Mmmmm he says things are fine.....but the governors don't seem to agree
President Trump, state governors at odds over coronavirus response
Governors from across the U.S. whose states are at various points in the coronavirus pandemic response spoke out this week, with some critical of the absence of a sweeping federal policy. - Bloomberg
Many governors have been tempered in their criticisms, acknowledging the need for a solid working relationship with the president as the crisis continued to grow. – The New York Times
Trump first fueled the flames of suspected partisanship last month when he urged Vice President Mike Pence not to call governors in affected states if they criticized the federal response. – ABC News
Nikki Haley: Focus on Your Governor, Not Trump
Overheated critics of President Trump accuse him of being an authoritarian. Of not caring about checks and balances, civil rights, and constitutional limits on executive power. And yet, today, many of these same critics demand that he nationalize supply chains, deploy the military on our shores and shut down every town in America. It’s a curious thing.
The coronavirus presents enormous national challenges that call for a strong federal response. But we should not lose sight of the essential role that states and governors must play. America is better served when presidents respect the diversity of states instead of dictating uniform solutions.
I was a Republican governor with a Democrat in the White House. We disagreed on most policy matters, but we put those differences aside to serve the immediate needs of our joint constituents. You don’t serve your people if you let politics get in the way.
If you know a crisis is coming, one of the first things a governor will do is reach out to the White House to coordinate F.E.M.A. relief before it hits. Then, when the trouble arrives, everyone is on the same page.
F.E.M.A. typically sends a liaison who coordinates efforts and assesses vulnerabilities. It’s technical stuff. It requires knowing your own state and building a relationship with those on the federal level who apportion resources. It takes time, effort and foresight.
As our highest nationally elected leader, of course President Trump has enormous responsibility in this unprecedented crisis, and he is marshaling the federal response on a massive scale. But in implementing plans to save people’s lives and keep our economy afloat, look no further than the governors.
Trump is desperately seeking to avoid blame
President Donald Trump has
royally screwed up the federal government's coronavirus response, and he knows it. And he's doing what he always does: Instead of fixing any of the many problems he's caused, he's trying to weasel his way out of blame and doing all he can to
dodge oversight and responsibility.
On Tuesday, Trump demoted Glenn Fine, the man tapped last month to independently oversee spending on the $2 trillion federal coronavirus stimulus package.
Because Fine, who was the acting inspector general from the Defense Department, was removed from that role, he also lost his chairmanship of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (only inspectors general are eligible to be on that committee).
No explanation was offered.
This isn't just about the specter of the President potentially attempting to assert free rein over the outlay of taxpayer-funded relief.
American lives are at stake. The health of our economy -- not just Wall Street winnings, but the livelihoods of tens of millions of Americans, and our basic ability to put food on our tables and care for our families -- is at risk.
Fine's role -- the one that will now be assumed in an "acting" capacity by Sean W. O'Donnell, who will do this along with his other job as Environmental Protection Agency Inspector General -- was
to make sure that an enormous stimulus package was being spent as allocated, with minimal waste and no abuse or corruption.
It's disturbing that Americans now may have to worry that our President and his cronies could turn a relief package into a vehicle for self-dealing and a sweetheart deal for the rich, but here we are.
Fine had been picked by a group of independent federal inspectors general who determined he would do the best job. According to
The New York Times, the former Justice Department inspector general "earned a reputation for aggression and independence in scrutinizing the FBI's use of surveillance and other law enforcement powers in the years after the September 11, 2001, attacks."
But in Trumpland, such competence and expertise aren't a requirement but a barrier, especially when it comes to oversight duties.
The incompetent man at the top is desperate not to have his inadequacy revealed.
Fine's head is just the latest to roll as the President has been systematically guillotining watchdogs across the federal government. In a transparently vindictive move, he also removed Michael Atkinson last Friday as the Intelligence Community inspector general. Atkinson had done his job in informing Congress about the whistleblower complaint that led to Trump's impeachment. Trump doesn't like being held responsible for his actions,
so Atkinson was out.
On Monday Trump also attacked Health and Human Services Inspector General Christi Grimm for doing her job.
Grimm's office had reported what Americans already know: That there are widespread delays in testing for coronavirus, and serious supply shortages at the nation's hospitals. None of this is news to anyone. But Trump nonetheless
tweeted that the report was "Another Fake Dossier!"
Trump seems to fancy himself more of a king than a President.
The same man who once pledged to "drain the swamp" seems to love mucking around in it, and attacks anyone who tries to clean it up.
No administration is perfect -- remember the
Obamacare rollout debacle?
Nobody expects error-free governance, but good leaders are able to deal with mistakes, swiftly correct them, and accept independent oversight.
Anything else isn't democracy, it's dictatorship. Americans in urgent need of relief during and after the pandemic need to see this stimulus plan wisely and efficiently dispatched.
There are about 400,000
confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 12,800 dead -- and those numbers may be significant underestimates. Without effective oversight -- and there is no reason to believe that Glenn Fine would not have provided it -- it will be impossible to tell if the stimulus package is being used efficiently to help as many people as possible.
Without immediate, unflinching feedback on how Health and Human Services is managing this crisis, it will be harder to know the ways to improve the stimulus in real time and stem the tide of disease, death and financial ruin.
Donald Trump could not care less about the health and well-being of the American people. He has no attachment to good governance, professional ethics, or public service. He doesn't like independent watchdogs because they're
inconvenient for him;
he prefers lapdogs. And so he is exploiting the pandemic to sack anyone who might point out just how terribly he has mangled the response.
The result won't just be a swampier and more corrupt White House. We Americans may pay with our lives.
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