> Is what we are seeing now primarily a consequence of of COVID-19 or not?
"is the 2008 crisis primarily a consequence of mortgages or not?"
In the grand scheme of things, no, it's a consequence of a bubbled economy that has been goosed with tax cuts, extremely low interest rates, and deregulation for too long and is overdue for a correction. The proximate cause is Covid but it just was the spark that lit the fire, there was lots of fuel building up.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necessity_and_sufficiency
This is why you don't cut tax rates and keep interest rates super low when the economy is already roaring. Now we're out of options for dealing with a real financial crisis.
Trump of course understands none of this since he's a narcissistic con man who just understands "tax cuts = economy more better!". Insofar as he can be said to understand anything - he's not a man that can be described as intellectually curious.