NYT had one of those mini docs yesterday where they were like, "You know what's fucked up? The fact that all the places where they've been able to control covid they're basically following the protocols that were developed in the USA by the CDC and partners." So, yeah, we learned how to lead the horse to water all right. Getting him to drink has been a heavier lift, to put it mildly.
I firmly believe that Trump would be sailing to re-election at a 90% approval if, in the middle of the Democratic debates, he'd said "fuck all that we got a crisis y'all have to do what I say to save lives" and then proceeded to dictate a semi-coherent response. He could even be looting the shit out of the process, steering massive amounts of largess and payola to his cronies, nationalizing the Proud Boys as "coronavirus response militia" or some shit and stomp on minorities because their infection rate is so high. He could be exactly the goose-stepping, venal nazi he is, only he'd be getting away with it, if he'd actually just gotten out of the way, let the medical establishment take care of things and then taken credit for any successes. Intelligence literally came to him and said "here's a one-month head start on the issue that will define your presidency, how do you want to take advantage of it" and he said "I don't." If he hadn't kicked Steve Bannon to the curb years ago we'd be looking at like a fifth Trump term.