Coronavirus Criminals and Pandemic Profiteers: Accountability for Those Who Caused the Crisis

by John Nichols

Overview

A furious denunciation of America’s coronavirus criminals

Hundreds of thousands of deaths were caused not by the vicissitudes of nature but by the callous and opportunistic decisions of powerful people, as revealed here by John Nichols. 

On March 10, 2020, president Donald Trump told a nation worried about a novel coronavirus, “We’re prepared, and we’re doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.” It has since been estimated that had Trump simply taken the same steps as other G7 countries, 40 percent fewer Americans would have died. 

And it was not just the president. His inner circle, including Mike Pence and Jared Kushner, downplayed the crisis and mishandled the response. Cabinet members such as Betsy DeVos and Mike Pompeo undermined public safety at home and abroad to advance their agendas. Senators Ron Johnson and Mitch McConnell, governors Kristi Noem and Andrew Cuomo, judges such as Wisconsin Supreme Court justice Rebecca Bradley all promulgated public policies that led to suffering and death. Meanwhile, profiteer Pfizer (and anti-government propagandists such as Grover Norquist) fed at the public trough, while the billionaire Jeff Bezos added pandemic profits to a grotesquely bloated fortune. 

John Nichols closes with a call for a version of the Pecora Commission, which took aim at what Franklin Delano Roosevelt called the “speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, and profiteering” that stoked the Depression. There must be accountability.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781839763779
Publisher:	Verso Books
Publication date:	01/25/2022
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	1,011,041
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 5.60(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

John Nichols writes about politics for The Nation as its national-affairs correspondent. Nichols is a contributing writer for The Progressive and In These Times and the associate editor of the Capital Times, the daily newspaper in Madison, Wisconsin. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and dozens of other newspapers.

He is the author of several books, including The Fight for the Soul of the Democratic Party, The Genius of Impeachment, The "S" Word, Horsemen of the Trumpocalypse: A Field Guide to the Most Dangerous People in America, Jews for Buchanan, and Dick Cheney, Dick: The Man Who is President

