re: #185 Dangerman

Warp Speed was about cutting red tape. It succeeded in as much as doing so was part of the GOP mantra of destroying the administrative state and guardrails and protections that regulatory oversight provide.

But we also know that Trump, Pence, Jared and his covid task force didn’t give a shit about logistics or anything else relating to the pandemic. They wanted credit for the existence of Warp Speed and the existence of a vaccine (Pfizer’s was first to US market, and it was developed in Europe w/BioNTech), not that it would be easily obtainable or provided to the states for distribution easily and quickly. Logistics was completely beyond their grasp or care. We saw this with the PPE debacle too.

There’s a reason that Fauci tried to limit masking at the outset - because health care workers were scrambling for the same items and their needs had to be prioritized. Save the health care workers from being decimated and completely wrecking health care delivery in the US. Trump didn’t care about that either, so he made a sport of having states compete against each other for scarce materials. But once things got to a certain point, masking became necessary for everyone.