President Trump’s current pandemic strategy is a baffling knot of contradictions, writes jonathanchait
President Donald Trump. Photo: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images President Trump’s current pandemic strategy — emphasize current; like the cliché about the weather, if you don’t like it, wait a few hours — is a baffling knot of contradictions. He is hurling all responsibility to state governments, leaving it to them to devise effective tests and to decide when to relax social distancing.
Trump’s plan to coerce the states into reopening has at least three discernible elements. The first is, or was, the formation of a task force to reopen the country. The purpose of the council was to give Trump cover. The council would prod governors to reopen businesses, and because it would be seen as coming from the business community, Trump himself would not bear the blame for future outbreaks that might result.
Trump’s comments about the protesters have been unusually subtle. Anybody listening to Trump would understand that he is encouraging the protests and sees them as his allies, but he is also leaving himself room to deny direct responsibility for their actions if things get out of hand. And yet, while he is purposeful about avoiding blame, Trump refuses to cede authority to other officials. He wants to reopen the economy fast, and fiscal pressure is a way to force their hand.
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