The Trump Contagion: How Incompetence, Dishonesty, and Neglect Led to the Worst-Handled Crisis in American History (Logos Institute Crisis Case Studies Series)

There is a process for managing infectious disease outbreaks, and Ebola showed that the U.S. was pretty good at it. So crisis management expert Helio Fred Garcia was astonished in the early months of the pandemic that the U.S. was not following the infectious disease management playbook for COVID-19. Rather, the U.S. was making all the predictable crisis management mistakes that he and his colleagues always warn their clients against. Garcia began to document what was happening. This book is the consequence of that documentation. It is Garcia’s attempt to bear witness to the decision-making that unnecessarily cost so many lives and disrupted life as we knew it. This book also provides valuable lessons to help leaders avoid similar failures when they manage future crises.

Endorsements
Crisis expert Helio Fred Garcia illuminates in his latest book, The Trump Contagion, the consequences of the Trump Administration’s mishandling of the COVID crisis and exposes their mistakes and resulting outcomes. It serves as a cautionary reminder of the imperative of having leaders who are adept at crisis response. The Trump Contagion is a must-read as it identifies invaluable lessons of effective crisis response, transparent leadership, expert guidance and decisive action in crisis communication and management.

-- Jacqueline F. Strayer, C-Suite Leader, Founder, Sound Advisory Group, Inc. and the Global Brand Convergence®. Adjunct Professor, New York University and Columbia University

The Trump Contagion is a fascinating story of the mishandling and avoidable mistakes of the U.S. COVID crisis communication and response activities. Importantly, it describes the proven steps for effective crisis communication that should have been followed by the Trump Administration. Business executives, government officials, and other leaders would be smart to read this book to learn valuable, hard lessons - without living them directly - by studying the missteps that occurred in this defining crisis.

-- Matthew Lee Sawyer, Founder of USAcceleratorä and Adjunct Professor, Columbia University and New
York University

The Trump Contagion documents for world history the evil legacy of Donald Trump. More innocent Americans died or got sick with COVID needlessly during and following Trump’s single term than were lost in all wars Americans fought and died in. All questionable, inappropriate, unethical, unconscionable, immoral, predatory, improper, victim-producing, and criminal behaviors are intentional. All ethical, moral, compassionate, decent, civil, and lawful behaviors are also intentional. The choice is always clear and personal. Trump intentionally targeted harming the innocent and the victimized . . . the very definition of evil.
-- James E. Lukaszewski, America’s Crisis Guru®