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Trump and DeSantis Are Disowning a Big Republican Success Story
- jfengel 4y agoThat's been the case since before he left office. They leaned early into "the pandemic isn't a problem, and COVID is a hoax". There was no way to reverse that stance: you can't take credit for curing a disease that isn't a problem. Maybe it's surprising that they can't find an excuse to justify the cognitive dissonance. They also leaned into "COVID is China's fault", and it wouldn't be hard to start it as "American science beats China". That would involve some creative forgetting, but people are pretty good at that. That would have been easier if they did it while Trump was still in office. I think he tried it a few times. But by then, they were so busy declaring that masks were bad and lockdowns were socialism that it would have required more than just embarrassed throat-clearing to cover up the change in approach. Lots of people have built their identity around the notion that this is all some vast conspiracy. On top of that is the even longer running problem that government is the worst possible thing, and they don't want to admit that the government could do a good thing. It's not as if liberals want to credit Trump for directing the government to do the right thing. It's not as if any President could do more than just follow the recommendation of their science adviser -- who in Trump's case had become a villain too.