re: Check in if Trump has NOT broken you...

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I thought Trump left the lockdown decisions up to the states.

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Yet left Fauci in charge and put out lockdown guidelines. He should have come out and said that he vehiminently opposed any lockdowns and sacked anyone in the federal government who supported them.

He could have done much much much more to stop this, but instead just kind of threw his hands up and pretended he had no control over it. He tried to effectively ride the fence on covid, and it backfired.

Trump clearly didn't want lockdowns, but also didn't want the media scrutiny that would come from Covid turning into the kind of world-ending pandemic it was hyped to be if he failed to act. He didn't want to end up like the mayor from Jaws. Instead, he looked weak to his supporters who opposed lockdowns AND looked like an anti-science jackass to those who supported them. Rather than picking a side and taking the flack which would come from that, he tried to be all things to all people and ended up being on an island alone.

He would talk bad about lockdowns while simultaneously doing little to nothing to remove people in the federal government who were calling for them. It was the classic government response of saying one thing and doing another, while pretending that one hand has no influence over what the other hand is doing when they're attached to the same body. One could argue that he was playing it safe in the lead up to the election, but Trump needed to go scorched earth. Playing things safe is like the prevent defense: it prevents you from winning.

Trump's legal team should have been filing nation-wide injunctions against governors for impeding interstate commerce. He should have been filing amicus briefs on behalf of business owners under the takings clause. He should have been fighting tooth and nail from March 17th, 2020 through election day.