re: Realistically - what could have been done post-2019 to prevent where we are?

Take away the flaming pile of dog poop that was the 2020 season, which in many ways was ignited by the pandemic and political unrest causing shite culture, and this would have happened but not as quickly.
There would have always been poor decisions made and ineptness to succeed at a job this large by Ed, it just happened really fast dt circumstance