folks like to go back 8 months ago and lay blame
that was 8 months ago and we are spiking in new cases today
so what should we be doing differently now not 8 months ago
unless of course you want to blame POTUS today which doesnt seem right
Well, there are things to blame him for today...
Such as not telling us we're "turning the corner" as we're seeing huge rises in cases, coupled with the expected time-delay lag of seeing increases in hospitalizations and deaths.
Such as not repeatedly holding rallies with huge crowds who are largely unmasked [even if outdoors], and other superspreader events such as the event introducing his SCOTUS nominee which is the likely cause of a cluster of cases both within his administration, the Senate, and others in attendance.
Such as not claiming that the media just keeps saying "COVID, COVID, COVID, cases, COVID" in order to hurt him politically as if this isn't not a serious pandemic. He's still downplaying it; and it's almost gotten worse since he had it.
does the federal government have the authority to require masks in North Dakota?
enforceable or not
I understand, the image of the POTUS behind a podium with a mask on and his message pleading with all americans to wear masks wouldn't hurt, not sure how much it would help. It would help some, whether that would be measureable or not.
No, the federal government, to my knowledge, does not have the authority to invoke a national mask mandate. This would fall under the general "police powers", which with some limited exceptions, are seen as state powers.
As for what he's doing, I'd settle, quite frankly, for silence or simply saying "listen to the medical experts". Instead he's consistently sending messages that go exactly counter to what medical experts are trying to put forward. Such as the debate, where he said "I have a mask, I wear a mask sometimes." and pulled it out of his suit jacket pocket, before saying about Biden "That guy, it's like every time I see him he's wearing a mask, it's like he never takes it off." Which does nothing but reinforce his stupid blowhard machismo as if he's more of a man than Biden because he's not seen with a mask.
I'll give Trump somewhat of a pass on what he did in March. Nobody knew much of anything then, and even if he told Woodward that it was a big deal, that was basically only the L strain and probably not the G, GH, or GR strains which are much more transmissible and took over.
But from April on, he's consistently downplayed it, opposed measures which helped with social distancing, tweeted his minions to "liberate" the states with lockdowns, modeled poor behavior by having large maskless gatherings on MANY occasions, both before and after his SCOTUS nominee superspreader event, and generally told people it's going to disappear and he's going to have a vaccine for us by the election. All the while he's tried to make it partisan by blaming it on Democrat-run cities or states, as if red states have handled this well.
It's hard to imagine someone giving WORSE messaging and optics on this thing than he's given since April.
