You should have had more advance warning. The concerns you’re hearing shouted from the rooftops now have been preached by the experts and scientists for a long time. The canary in the coal mine has been dead for weeks, but letting all the miners know about that demise was perceived as bad messaging, especially in an election year. To understand some of the many things that went wrong, from funding cuts, to insane priorities, to a general attack on the institutions that protect us, here’s an informative Terry Gross interview with Politico reporter Dan Diamond on Fresh Air. “My understanding is Azar did not push to do aggressive additional testing in recent weeks, and that’s partly because more testing might have led to more cases being discovered of coronavirus outbreak, and the president had made clear – the lower the numbers on coronavirus, the better for the president, the better for his potential reelection this fall.”

+ All politics is local. That phrase rarely applies to international crises, but this week it did, as our governors, mayors, and principals had to create policies in a national vacuum. NYT: The President as Bystander. “It fell to Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the government’s most famous scientist, to say publicly what the president would not.”

+ Actually, being a bystander would have been an improvement. The president was a naysayer. And not just early on. This was three days ago: “We’re prepared, and we’re doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.” WaPo: The 19 Times Trump Downplayed Covid19.

+ Of course, state TV helped: “If you are over the mass hysteria, if you’re over politicizing and weaponizing of the coronavirus, you are not alone.” How Fox News misled viewers about the coronavirus. And it continues right up until today. “It’s actually the safest time to fly.” That was Ainsley Earhardt on Fox and Friends … this morning.

+ I’m not sharing this news to demean or degrade Trump supporters. I’m sharing it to protect them. There are stark differences in how Democrats and Republicans view the threat of coronavirus.

+ The warnings are coming so late that they don’t have time to get through. Example: Disneyland Opens to Crowds On Last Day Before Coronavirus Closure.

+ Americans finally started taking this seriously on Wednesday night. But not because of the disastrous presidential address. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Why suspending the NBA season was a glorious act of patriotism.

+ The biggest message that Trump could send Americans is to self-quarantine. He can still keep watching TV and tweeting like the rest of us. He’s had repeated contact with those who have tested positive. But taking the step of following the experts’ guidelines, he could wake people up to the risks. NY Mag: Why Isn’t Trump in Quarantine?