Not true, to anyone who lost a single person to covid it was/is very real and therefore the MSM messaging about it resonates far more than Trump's original "ah its nbd calm down" narrative (which i agreed with, causing a panic was the wrost thing he could have done).

You can't manipulate the perception of your grandmother dieing alone in a hospital hooked up to a ventilator. Or a mandatory socially distant funeral where you can't hug one another for comfort. This is one of the reasons they hammered the covid fear mongering so hard. There was visceral connection with people & real events that grabbed people's attention.

you are right about the travel ban and it being known as the Trump virus for the rest of history though. Unfortunately shitty employees don't get the blame when a company is caught with its pants down, the CEO does. (not saying its right but thats how the world works. Leadership is typically blamed and/or lauded even when the positive or negative event had nothing to do with their own personal actions)