THE UNITED STATES: Trump, Populism, and the Pandemic

ABSTRACT

Donald Trump’s performance of the COVID-19 crisis in the US was laden with populist scapegoating, polarization, and disdain for expertise, but it engendered institutional paralysis, not bold and decisive action. Rather than mobilizing state resources and “the people” to address a public health emergency, Trump downplayed the threat of the virus, defied scientific and medical recommendations for testing, mask-wearing, and social distancing measures, abdicated responsibility to subnational authorities to contain the virus, and politicized their responses. Lockdown measures or the lack thereof turned into markers of political identity that polarized American society and blocked a coherent national response. © 2023 selection and editorial matter, Nils Ringe and Lucio Rennó;individual chapters, the contributors.