Early last week, the Trump era—which defined itself by a lurid celebration of “alternative facts,” a contempt for science, and an assault on global institutions and the “administrative state”—came to an end. Regrettably, Donald Trump remains in office, but, at least for the moment, he appears to have ceded the argument: he cannot bend the harshest realities of the world to his fantasies. The aggressive and deadly coronavirus is unimpressed and unimpeded by the bluster of a con. Yet the prolonged process of Trump’s humbling, the time it took him to recognize the power of the global pandemic that has emptied our streets, has put untold numbers of Americans at risk.

The disease now known as COVID-19 was first identified three months ago, in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Much like SARS, which flared eighteen years ago, the likeliest breeding ground for the new coronavirus was a live-animal market. Like SARS, H.I.V., and Ebola, COVID-19, scientists believe, is a zoonotic disease, one that “jumps” from mammalian animal hosts to human beings. The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 soon made its way to nearly every corner and crevice of the planet.

For many weeks, the President resisted understanding the magnitude of the problems and the responsibilities of his office. In late January, he declared, “We have it totally under control. . . . It’s going to be just fine.” A month later, he told attendees at a White House celebration of Black History Month, “One day—it’s like a miracle—it will disappear.” Was he doing a good job? He gave himself “a ten.” Those who raised concerns about the Administration’s cuts in emergency preparedness or the outrageous failure to supply testing kits were promulgating “a hoax.”

This blithe unconcern for the looming crisis was hardly limited to Trump. His satraps in the “alternative fact” industry took their cues from him to rest easy in a warm bubble bath of denialism. Rush Limbaugh, who received a Presidential Medal of Freedom at Trump’s latest State of the Union address, told his immense radio audience that the virus was “the common cold, folks.” And, by the way, “Keep in mind where the coronavirus came from. It came from a country that Bernie Sanders wants to turn the United States into a mirror image of: Communist China.” Mark Steyn, filling in for Limbaugh one day, said that a shelter-in-place order had been issued in the Bay Area because “it’s a big gay town, San Francisco, and they’re the ones with all the compromised immune systems.”

On “Fox & Friends,” Ainsley Earhardt dismissed any cautions against travel––“It’s actually the safest time to fly”––and her sidekick Pete Hegseth mentioned that he was starting to think that the Democrats were “rooting for the coronavirus to spread.” Over on Fox Business, Trish Regan accused the liberal media and Democrats of trying to manipulate the news of the coronavirus as “yet another attempt to impeach the President.”

Sean Hannity, who has the biggest ratings on cable news, invited Dr. Anthony Fauci, the most visible public-health official on the White House coronavirus task force, to appear on his show. But, in Hannity’s world, as in Trump’s, bloviation precedes fact. And so Hannity went first. “The standard flu every single year kills tens of thousands of Americans. Now, does truth matter? Does perspective matter?” Fauci, just as he does when standing beside the President, betrayed no sign of disdain, as he politely corrected the misinformation. “Sean, to make sure your viewers get an accurate idea about what goes on,” he said, COVID-19 is “ten times more lethal than the seasonal flu.”

Fake news and conspiracy theories are opportunistic viruses, and for many weeks there was no end to their spread. Jerry Falwell, Jr., one of Trump’s leading evangelical supporters, repeated a theory suggested to him by a restaurant owner he knows: “You remember the North Korean leader promised ‘a Christmas present for America back in December’? Could it be they got together with China and this is that present?” Ron Paul, a former Republican Presidential candidate and a physician, wrote, “People should ask themselves whether this coronavirus ‘pandemic’ could be a big hoax, with the actual danger of the disease massively exaggerated by those who seek to profit––financially or politically––from the ensuing panic.”

During this dangerous period, a range of polls revealed that Republicans, in particular, trust Trump’s information on the virus more than that of the “lame-stream media.” A Marist College-NPR-PBS poll found that more than half of this group thought the risk was being “blown out of proportion.” The Trumpian efforts to downplay the threat to public health held fast among “the base.”

What finally shattered Trump’s serene confidence and the consensus of his followers? Fauci and other officials on the White House task force certainly began to cut through his dismissals in their briefing sessions. An analysis from epidemiologists at Imperial College London, forecasting as many as 2.2 million American fatalities and a health-care system under siege, reportedly helped advance the argument for strict social-distancing measures. And, because this is Trump World, the President listened attentively when he received a visit at Mar-a-Lago from Tucker Carlson, who broke ranks with his Fox News colleagues and urged serious action.

Trump cannot be forgiven for his preening and his belatedness. And yet this least trustworthy of Commanders-in-Chief is entrusted by the authority of his office to make a series of critical decisions. In order to “flatten the curve,” we have rightly set in motion a set of edicts that, while necessary to control the pandemic, will continue to batter the economy, create deep atomization, and cause all manner of suffering. The human need for solidarity is frustrated by the need for social distancing. An economy that seizes up entirely could, in theory, produce nearly as much suffering as the virus itself, particularly for the most vulnerable among us. A host of well-judged policy decisions must be made and executed effectively if the country is to be spared the worst. As recently as Friday, however, the President spent much of his briefing berating a reporter and further alarming the public. It is better to be lucky than good, the old saw has it. Trump is not good; we must hope that he will be lucky.

Right now, as we sit in our homes, washing our hands yet again, as we try to read the querulous expressions of our children, scientists and pharmaceutical companies are racing to develop antiviral treatments and—what will be our most valuable weapon—a vaccine. But no such deliverance is likely to arrive in this calendar year. In the meantime, another form of protection has become more urgent than ever. Misinformation and cant, along with a kindred scorn for science and professional expertise: these things are pathogens, too. Counterfeit facts can polarize, alienate, disaffect, rouse misdirected rage, and foment social division. They have long come at a cost to our civility; at a time of pandemic, especially, they also come at a cost in human lives. ♦

A Guide to the Coronavirus