Medical problems? You’re on your own…
Almost none of the states that are reopening right now or soon have met the President’s own health-based guidelines for reopening. But is the President mad about this? No. He’s happy.
And new CDC guidelines further detailing specific practices for how businesses should be reopening are being sidelined by the White House.
Why? Because the economy has to start opening up pretty rapidly now in order for Trump to have any shot of a rebound he can take credit for in time for Election Day.
Now, wouldn’t a skillful response to a gigantic health crisis maybe be an even more compelling reason to keep Trump in office? And potentially garner him even broader support? Yes, but it’s hard. Clinical trials are hard. Making vaccines is hard. Getting people tested is hard.
Working with other countries around the world on a concerted effort to find a cure for COVID-19 is hard. So the U.S. isn’t participating in that. But don’t worry. Should an effective treatment emerge from Europe or Asia or a bunch of non-U.S. countries working together, the U.S. will be able to buy its way in, given that the U.S. dollar is still the de facto global currency, and people are still buying U.S. Treasury Securities like crazy, for safety.
Of course the economy has to get going again. And people are getting more irritated about staying at home. But right this second? Even as new cases and deaths are still surging in most places. Outside of New York, and Hawaii, and Michigan: you know, where all those protestors–we mean “good people”–showed up because the governor was going too far?
We don’t disagree with the premise of reopening as quickly as possible. It’s just that the timeline is the premise. And we’ve seen in other countries, and even in parts of the U.S., that just a week or two can make a huge difference. So can leaders setting an example by doing things like not refusing to wear a mask.
If you haven’t yet, take a look at this plan to ensure a sufficient amount of testing from former Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services chief Andy Slavitt. Especially in light of Trump’s yet-to-be achieved “bottom line” guarantee that “anybody who wants a test can get a test“. It seems pretty reasonable to us. Maybe it doesn’t to you. For the point we’re trying to make today, that’s OK too.
We probably all can agree no matter what, executing such a complex plan is very difficult, but nothing a resourceful and imaginative executive with American ingenuity couldn’t pull off. Especially with nearly unlimited resources at their disposal. Now ask yourself (as we did): is there any chance in hell Trump could pull this off even if he wanted to? Or any of the people he’s chosen to surround himself with? Or even if they could (which maybe some can), what are the chances they wouldn’t get hamstrung at some point in the process by the President or perhaps even his son-in-law?
And the answer becomes obvious: it’s so much easier to just keep not wearing a mask so you look “strong”, start denying the validity of the numbers of infected and dead people your own CDC is putting out (or eventually move to quiet them), print out limitless amounts of money, and hope that your wishes do come true.
Quick Update To Our Story: The “Best People”: Lunatics And Lemmings
Trump’s now also appointing one of his biggest fundraisers, Louis DeJoy, as Postmaster General. He’ll start in about a month. DeJoy is in charge of raising money for this year’s Republican National Convention. He’ll also now be in charge of making sure any mail-in and absentee ballots for this year’s presidential election arrive at their destination in a timely manner.