In recent days, the Trump administration has increasingly adopted the message that states should not be approaching the federal government for assistance in obtaining crucial, frequently lifesaving medical supplies like ventilators and personal protective equipment. Amidst the deadly national Coronavirus pandemic, Trump son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner — who has no relevant medical or public health experience whatsoever — is standing in front of the country and saying states shouldn’t be approaching the Strategic National Stockpile for help. This weekend on NBC, Washington Governor Jay Inslee (D) hammered the Trump team for their cowering inaction, comparing the debacle to what may have unfolded if a past wartime president told states they were on their own.
Sens. Duckworth, Markey, Warren, and Hirono are demanding an independent investigation into potential improper political interference in the management of the Strategic National Stockpile —including the deletion of online info to reflect Kushner's remarks. https://t.co/UxGSD4n6gm
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 4, 2020
Inslee shared:
‘We’ve had good communications with the vice president, with the CDC — those have been good. But this is ludicrous that we do not have a national effort in this. To say we’re a backup — I mean, the Surgeon General alluded to Pearl Harbor. Can you imagine if Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, ‘I’ll be right behind you Connecticut, good luck building those battleships’? Look, we need a national mobilization of the manufacturing base of the United States, as we’d started on December 8, 1941… so that we can get these companies to stop making cupholders and start making test kits.’
Inslee added that his state is still struggling to obtain an adequate supply of testing kits, months after the Coronavirus outbreak first began to unfold.
Watch:
WATCH: @GovInslee says it is "ludicrous that we do not have a national effort" against the coronavirus. #MTP
Gov. Inslee: "To say we are a backup … Can you imagine if Franklin Roosevelt said 'I'll be right behind you Connecticut, good luck building those battleships.'" pic.twitter.com/uAudl3SxAU
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) April 5, 2020
Solutions for the national supply issue could include a federal supply czar and the implementation of the Defense Production Act on a broader scale, which would allow the president to order companies to produce the supplies that are needed and which Inslee advocated for this weekend.
States, in the absence of federal support, have even been left bidding against each other for lifesaving supplies like personal protective equipment to use when caring for Coronavirus patients and even those who simply may have been exposed. During the very same edition of Meet the Press in which Inslee made the proclamations above, Arkansas Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson revealed that his own state has “been outbid by another state after we had our order confirmed” and thereby apparently lost at least that supply of personal protective equipment.
Gov. @AsaHutchinson (R-Ark.): "We're trying to collect our PPE. … We've been outbid by another state after we had our order confirmed." @chucktodd: Should this be the case? States competing?
"Uh, no. There needs to be — we'd like to see a better way."
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) April 5, 2020
Throughout the crisis, Trump has frequently refused to take needs like the personal protective equipment drive seriously. It was just days ago when he trumpeted the ludicrous, baseless idea that medical personnel in hard-hit areas like New York City are hoarding medical supplies. As of Saturday night, New York City alone had suffered a staggering 2,254 deaths from the Coronavirus, adding at least 387 to their overall total in a single day. And Trump wants to trumpet the idea that authorities are lying about how much assistance they need? Seriously?
On other occasions, he’s taken the drive for help as some kind of personal affront to his ego. He’s claimed that those seeking assistance are just complainers who are playing politics. Almost 8,500 Americans have died from the Coronavirus, and the figure is rapidly increasing — and this is where the president’s focus remains, with belittling his political opponents.
