I imagine in terms of medical care access and affordability or welfare stimulus, practically negligible, but in terms of CDC funding, science literacy, public policy, and general preparedness, it would be a whole lot better put together.
So I'd say... 10% fewer deaths? 200K vs. 220K deaths sounds about right.
Not much would've been different with the pandemic under Hillary or even Obama.
One thing to take into consideration is that Trump really was better off losing in the first place. His victory pushed the far right into the spotlight before they were ready. Had Clinton won, they would've had 4 years to sit back and keep building up their base and pushing propaganda while a neo-liberal president continues to do fuck all about the problems we have.
The GOP was already set to block everything with Clinton had she won and they were going to try and impeach her in 2017. We would've entered 2020 with a completely inept government and probably with the GOP retaking the house from 2018's midterms. All in all, it would've been like Obama's second term where they are unable to do anything and we most likely would've had a government shutdown at one point.
As for the pandemic, I can see all this happening under Hillary
Back in January, no one was taking it seriously at all. As another commenter pointed out, I too doubt that Clinton would've acted sooner than Trump. It would've been ignored until it reached us.
Republican governors and red states would've blocked any attempts from a Clinton administration pushing lockdowns and safety measures. Remember how during the Obama years none of them wanted to work with him and would stand their ground and basically tell the president to fuck off? Imagine that, but with Clinton, they would be even more hostile due to how hated she is.
On the other hand, the lockdowns hurt the economy and this wouldn't be much of a conversation anyway. Clinton wouldn't be serious about lockdowns and the talk would be short lived. The conspiracy stuff about the vaccine being a hoax would've still happened.
No stimulus check whatsoever or a relief bill that even offers us crumbs. Dems made it 100% clear earlier this year they wanted to offer tax credits and were against the stimulus all together (and when the first talks of a 2nd relief bill began, Pelosi and company were still talking about tax credits). We would've got a COVID relief bill that still bails out the banks, wall street and corporations, while we just get tax credits.
The conservative media would be the only ones on TV criticizing Hillary and talking about how poorly she's handling this. As a result, you would've seen a far more critical eye focused on New York and how Cuomo had the biggest epicenter in the world for COVID earlier this year. There wouldn't be much push to make him out to be a hero. The right would be screaming at the top of their lungs about how bad Dems are handling this.
The death toll wouldn't have changed much. We would still be sitting on a number of 200k and it growing.
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I basically agree. The Trump admin did do some screwing around with federal supplies that might have made things a little worse along with his general incompetence. Under Clinton we would have a slightly slowed pandemic escalation but anti-lockdown craziness would have likely escalated faster. Overall, it was a failure of American institutions and culture rather than the Trump admin.
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This is basically what I was trying to tell the OP when they had a hissy fit.
The US absolutely does not have institutions to deal with a pandemic like this. Since the 80s and embracing neoliberalism, they have been stripping the government of institutions, safety nets and defunding things. Not just Republicans but Democrats too all in the name of bipartisanship.
Just look at that asshole Cuomo in NY, who flat out said that a pandemic wasn't going to prevent him from doing budget cuts. He cut medicaid and defunded hospitals anyway. That's the kind of stuff that people don't think about from the Dems. They push austerity too while whining "we need to balance a budget and raise taxes".
I think an argument can be had for how this pandemic would've shaped things for a better healthcare system maybe 50-60 years ago, before our culture became so individualist and our government centered around neoliberalism. If this was going on during the 70s, oh yes, we might have a real movement and push for a universal healthcare system in response to this failure.