And that's the problem with... let's say politics generally, but Trump especially. Two of Trump's biggest winning issues have been travel bans and China. Taki

And that's the problem with... let's say politics generally, but Trump especially. Two of Trump's biggest winning issues have been travel bans and China. Taking the opportunity to combine them was such a political no-brainer that he didn't need to believe in the virus to do it. Over and over again, when Trump has succeeded politically by saying things that are transparently untrue, we have been told that we'll never understand him politically if we are hung up on facts, because we need to "take him seriously, but not literally." I think that advice applies very neatly to this case. His travel ban was seriously meant as a gesture of resistance against a serious threat of disease from China, but the threat was not literally the coronavirus, as his subsequent rhetoric showed. Having a travel ban against foreigners arriving from China felt good and safe for his supporters regardless of the literal medical danger posed by a literal virus. "Seriously, but not literally" means that Trump could support a covid travel ban without believing that covid was a real threat. As usual, his target audience understood instantly, while the rest of us once again took months to figure out that Trump might not even have a literal opinion.