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President Trump brags that he “really gets it” when it comes to understanding the pandemic that’s sickened millions, killed thousands, disrupted the lives of billions, and plunged the global economy into a deep depression.
But Trump doesn’t have a clue.
The latest confirmation of his ignorance came Monday, when he strutted into the White House Briefing Room and claimed that “the president of the United States calls the shots” — not the governors and local officials — when it comes to determining when it’s safe for us to come out of our homes and restart the economy.
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He suggested that he might order the end of strict lockdowns by May 1, just a little over two weeks away. He said he has “total authority.”
Trump being Trump
Of course Trump doesn’t call the shots. He doesn’t have total authority. He isn’t a king.
He didn’t shut down the economy, and he can’t restart it with the snap of his fingers. He’s largely told the states to figure it out for themselves how to respond to the pandemic. Under our system of government, he can’t rescind the governors’ orders, and he certainly can’t order 330 million Americans to go about their lives as if nothing were wrong.
“ When the virus hits a vital company far from the coastal urban centers and knocks it out of commission, that’s news that ought to make even the president think twice about re-opening the economy any time soon. ”
Trump is doing what he does best: blustering and bluffing.
Trump thinks that being president is just an act. If you act strong and decisive, then your enemies will cave and rush to make a deal with you. If you gaslight enough, you might win some political victories, escape impeachment, get some partisan judges confirmed, or even get re-elected. You might believe you are a genius at this stuff.
Perhaps that works with humans, but it’s utterly pointless with a virus that’s barely alive. The coronavirus doesn’t care what the fact-checkers say about your ridiculous lies. It doesn’t watch Fox News. It doesn’t want to “own the libs.” It just wants to get into your lungs and multiply so it can get into someone else’s lungs.
In response to Trump’s bluster, governors of 10 states in the Pacific Northwest and the Northeast said Monday they would coordinate with neighboring states to determine a regional strategy for easing the shelter-at-home orders and begin to reopen nonessential businesses based on local conditions and, you know, science and stuff.
We know nothing
If we’re being honest, the governors and mayors don’t “call the shots” either. The coronavirus is calling the shots here. It’s still spreading out of control, infecting thousands of people every day, reaching into corners where it hasn’t been seen before.
That’s the insidious thing about this virus: It’s mostly out of sight. Perhaps a third to half of those who are infected display no symptoms even as they infect others. Because we don’t have enough testing capacity, we don’t know how widespread the disease is, or where it’s lurking, or where it’s about to pounce.
The most important bit of coronavirus news in recent days wasn’t the spat among Trump, the governors and the Constitution, it was the announcement that Smithfield Foods would close its giant Sioux Falls pork processing plant because it’s riddled with coronavirus, with plant employees accounting for more than a third of South Dakota’s COVID-19 cases.
When the virus hits a vital company far from the coastal urban centers and knocks it out of commission, that’s news that ought to make even the president think twice about re-opening the economy any time soon.
We haven’t won the battle — much less the war — so it’s premature to be declaring victory. FDR didn’t declare victory on Dec. 8 because the Japanese planes had headed back to their carriers.
Reopening the economy before we have gained some control over the pandemic would be madness. Any success we’ve had in “flattening the curve” of infections has been due to the severe social distancing. If we relaxed that before we had enough testing in place, the curve would steepen again.
The pandemic would explode. Many more people would get sick, overburdening our health-care system, and causing more agonizing deaths.
Prematurely returning to normalcy would also be an economic disaster. Workers and consumers are increasingly unwilling to risk their lives, so it may not matter what some president says about getting the economy going again. He can’t order us to shop.
Walking the walk
Until we have a vaccine, an effective treatment, or enough testing and tracking to wrestle the virus under control, it’s foolish to try to force the economy to reopen completely. This microbe ain’t playing.
If the president wants to get the economy up and running, he needs to do everything in his power to hasten that day. Which means bringing the full capabilities of the presidency and of the United States into this battle. We need more than confidence; we need competent governance.
We need enough test kits so we can test everyone who has symptoms and everyone they’ve had close contract with. We need to have enough test kits to test every health-care worker, and everyone else who’s doing essential work, from the meat-packing plants of the Plains to the Amazon warehouses to the cooks at the take-out restaurant on Main Street. And enough to test all of their close contacts.
And finally, we need straight talk from our leaders. We don’t need a president who thinks his job is to peddle snake oil or to be a cheerleader. We need a president who will walk the walk, not just talk the talk.
Rex Nutting is a MarketWatch columnist.
