Did you ever wonder how America would have been governed under the Articles of Confederation? You’re getting a glimpse of it right now. The battle against the virus is being fought on a state-by-state basis, not from Washington. Trump, who should be making clear statements and taking the lead on creating and allocating essential medical resources, is preening and lying at press conferences, sending out mixed messages about the severity of the problem, taking credit for any (mostly illusory) successes, and attributing failures to Democrats and state and local officials.
That’s the way federalism works in the Trump era: continuous, undeserved, fawning praise for the man on golf cart; and hard work and criticism for the people in the trenches. Credit flows up, and blame trickles down.