It\u2019s far too soon to think about politics. In fact, in a nation \u201csheltering in place\u201d with hopes of hiding from the corona-virus, it’s not even \u201con the table\u201d. Jobs, kids, family, and those who are at mortal risk from the disease are so much more important than the act of choosing the next President of the United States. The election is in November: we don\u2019t even know if will we even be allowed out of the house by then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But make no mistake, politics is \u201con the table\u201d at the White House. The President who eschewed daily press contact, allowing the White House Press Room to remain empty and dust covered for over a year, now is on television every day. He\u2019s trying to read the statistics, telling us all what he\u2019s doing \u201cright\u201d, and attacking the press for questioning his actions. There\u2019s no more rallies, no more \u201clock her up\u201d; we now have the daily brief. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It took the \u201cbig four\u201d networks a couple of weeks to realize what was going on. But last week, when the President spoke for more than an hour and bled into the \u201cNightly News\u201d timeslot, they decided to break away: even Fox. So now you can see the President on the twenty-four hour news channels, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, PBS, CBS and ABC. I haven\u2019t checked out the others, but CNN and MSNBC are \u201cfact checking\u201d the President as he goes. CNN literally does it as he speaks, running chyrons correcting his mistakes. MSNBC brings in experts after he\u2019s done, to straighten out the facts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can\u2019t blame the President for using his \u201cbully pulpit\u201d. And it\u2019s hard not to watch, even if the President confabulates the facts, he still has Dr. Fauci and the others behind him. They are telling the truth, both to Mr. Trump and the nation, and we want to know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The President has made a significant change in his political calculations in the past few weeks. When the crisis should have begun, back in December and January, Mr. Trump led the way in denying there was a concern. Unlike countries like South Korea, Taiwan and Sweden, the United States didn\u2019t engage in any kind of widespread testing for the virus. Since we didn\u2019t test, we couldn\u2019t follow the traditional public health model of \u201ccontact tracing\u201d, following the trail of illness back to the original source, and isolating the cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Did that happen because the Centers for Disease Control had a test that didn\u2019t work? Or was it because the United States refused the World Health Organization test? We do know that Mr. Trump didn\u2019t want to hear \u201cnumbers\u201d. In fact, he kept a cruise ship out in the Pacific for days, because if it landed, \u201chis numbers\u201d would go up. There was a lot of political pressure on the health agencies NOT to test \u2013 in fact there still is today. We still don\u2019t know the extent of national exposure; doctors estimate that infection rates are at least ten times more than we acknowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So we didn\u2019t test, and we couldn\u2019t contain. The fallback medical position is to \u201cmitigate\u201d the damage, to slow down the infection rate so that hospitals can have a chance to handle the surge. That\u2019s why we\u2019re all \u201csheltering in place\u201d now. The essence of \u201cfault\u201d for that should be a major issue in the fall election campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And when the crisis grew, the President seemed to \u201cpass the buck\u201d to the states. It was the Governors and the Mayors that led the way in taking action against the virus, notably Mike DeWine of Ohio and Andrew Cuomo of New York. And many other Governors have stood up and made the hard decisions for their states. The problem: the President\u2019s reticence to take control has allowed a \u201cfree market\u201d approach to apportioning health care items. Masks, gloves, gowns, and most importantly, respirators for the health care workers, and ventilators for the victims: all are out there for the highest bidder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Governors are asking the President to take control of the supply process. They are asking him to use the power of the Federal government to control interstate commerce, and ration healthcare items. So far, Mr. Trump has chosen not to take action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And some Governors are avoiding taking charge. They are following the President\u2019s lead in Florida, Missouri, and Texas; trying to avoid the problem by letting the local counties deal with a virus that doesn\u2019t recognize political boundaries. It seems that there are disasters looming in those states, in because of them, for our entire nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And now the President has found a new, grisly campaign point. \u201cIt could have been millions of dead, instead it\u2019ll be a hundred thousand or so,\u201d is his new slogan. \u201c I saved lives\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s the image he\u2019s building with his daily \u201cbriefings\u201d. And that\u2019s the campaign slogan for 2020 \u2013 Trump Saved Lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s too soon, too soon for campaigns. But when we emerge from our homes to a new world of corona-virus contagion, we need to ask the question: If the President had acted at once, how many lives could have been saved?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"