Are you better off? Let's take a stroll down memory lane... [View all]

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/donald-trump-covid

The former president’s allies want voters to recall their lives four years back, but March 2020 was a harrowing period most people would rather forget. In this 2024 election cycle, it’s crucial to remember.

To the extent that anyone observes an “anniversary” of the pandemic, it is this week, the second week of March, when the World Health Organization declared a pandemic; American corporations began a slow-motion shutdown; the NBA suspended its season; and the Trump administration (belatedly) declared a nationwide emergency. But the preceding weeks were critical.

In January and February 2020, Trump repeatedly claimed that the coronavirus was under control and downplayed the dangers. He effusively praised China’s handling of the outbreak and said, on January 30, that “we think it’s going to have a very good ending for us.”