Table of Contents

Preface: Accountability Is a Dish Best Served Fresh, and Hot ix

Acknowledgments xiii

Introduction: In the name of Mike Jackson 1

1 The Killing Presidency of Donald Trump 11

2 Mike Pence: Yes-Man of the Apocalypse 24

3 The Grounding of Jared Kushner 44

4 The Unmasking of Mark Meadows 58

5 Mike Pompeo's Cold War against Science and Solidarity 69

6 How Betsy DeVos Tried to Leverage a Pandemic to Privatize Public Education 85

7 Elaine Chao Let Them Die 93

8 Mitch McConnell's Fatal Bargain 113

9 How Rand Paul Got Covid-19 Wrong, Wrong and Wrong Again 126

10 Have Another Shot of Hydroxychloroquine, Ron Johnson 136

11 The Kristi Noem Nightmare 145

12 Ron DeSantis's Imperial Overreach 159

13 Andrew Cuomo's Broken Halo 166

14 The Deadly Delusions of Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley 181

15 That Time Rahm Emanuel Offshored America's Ability to Fight a Pandemic 192

16 Pfizer's Vaccine Profiteering 203

17 Drowning Grover Norquist's Anti-Government Delusion in the Bathtub of His Own Hypocrisy 217

18 The Pandemic Profiteering of Jeffrey Preston Bezos 227

Conclusion: The United States of Impunity 242

A Note on Sources 271

Index 311

Editorial Reviews

11/08/2021

Journalist Nichols (The Fight for the Soul of the Democratic Party) delivers a blistering rebuke of politicians and private corporations for exacerbating the Covid-19 pandemic. He cites a Columbia University study showing that President Trump’s refusal to take “urgent action” in March 2020 led to 54,000 avoidable deaths in the early stages of the pandemic, and argues that Vice President Mike Pence’s history of ignoring an HIV outbreak as governor of Indiana should have disqualified him from leading the White House’s coronavirus task force. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, meanwhile, tried to pressure South Africa and other countries not to accept much-needed medical aid from Cuba. Nichols also alleges that vaccine manufacturer Pfizer maximized profits at the expense of underserved communities around the world and blames Democratic politician Rahm Emanuel for promoting neoliberal trade policies that gutted U.S. manufacturing and led to a critical shortfall in masks and other medical supplies. Citing the example of the 1932–1934 Senate investigation into the causes of the Great Depression, Nichols calls for a “reckoning” against those who chose “political advantage or personal profit over human life and shared prosperity.” Well researched and brisk, this damning exposé pulls no punches. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

★ 2021-10-26
A laundry list of pandemic woes that is sure to alarm as much as it angers and informs its readers.

For nearly two years, Covid-19 has dominated headlines. It’s understandable if Americans can’t keep up, but according to the Nationnational-affairs correspondent Nichols, what’s more perplexing is the lack of outrage at leadership for rampant incompetence and greed. They not only cost lives; they squandered opportunities to step up when the nation needed guidance. In all, 18 guilty parties, from Pfizer to Jeff Bezos, make the cut. In some cases, it was a family affair. Consider Donald Trump’s stubborn refusal to acknowledge the severity of the virus (“Trump made his presidency America’s pre-existing condition. He lied, and Americans died”) or his ill-fated appointment of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to head the virus task force. Then there's Elaine Chao and Mitch McConnell. Chao refused to enact safety protocols for the department of transportation, while McConnell demanded a no lawsuits clause ahead of relief laws, cawing “no liability shield, no relief.” There are also solo acts such as Betsy DeVos, who used her department of education position to bolster privatization efforts, and, of course, Vice President Mike Pence, who resurrected his villainous role from the days of the AIDS crisis as a denier, earning him a “desperate little man” designation. Lest readers presume this is a pile-on manifesto with Republicans as the only targets, the book is mostly balanced. Andrew Cuomo receives castigation for his misinformation that led to nursing home deaths, and Nichols also calls out Rahm Emmanuel for offshoring efforts so severe that logistical mazes stalled much-needed supply delivery efforts. At the end, the author delivers the inevitable call to action: We must demand accountability and end impunity, and “the guilty must be named and shamed” and “consigned to the ash heap of history.”

A striking refresher course that will leave readers with a renewed hunger for justice regarding the pandemic.

Kirkus Reviews

As someone who lost my own father to this deadly pandemic, I can’t tell you how refreshing and necessary John’s book is. I hope this book spurs us to at long last hold accountable those who failed—and continue to fail—to protect lives.”
—US Representative Ilhan Omar

“John Nichols has done it again. Many history books will be written about Covid-19, but those interested in learning about the key players responsible for exacerbating the pandemic must start here. This is a brilliant roadmap for ensuring those responsible are held accountable.”
—US Representative Ro Khanna

“Nichols names and shames the politicians and business leaders who let countless Americans perish from Covid-19. With vivid accounts, Nichols shows us exactly why ‘we have a duty, to the dead, to the ailing, to the damaged and the endangered’ to hold these villains accountable.”
— Jennifer Taub, author of Big Dirty Money: Making White Collar Criminals Pay

“This is such a necessary exercise in truth-telling. In the name of all those who did not have to die, may we resist the lies that lead to unnecessary death.”
— William J. Barber, II, President of Repairers of the Breach and Cochair of the Poor People’s Campaign

“This riveting book tells us what we need to know about the crooks who took advantage of a moment of incredible weakness in our country, and it tells us how we can—and must—hold them accountable.”
—Zephyr Teachout, author of Break ’Em Up: Recovering Our Freedom from Big Ag, Big Tech, And Big Money

“Sure to alarm as much as it angers and informs … [Coronavirus Criminals and Pandemic Profiteers] will leave readers with a renewed hunger for justice regarding the pandemic.”
—Kirkus (“Starred Review”)

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