From COVID to the Economy: Trump’s Playbook of Denial and Disaster
I'm genuinely worried Trump will manage the economy the same way he "managed" COVID: with denial, deflection, and a dangerous disregard for reality.
Let’s rewind to February 7, 2020. Trump already knew how deadly COVID was. We’re not talking speculation—we’re talking facts. In a recorded interview with Bob Woodward, he said, on tape, that the virus was airborne and far more lethal than the flu.
“It goes through air, Bob. That’s always tougher than the touch. You know, the touch—you don’t have to touch things, right? But the air—you just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed... And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flus.”
While Trump privately admitted on February 7, 2020, that the virus was deadly and airborne, he was out in public doing what he does best: pretending everything was fine while reality screamed otherwise.
Take this gem from February 10, 2020—just three days later—at one of his rallies (because governing by rally is apparently a thing):
“It’s going to go away. One day—it’s like a miracle—it will disappear.”
A miracle. Like the virus would pack up and leave because Trump told it to.
Then came March 19, 2020, in another taped conversation with Bob Woodward—because if there's one thing Trump does consistently, it’s confess to the worst things on tape:
“I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”
Right. Because nothing says “calm leadership” like willfully misleading the public while a deadly virus spreads.
But hey, don’t just take my word for it. Trump said all of this himself. On the record. On tape. With dates.
As of April 2025, COVID-19 has taken the lives of approximately 1,219,487 Americans. That’s more than a number—it’s a national trauma written in empty chairs at dinner tables and silenced phone calls that never came.
And here’s the part that still makes my blood boil: A February 2021 report by The Lancet Commission found that up to that point in time, roughly 40% of the U.S. COVID-19 deaths were avoidable. That’s not speculation. That’s science comparing us to other high-income G7 nations—the kind that didn’t let conspiracy theories guide public health policy.
Translation? If we’d handled the pandemic with even a fraction of the responsibility that other developed nations did, hundreds of thousands of Americans might still be alive.
But instead, we got magical thinking, misinformation, and a man more interested in saving face than saving lives.
Now It’s Happening With Our Economy
Here we are again—stuck in the sequel no one asked for: Trump Denial Syndrome, Part II.
Despite the nonstop spin from Fox News and the MAGA echo chamber, the facts haven’t changed. At the same time Trump was elected in 2024, he inherited a strong, stable American economy. Not just decent—thriving.
How thriving?
Just days after the election, The Economist called the U.S. economy “The Envy of the World.” That’s not a blog post or someone’s uncle on Facebook—that’s a global financial publication with zero reason to sugarcoat reality.
Trump didn’t build that. He walked into it like a guy handed the keys to a Ferrari and convinced himself he built the engine.
Despite inheriting a booming economy and a record-breaking stock market, Trump still managed to do what Trump does best: break things that were already working.
The man who once racked up six bankruptcies—including, yes, a casino (which is basically like losing money in a rigged game where you’re the house)—took his same business instincts to the White House.
Enter the tariffs.
He threw tariffs around like a toddler flinging blocks—no strategy, just chaos. And instead of building anything, he knocked down stability, rattled global markets, and ignited tension. By April 2, 2025—now mockingly called Liberation Day—we watched the same reckless pattern he displayed during the early COVID days play out all over again.
The next day the Dow plunged nearly 1,700 points.
The Nasdaq tanked 6%.
It was the worst market wipeout since 2020.
The guy who managed to tariff penguins on a deserted island also managed to spook the global economy with the precision of a bull in a China shop—only louder, prouder, and somehow still blaming everyone else.
And this is the man some folks still trust to run the country?
He knows better. And so do the people around him. The so-called "experts" in his orbit aren’t ignorant—they’re complicit.
But as always, Trump isn’t leading. He’s gaslighting.
It’s not just spin. It’s a full-on manipulation of reality, designed to make Americans doubt what they see, what they feel, what they know.
And no—just like the way he denied COVID, it’s not OK.
This isn’t some political strategy. It’s a dangerous pattern. One that’s corroding truth, eroding trust, and leaving the country more divided, more cynical, and more exhausted by the day.
God help us.
Mitch Jackson, Esq. | links
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