"It is one thing to plan for better times. It is something different to suggest they are just around the corner, as Trump has done repeatedly..."

"... since the outbreak began.... If the immediate public-health challenge is still enormous, so is the task of preparing for a gradual reopening of the economy. The most detailed consideration of this subject I have seen comes from Germany... [T]he most striking thing about the German study is the list of things that it identified as necessary for such a policy to be successfully implemented.... The United States has none of these things. Despite widespread agreement among epidemiologists and economists that a massive increase in COVID-19 testing is urgently needed, it hasn’t been implemented yet. Although the over-all number of tests has ramped up, there is little consistency across states, which translates to huge uncertainty about the real rates of infection in different places.... One reason why the COVID-19 fatality rate in Germany is so low—less than two per cent—is that its universal health-care system provided widespread testing and high levels of care from the beginning... The German report pointed out that [reopening] would need to be explained clearly to the public in a way that was realistic and made explicit that the new policy didn’t amount to a return to 'business as usual.' Credible political leaders would need to 'appeal to common values and emphasize moral standards' and 'solidarity.' It would also help if the person communicating the policy 'acts as a "role model," i.e., a person who aligns his or her own behavior with the measures.' This reads like a definition of an anti-Trump...."

From "Trump’s 'Light at the End of the Tunnel' Is a Delusion" by John Cassidy (in The New Yorker). Beautiful photo by Chip Somodevilla — worth clicking of only for that.

Does the press have any responsibility for tearing down Trump's credibility right when we need it? I'd say they should be scrupulously careful not to do any of the ordinary political partisanship that had already badly infected journalism. There's a lot of ruined credibility out there. Everyone ought to be trying to crawl back toward the truth. I think Trump — in his daily briefings — has been "appeal[ing] to common values and emphasiz[ing] moral standards and solidarity." But the Trump-hating media will not help him do this. They're looking for ways to blame him, to worsen his credibility. Why not help?