An American Meltdown
By 
On Trump’s Soviet handling of COVID-19:
Still, these disasters have their common impact. There is that terrible feeling of vulnerability before an invisible enemy; that fear that it might already have invaded you; the realization that our science has been caught off guard and our political leaders may have priorities different from ours.
Chernobyl struck at a critical juncture in Soviet history, only a month after Mikhail Gorbachev came to power with the promise of reforming the stultifying police state through “glasnost” and “perestroika,” openness and reconstruction. Yet when a reactor in Ukraine exploded and started spewing lethal radiation, the Soviet system quickly reverted to old habits of self-serving lies, manipulation of information and secrecy.
Hours passed before the Kremlin even acknowledged an accident, long after officials in parts of Scandinavia began reporting ominous increases in radiation. The first official bulletin remains a classic in totalitarian understatement: “An accident has occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant as one of the reactors was damaged. Measures are being taken to eliminate the consequences of the accident. Aid is being given to those affected. A government commission has been set up.”
People knew enough to read between the lines: “commission,” “measures still being taken” and the terseness all spelled catastrophe. People understood that their lives were in danger, and that fear surpassed the fears by which the state exercised its control. The propaganda machine lost control of the narrative and found itself compelled to dribble out facts and warnings, though the old habit of blaming the West remained in place — as it does to this day — with claims that Americans and Western Europeans were exploiting Chernobyl to undermine Soviet credibility and foment a “campaign of hatred.” It was weeks before Mr. Gorbachev publicly acknowledged the disaster.
Trump has always admired authoritarian governments for a reason.