That's crazy. March is much too early to try to ruin a November election.

And, ironically, a strong response by the only candidate with the bully pulpit, would have been the best way to ensure re-election.

Yeah, for those in the West who are virulently anti-CCP, last month was the best time in decades to topple their power. There was real indications that the simmering discontent would exceed the Chinese censor's ability to control and widespread public anger could have been harnessed into real regime change.

All the West had to do was fuck up less than China and the CCP could have been gone for good. Now, the exact opposite has happened, any anti-CCP voices inside of China have completely lost their legitimacy as the West manifestly has handled the virus worse than China. At the end of this, Xi has basically cemented his status as dictator for life with unchecked power because he was the leader that saved China from the worst of the virus (even if it eventually spreads to China, everyone is much more prepared now and the death toll will be much lower).

Never mind that the best predictive factor of how well you handle COVID 19 was whether your country was traumatized by SARS. Never mind that democracies like Taiwan were arguably more effective. Nobody in China is going to want a "Western" style government for the next 100 years because of COVID 19.

That would require strategic thinking and execution. Those people had their budgets cut two years ago and left. Only the sycophants remain.

Italy shut down their entire country to make Trump look bad. Wow, that's some dedication to the cause.

Nah, it's to distract from the Impeachment.

So, Italy and China quarantined tens of millions of people... because they got freaked out by NPR? C'mon.