Trump/the US gov bought up almost the world’s supply of perhaps the most effective drug on the market. This is similar to his moves with hydoxy but he now has a proven effective drug. Again, why buy so much supply? Answer: because demand will be high
If he keeps hospitalizations and infections high, remdesivir demand will stay high.
And if he owns the supply in the US, he could likely use GOP linked companies to distribute to hospitals and get his kickbacks. In this case as in PPE, there is no incentive to fight the pandemic.
Notice the sky high prices tag on remdesivir. 3200 for 6 doses. Seems as though the US government set the price here. So maybe there isn’t a need for a middle man here. The Trump admin has directly done the price gouging again.
Regardless, the fact remains is that there is a financial incentive to keep hospitals full due to covid, to keep patients treated with remdesivir (and in some cases still with hydroxy) and for drs and nurses to burn thru restricted supplies of PPE such as N95 masks
Trump and his cronies are practically minting money off the pandemic right now. Things are good. They are getting rich. Why change the status quo? They are happy. So what is their messaging now: they want the rest of us to “live with it”.