They are driven by an ideology which has degraded the public institutions which we require here underfunding science in general and the public health sector. They have placed too much faith in the market to solve all our problems so when the proverbial hits the fan they are dumbstruck.
They have been cushioned by a compliant corporate media which has persistently failed to hold them to account accepting bs for facts, They have been conditioned into a learned helplessness no different to the teenager whose mother continually makes excuses for them and cleans up after them. They are just as useless when the job really needs doing.
But to compound it, I suspect their constant misinformation and shadiness will sabotage their efforts to calm the community in the face of fear because in times like this the community must rely on their trust in leadership. It's a lesson we have long forgot ... integrity matters.
