The Leadership We Need

I'm not much into the royals, but did you see the Queen's address to the people last week? I just watched it, and it's stunning the difference between the leadership she provided and the poop show we see every day on TV here in the US. She acknowledges the scale of the challenge, thanks the heroes who risk their lives to save others, expresses confidence in the people, expresses solidarity in their present sacrifice, and calls forth their highest virtues.

We lack that leadership at a national level. I don't even want to use an adjective. But I cannot recall Donald Trump ever acknowledging the actual losses we've incurred.

Meanwhile, if you want a definitive chronicle of how this administration has failed us, here's an AP story. Masks, ventilators, and other equipment weren't ordered till mid-March. Only last week did Trump order companies to produce supplies.

And for a scathing, detailed opinion piece on that same set of factors, conservative writer David Frum has one out this morning. There's no dodging the reality: when Trump's defenders say he was distracted by impeachment (well, he was playing golf), they're implicitly acknowledging his lack of leadership.

The logic is clear: when Trump was telling us everything was fine and we'd have a happy ending, that's when the government should have been acting. They had a policy playbook handed down from Obama. They had run simulations just last year. They knew everything they needed to know, and parts of government were flashing the warning. What they lacked was leadership, a problem that hasn't changed.

We want Trump to act aggressively, even late. We want him to succeed as much as is possible. There's evidence right now that, while even worse days await us, the United States is slowing down the epidemic's spread. Where we were doubling our cases every 2-3 days, Andy Slavitt points out that the rate is now every 6-7 days. What we're doing is working. Maybe Trump will be proven correct that we don't need 30,000-40,000 ventilators in New York. I hope so.

But it sure would be nice to have a real leader in place.

And don't lose sight of what's going on beneath the surface.

For starters, Trump just dismissed the one person responsible for overseeing spending on the $2 trillion federal coronavirus response initiative, Pentagon acting Inspector General Glenn Fine. In case you wondered whether Trump might intend to corrupt the process. Wasn't it just yesterday that, asked about the inspector general's report from Health and Human Services that pointed out our shortages in vital supplies, Trump replied:

"It's just wrong. Did I hear the word 'inspector general,' really? It's wrong."

So clearly Trump is big on accountability. It was an inspector general, of course, who alerted Congress to the Ukraine whistleblower report. Trump fired him Friday night.

A couple of weeks ago the government suspended enforcement all EPA environmental regulations for the duration of the crisis. Just try to get your mind around how that makes sense. Just try.