Several new studies and models suggest that if Donald Trump had simply declared a state of national emergency, largely shutting down the country, a few weeks earlier than he did, tens of thousands of people who are dead right now would still be alive.

He certainly had the information available to him. We now know that he was receiving classified briefings in December and January warning about the virus coming, and Peter Navarro had written a memo to him explicitly warning of exactly what is happening right now.

The problem is that Donald Trump doesn't read. He doesn't read his classified briefings, he doesn't read memos from his senior staff, he doesn't read his speeches before he gives them; he apparently doesn't read anything at all except Twitter.

While Trump may have some natural skills as a huckster, salesman and grifter, most the evidence - including statements by his previous teachers and professors - indicate he otherwise has a mediocre or even poor intellect.

So here's how banal our crisis is: our president is a man who is not particularly smart and doesn't read.

Read more here.

-Thom