even as the first cases of COVID-19 were being identified in Wuhan, China, President Trump was working to promote his anti-science stance by dismantling the science policy infrastructure installed to advise him. Following Trump’s lead, many GOP local and state leaders trivialized the significance of COVID-19 early as it ravaged the country.