Look to individual people's motives, not the US' interests. US Sec of State Pompeo knows Trump, who fires cabinet members that don't tow the line and act loyall

Look to individual people's motives, not the US' interests. US Sec of State Pompeo knows Trump, who fires cabinet members that don't tow the line and act loyally to him, wants the US to appear no worse impacted by COVID than other countries to prevent general election weakness. Pompeo therefore does whatever he can to generate news articles about how much worse other countries are.