I felt the current response in this country was the right one from the very beginning. I did not support the initial shutdown or the "one size shoe fits all" approach from the very beginning. I have always thought a locally directed "phased approach" design to protect the health care system from being overwhelmed and those individuals most at risk was the right one.

Whether you spent a career in health care or simply study the history of pandemics, you would have quickly realized the most important thing was to figure out how to get the country "back to work". A pandemic is a marathon consisting of multiple waves and starving the country of economic sustenance is not the answer.

Recently, the WHO released a study saying lockdowns have led to a doubling of the poverty rate in many countries. Other studies are coming out and just beginning to measure the long term impact of closing down the schools and other social and health issues once the final bill is tallied, it is certain that lockdowns represent a cure worse then the disease.

Trump and his supporters inherently recognized in the first two weeks of the national lockdown that doing so was a mistake. It was a natural panic response.

More that most political leaders, Trump saw and sees a country as a "political entity" but also an economic engine that has to keep moving.

The article makes this point that Trump supporters are willing to die to keep this country moving.

My father in law lives in Asia and is retired military from the country of his citizenship. He once commented the single thing that made the US military so formidable was the willingness of its soldiers to die for their country. Not our weapons, not our organization, but our patriotism was what made the American military something to fear.

Interesting that same "response" is one that will likely result in us getting through the pandemic better than other nations.