The thing is, most of this went on automatic, because the Government is not a single person, even the head of the Executive. The same as the States. Once the Democrats chose to take the position that Coof was legitimately a deadly pandemic, they mobilized their apparatus (100% of media, ~99% of Federal Government, ~95% of State administrations) and there was no standing in the Cathedral's way.

I don't remember Trump "propping up" Fauci except by way of introduction. They were openly clashing within a month of Fauci and Birx hitting the stage. I don't think that's a fair charge. Also, I don't think "legitimizing" is a valid charge either, because what exactly is that? That's murky progressive talk. If you want to say that Trump is to blame for declaring a national State of Emergency, okay, because he literally did that. That is entirely different from playing a voodoo blame game of "legitimizing," especially when in real history, President Trump was openly antagonistic to the people you're saying he lent his credibility to. Trump was giving fireside chats wherein he would often say the opposite of what Fauci and Birx were touting, until the media simply refused to keep airing his (massively popular) talks.

Beyond that, again, Government's not just one dude. The CDC was in the bag against the United States. Most State health agencies sided with the WHO (for murky and alarming reasons that really demand a great big series of investigations that will probably never happen). All Media and nearly all Politicos joined forces to promote the fake threat, and thereby gave themselves the justification for City Councilmen, First Selectmen, Mayors, City Managers, County Representatives, and Governors, everywhere, to declare themselves authorities unto themselves until such time as the State of Emergency was rescinded (which as it turns out, was also at the discretion of the Governor).

Once the SoE was declared, there was no process to walk back, only to escalate. Congress immediately took the opportunity to start writing checks, and they went completely bananas hog-wild with this. They had little ability, and definitely no incentive, to even try to walk anything back. At the State level, 9/11-era emergency provisions kicked State Congresses to irrelevance and elevated State Health administrations, until such time as each Congress managed to argue their authority in Court (except that most Courts were suspended).

This thing was a huge fucking mess, and there's a ton of blame to be passed out. I just think that in the end, surprisingly little of it should end up at the feet of Donald Trump, of all people. The entire bureaucratic and media class of the United States, including his (supposed) own Party, and the Executive Branch which he was nominally in charge of, went to Total War with him. There's not a person in the world who could've plausibly fought that and won.

The thing is, most of this went on automatic, because the Government is not a single person, even the head of the Executive. The same as the States. Once the Democrats chose to take the position that Coof was legitimately a deadly pandemic, they mobilized their apparatus (100% of media, ~99% of Federal Government, ~95% of State administrations) and there was no standing in the Cathedral's way.

I don't remember Trump "propping up" Fauci except by way of introduction. They were openly clashing within a month of Fauci and Birx hitting the stage. I don't think that's a fair charge. Also, I don't think "legitimizing" is a valid charge either, because what exactly is that? That's murky progressive talk. If you want to say that Trump is to blame for declaring a national State of Emergency, okay, because he literally did that. That is entirely different from playing a voodoo blame game of "legitimizing," especially when in real history, President Trump was openly antagonistic to the people you're saying he lent his credibility to.

Beyond that, again, Government's not just one dude. The CDC was in the bag against the United States. Most State health agencies sided with the WHO (for murky and alarming reasons that really demand a great big series of investigations that will probably never happen). All Media and nearly all Politicos joined forces to promote the fake threat, and thereby gave themselves the justification for City Councilmen, First Selectmen, Mayors, City Managers, County Representatives, and Governors, everywhere, to declare themselves authorities unto themselves until such time as the State of Emergency was rescinded (which as it turns out, was also at the discretion of the Governor).

Once the SoE was declared, there was no process to walk back, only to escalate. Congress immediately took the opportunity to start writing checks, and they went completely bananas hog-wild with this. They had little ability, and definitely no incentive, to even try to walk anything back. At the State level, 9/11-era emergency provisions kicked State Congresses to irrelevance and elevated State Health administrations, until such time as each Congress managed to argue their authority in Court (except that most Courts were suspended).

This thing was a huge fucking mess, and there's a ton of blame to be passed out. I just think that in the end, surprisingly little of it should end up at the feet of Donald Trump, of all people. The entire bureaucratic and media class of the United States, including his (supposed) own Party, and the Executive Branch which he was nominally in charge of, went to Total War with him. There's not a person in the world who could've plausibly fought that and won.