Masha Gessen, writing for the New Yorker, compares the Trump Administration’s response to the Coronavirus to the Soviet Response to Chernobyl. Perhaps more foundational, though, is this:

But the Trump Administration shares two key features with the Soviet government: utter disregard for human life, and a monomaniacal focus on pleasing its leader, who wishes only to look good and powerful. These are the features of totalitarian leadership. We have long known that Trump has totalitarian instincts, that he would want to establish total control over a mobilized society if only such an option were available to him. Fortunately for us, however weak American institutions have turned out to be, we have been a long way from the possibility of totalitarianism. But the coronavirus has brought us a step closer.

Pence’s super-weird praise of Trump after the super-weird press conference on Friday, March 13 is a precise illustration of this.

How the Coronavirus Pandemic Fuels Trump’s Autocratic Instincts