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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump's Priority Is Making Sure Someone Else Takes the Blame If Things Go Bad
From Esquire
A main priority for Donald Trump amid the novel coronavirus pandemic is avoiding any responsibility for what happens. The buck stops that-a-way. "I don't take responsibility at all." He did not run for president to lead the country in times of crisis and wield the awesome power of the federal government to safeguard the lives and interests of the American people. He did it for the money and the crowds. Now that there may be some consequences for his criminal inaction for the better part of two months following the first COVID-19 casea month ago yesterday, he said the 15 U.S. cases would soon go down to zero; there are now more than 80,000he is working overtime to shift the blame. With the help of TV networks that carry his misinformation briefings live and unfiltered, he seems to have found some success for now.
The basic fact of the matter is that only the federal government has the capacity to secure the suppliespersonal protective equipment (PPE), masks, ventilators, test kitsthat hospitals need to fight the pandemic. The states cannot do it on their own, which the Trump administration has proven by so far largely leaving them to do it themselves, which has mostly yielded competitions for resources between states and hospitals. Even the most devout libertarian or federalist would grant that responding to a global pandemic, which the president himself has described as requiring a wartime footing, is an essential responsibility of the federal government. The president must lead on this, first of all by invoking the Defense Production Act to fully mobilize American manufacturing to produce, say, the ventilators we need. Pay whatever the cost. Do what needs to be done.
That arrangement will not work for the president, however. If he grants this is his responsibility, he might be held accountable for the outcome. And while that is the definition of democratic self-government, it's not something in which he is particularly interested. So he called into Sean Hannity's Fox News program last night to explain why this is all really on the states themselves to figure out. That way, it's their fault when lots of people die.
Link to tweet
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This might sound like some boilerplate Republican bullshit about leaving it to the states, but it is not. It's more like if FDR said Pearl Harbor was Hawaii's problem. We are at war, the president says constantly, against a silent enemy, but apparently he is not the commander-in-chief, at least if it means he is responsible for whether we win or lose. He would like to be on television talking about the war, and if it goes well he will claim credit. But if it goes south, it's Jay Inslee's fault.
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/trumps-priority-making-sure-someone-145300696.html
McCamy Taylor
(19,240 posts)Bernardo de La Paz
(48,773 posts)Iliyah
(25,111 posts)and people are blaming t-rump.
calimary
(80,693 posts)Did anyone expect anything less?
kentuck
(110,947 posts)He takes no responsibility for anything. He never has.