It’s easy to blame Donald Trump for the entirety of the U.S. government’s chaotic and ineffective response to the Covid-19 pandem-ic in 2020 and early 2021. He is indeed responsible for downplay-ing the risk posed by the virus, delaying the federal government’s response, and making reckless-ly false claims about Covid-19 therapies. The most striking at-tacks were against institutions. Before the pandemic, the Trump administration eliminated an im-portant biosecurity-related role on the National Security Council and ousted the leader of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.