The man without a plan

President Donald J. Trump listens and responds to questions from members of the press Tuesday, April 7, 2020, in the James S. Brady White House Press Briefing Room. (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks)

Who knew the man who withdrew U.S. troops from northern Syria (precipitating atrocities against allies) and abandoned American hurricane victims in Puerto Rico would have no plan for fighting a deadly pandemic?

Since anti-government conservatism swept into Washington, D.C. with the 2010 elections, cuts to public services have left the country unprepared to meet the pandemic now killing tens of thousands of Americans. John Auerbach, president of Trust for America’s Health, tells the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank that years of deep cuts to public health grants cost 60,000 jobs at state and local public health departments. Milbank believes it is not an exaggeration to call it “a deliberate strategy to sabotage government.”

Auerbach explains:

If the United States had more public health capacity, it “absolutely” would have been on par with Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, which have far fewer cases, Auerbach said. South Korea has had 4 deaths per 1 million people, Singapore 1 death per million, and Taiwan 0.2 deaths per million. The United States: 39 per million — and rising fast.

Garbage bags as PPE

“How Did the U.S. End Up with Nurses Wearing Garbage Bags?” encapsulates the federal failed response to the COVID-19 pandemic in its title. One almost need not read Susan Glasser’s latest New Yorker column. The Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) memes floating around ask the same question in images.

Eric Ries, author of a “The Lean Startup,” received a phone on March 21st from another Silicon Valley C.E.O. about setting up a website to match hospitals and suppliers. Donald Trump’s White House was recruiting tech executives to help with its coronavirus response.

Ries called the White House and asked about the coronavirus task force that recruiting Silicon Valley help. Someone at the White House asked, “Which one?” There was the group briefing reporters each day and then there was the group organized by presidential son-in-law, Jared Kushner. The latter was not yet public knowledge.

Ries had assumed the White House was taking charge because that is what the federal government is for. “I thought, Eventually somebody will lead,” Ries said. He thought he and his friends were there to backstop the federal response:

What they did not foresee was that the federal government might never come to the rescue. They did not realize this was a government failure by design—not a problem to be fixed but a policy choice by President Trump that either would not or could not be undone. “No one can believe it. That’s the No. 1 problem with the whole situation: the facts are known, but they are inconceivable,” Ries told me. “So we are just in denial.”

There were plans extant for dealing with the pandemic federal planners foresaw. The Pentagon had a 103-page pandemic influenza response plan in 2017. By federal mandate, the transition team from the outgoing administration briefs its replacements. Days before Trump’s inauguration, the outgoing administration of Barack Obama ran the incoming team through exercises for handling a series of worst-case scenarios including a global pandemic on the scale of 1918. Two thirds of those attending no longer work for Trump.

No one is in charge

Those plans went unused. What exists instead is “a fragmented procurement system now descending into chaos.” Besides Kushner’s shadow task force and the public-facing group featured in daily televised briefings, the Washington Post reports there are the “Opening Our Country Council” (focused on restarting portions of the economy) and a “doctors group” that meets daily to review public health and medical issues. No one is in charge of centralizing and coordinating distribution of needed supplies to hot spots.

“[S]ome governors and lawmakers have watched in disbelief as they have sought to close deals on precious supplies, only to have the federal government swoop in to preempt the arrangements,” the Washington Post reports, adding:

Some of the states are seeking supplies, this official said, for items they say they might need in several weeks. Decisions are made by FEMA, but recommendations sometimes come from Trump, Vice President Pence, Kushner and others based on their interactions with states. “FEMA makes the decision, but it’s not like FEMA is going to do the opposite of what the president tells them to do,” a second official said.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) struggled to find someone, anyone, to help meet Colorado’s equipment needs as demand for ventilators spiked (Politico):

So he made an official request for ventilators through the Federal Emergency Management System, which is managing the effort. That went nowhere. He wrote to Vice President Mike Pence, leader of the White House’s coronavirus task force. That didn’t work. He tried to purchase supplies himself. The federal government swooped in and bought them. Then, on Tuesday, five weeks after the state’s first coronavirus case, the state’s Republican Sen. Cory Gardner called President Donald Trump. The federal government sent 100 ventilators to Colorado the next day, but still only a fraction of what the state wanted.

Gardner is in a tight race for reelection this fall. The Cook Political Report ranks the seat a toss-up.

39 deaths per million

Ed Yong examined how the pandemic might end for The Atlantic on March 25. What he saw then is still accurate now: “Rudderless, blindsided, lethargic, and uncoordinated, America has mishandled the COVID-19 crisis to a substantially worse degree than what every health expert I’ve spoken with had feared.”

As report after report confirms, the administration response is headless. Like Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, states are largely on their own. Trump can neither run businesses nor lead a country. His principle concern is ratings for his reality show of a presidency. Thus, Seth Berkley who heads Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance told Yong, “The U.S. may end up with the worst outbreak in the industrialized world.”

For reference, the COVID Tracking Project updates its full spreadsheet of testing data each day between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. EDT.

● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

For The Win, 3rd Edition is ready for download. Request a copy of my free countywide election mechanics guide at ForTheWin.us. This is what winning looks like.

Note: The pandemic will upend standard field tactics in 2020. If enough promising “improvisations” come my way by June, perhaps I can issue a COVID-19 supplement.

Email