Trumpism, not polarization, drives America’s disastrous coronavirus politics

“This outcome is a policy choice. The unnecessary lives lost. The long-term effects we don’t even know about yet on our vital organs. It’s all a policy choice.”

On June 25, the Pew Research Center published a startling poll. The difference between Democratic and Republican attitudes on Covid-19 was growing. Thirty-seven percent of Democrats, but 72 percent of Republicans, said they’d feel comfortable getting a haircut. Twenty-eight percent of Democrats, but 65 percent of Republicans, were willing to eat in a restaurant. Eight percent of Democrats, but 31 percent of...