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The question of whether you are better off today than you were four years ago is particularly pertinent regarding Donald Trump’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. When he came into office, he closed down the White House’s National Security Council Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense, which Barack Obama had created in response to the Ebola crisis. When the pandemic hit in 2020, Trump said initially it was just one case — no big deal.
The estimated cost of the pandemic in the U.S. was $16 trillion and the national death toll is over 1.2 million people. Joe Biden requested $6.2 million to fund the Office of Pandemic Preparedness next year, but Trump has said it is a waste of money and promised to close it down. Such shortsightedness is a hallmark of Trump’s personality, and why we cannot afford another four years of his MAGA malarkey.
John Jaeger
Makiki
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