I agree with parts of what you write, but one of the biggest moves Trump made was the China and Europe travel ban which was almost universally condemned as 'xenophobic' and 'racist' by Joe Biden and most other democrats (and in fairness many republicans as well).
But the policy was one of the more effective policies when it comes to directly saving lives.
Sincere question here (I don't know the answer) - my impression is that Trump said stupid things throughout the pandemic, but I'm not aware of the actual policy related things he's done (or didn't do) which were negligent or just plainly wrong. Sincerely open to being educated on this point.
I have family in the U.S. and they tell me a similar story to what is going on here in Australia.
The U.S and Australia both have three levels of government (local, state and federal). This amount of Bureaucracy makes it next to impossibly to be effective because you have hundreds or maybe thousands of leaders all making their own decisions rather than just one national leader determining what will or won't happen.
So the problem in the U.S is the same as in Aus where Daniel Andrews does his own thing, Anastasia does her own thing, Gladys does her own thing etc etc and then Scomo sits at the top acting like a scared lamb because he doesn't want to upset anyone.
I think the China/ Europe travel ban probably saved more lives in China and Europe than in the US, lol. I know China isn't exactly a reliable source, but they took very harsh steps to contain the lockdown and I don't think there is any way on earth they have been hit as hard as the US by this virus. If anything, China should be criticised for its typically authoritarian approach to the lockdown, which was no doubt effective in helping to contain the virus, but was too draconian and involved significant violations of human rights. All these derps in Australia, the US and other western democracies complaining about lockdown have no idea of what it's like to truly have their freedoms violated by lockdown restrictions. They should experience lockdown in China some time. While lockdown measures in China were brutal, I don't really doubt they have been effective in containing spread of the virus..... and other countries have demonstrated lockdown measures don't need to be so heavy handed to produce successful results.
I think it was definitely a huge policy mistake for Trump to push for the country to reopen without any attempt to flatten the curve. I know that it is economically not viable to prolong a lockdown for too long, but evidence suggests a short term lockdown can make a big difference and a large number of leading economists say containing the virus through decisive lockdown measures will have less long term economic impact than allowing things to snowball out of control. Not only does Trump now have a health crisis on his hands, his country is also looking down the barrel of a major recession....so what exactly has his reckless approach to the issue achieved? I know you don't agree with lockdowns, but I think they have worked very well in many parts of the world, including this country. Even if you take our worst hit state, we have only had 19,000 cases in Vic, compare this to Massachusetts, which has a similar population and has had over 125,000 cases.
Yes, Trump left the decision to reopen or not to reopen largely in the hands of the states, but as I understand it, he DID have the authority to enforce a nation wide lockdown and handed that power over to the states. I stand to be corrected if I'm wrong about that. Then there is the fact that he openly encouraged anti lockdown protesters to ignore state laws. Holding those blue states accountable is a bit tenuous when the most influential man in the country has gone on record and actively encouraged his supporters and other so called crusaders for freedom to show a blatant disregard for their laws, because he thought there was political mileage in it.
Finally, the impact of his words really can not be overstated. He is the most influential person in the country and has a large number of supporters who hang on his every word. He has constantly downplayed the threat of this virus......from day one. Not only did he push for the economy to reopen too quickly, but he made no effort to emphasise the importance of social distancing, to urge people to wear masks, or even to practice good hygiene once the nation got back to business. Even to this day, he is making no attempt whatsoever to encourage his supporters to wear masks or social distance at his rallies. They really are packing themselves in like sardines, yelling and hollering and spreading bloody COVID all over the place.
I don't see how anyone can think ultimate responsibility for the mess the entire nation is in does not rest on his shoulders. He has been abysmal.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...id-19-rba-and-economists-20200915-p55vv1.html