Discussion

@slims in sports you see the coaches problem. Even if all the options are bad, you still have to make a choice. Like in chess. If a team is doing bad, a coach has to do something, anything, because doing nothing gets them fired, and so you’ll see them make terrible trades, or rearranging lines, or switching goalies, even if it doesn’t fix the problem. Even if it makes new problems. Even if it makes the original problem worse.
Politicians are like coaches. Doing nothing gives the opposition ammunition in the next election, it goes in the news cycle, costs businesses money. Reputational damage. All they are is a reputation so they feel it a lot.
So they make a choice, even if all the choices are flaccid half-measures.