After Covid-19, there’s no post-Trump ‘normal’ to return to

By Joe Rothstein

It’s time to shape the new normal.

This doesn’t happen often. There are inflection points in history where the hard metal of conventional wisdom softens and becomes pliable in flames of historically intense heat. World War I, World War II, the Great Depression, the Arab oil embargo of the 1970s, the opening of China, the economic crash of 2008 — all led to significant changes in public outlook and created environments for major change in public policy.

Now we’re in the midst of the Covid-19 calamity. Don’t minimize the importance of what Congress just decided to do. It won’t necessarily change the minds of Republicans about the role of government, but it most certainly will impact public opinion about what government can and should be doing about health and economic policy.

Most provisions in the $2 trillion disaster relief measure have a four-month expiration date. What comes next? What comes next if the unemployment rate is 10% or more? What happens if many companies, despite federal support, go under because of broken supply chains or changes in consumer preferences, or they simply run out of cash or credit? What comes next when cities and states wind up crippled by reduced tax bases, when trillions have been added to the national debt, when the Federal Reserve is awash in mortgage paper it’s purchased or guaranteed?

It takes little imagination to expect a post-virus world that demands major public fixes.

The future of health care has been front and center in the campaign for the presidential nomination. Now, add to that discussion the…