What Went Down During The First Presidential Debate

I wonder how much Wallace is trying to close out this segment because he doesn’t want to perpetuate misinformation about mask-wearing (which is good! wear a mask!).

Amid all this talk about lockdowns, it’s worth noting that we asked a group of quantitative macroeconomists in a recent survey whether the lockdowns last spring were too aggressive or not aggressive enough. The results were extremely clear: 74 percent said the U.S. would be in a better economic position now if lockdowns had been more aggressive at the beginning of the crisis.

There has definitely been politicization of the vaccine and the pandemic. And the truth can be hard to disentangle. Trump has pushed sketchy miracle cures and made extremely untrue claims about this pandemic. And so there’s good reason not to trust him on this issue. But, on the other hand, there’s now an effect where people from Kamala Harris to teachers and parents have knee-jerk reaction to do the opposite of what the president says. There’s a story in The New Yorker this week that talks about how the president saying schools should reopen led to schools closing. Maybe even in situations where that wasn’t necessary.