Nikki Haley tells us in the NYT that the primary burden of dealing with a pandemic falls on the states, and that the federal government’s response has been, for the most part, appropriate. Is she right?
Not really. I’ve previously described the Trump administration’s actions as “bastard federalism.” Trump has refused to use the lawful powers he has in an emergency to create and distribute resources, sends mixed messages about the severity of the problem, demands fealty in exchange for assistance, rips the press and his critics instead of trying to unite the country in a crisis, and takes credit for any positive developments in the battle against the virus whether he is entitled to it or not. Responsibility flows down, and credit flows up. That’s not how the system is supposed to work.
How should it work? While the states are, as Haley asserts, the front lines in this war, only the federal government can be responsible for the following: controlling traffic in and out of the country; allocating existing national stockpiles of medical resources in a manner completely divorced from politics in order to avoid competition among the states; and compelling the production of essential medical goods wherever necessary. Trump has succeeded only in the first of these, and even his EU travel ban was clearly motivated more by spite than any principle.