>It would take the sort of effort (for the US or EU) only possible with total hindsight. But if Trump tried to seal our borders with force in Jan 2020, there is

>It would take the sort of effort (for the US or EU) only possible with total hindsight. But if Trump tried to seal our borders with force in Jan 2020, there is no way Democrats would have accepted it. They'd call it rationalization for an attack on immigration. Much worse than that. Remember, Trump's (first) impeachment by the House had occurred in December 2019. He was not acquitted in the Senate until early February. Patient Zero for the US is believed to have entered on January 15. Had Trump on January 14 announced a total and complete shutdown of the US border, Democrats and 95% of mass media would immediately have denounced it as Trump preparing a coup to seize total power, using the ridiculous pretext of a disease that had had zero impact on the US (and was racist to ascribe in any way to China).