March 19th 2020

By Kerry Eleveld

Daily Kos

Donald Trump, who declared himself a so-called “wartime president” Wednesday, still isn't quite convinced the time is right to pull the trigger on full-scale production of badly needed medical supplies. During Wednesday's press briefing, Trump invoked the Defense Production Act of 1950, which would give him the authority to boost private industry production of critical supplies to address the coronavirus. But later on Wednesday, Trump clarified that he only signed the order in the event of a "worst case scenario" rather than actually ordering production to begin ASAP.

"I only signed the Defense Production Act to combat the Chinese Virus should we need to invoke it in a worst case scenario in the future. Hopefully there will be no need," Trump tweeted late Wednesday. 

Trump's racist slur aside, that "future" should be happening exactly right now, but once again, Trump's foot-dragging and delusional rosy scenarios are going to cost lives.  

As Vox's Alex Ward explains, Trump's order simply tells the Department of Health and Human Services to "identify what you think the government needs to respond to coronavirus and we'll get that order prioritized over commercial contracts." What it does not do is actually place those orders yet because Trump still isn't convinced we have a problem of epic proportions. 

Just to be really clear, that shortage of critical supplies is already happening. Governors have been begging the federal government to help shore up their waning supplies for, at the very least, several days now (they were likely doing it privately much earlier). “Lawmakers in New Jersey, Washington state and Maryland say they have only received a fraction of the protective equipment they requested from a national stockpile of medical supplies managed by the federal government,” reports The Hill.

In the meantime, frontline health care workers all across the country are rationing the gear they use to protect themselves from the virus, like masks, gloves, and eye protectors. “There are folks who say that every night they take the mask home, they spray both sides with bleach and they hang it up to dry and they hope that's gonna work,” Laura Wooster, associate executive director of public affairs at the American College of Emergency Physicians, told The Hill. “So it's pretty bad.” 

Apparently, it’s not bad enough for Trump. Although governors also fear shortages of life-saving equipment like ventilators, Trump’s waiting to enter “worst case” territory before firing up the production lines at his finger tips. If Trump is truly a “wartime president” president, he’s positioning the nation he leads to lose the war, yet again. 

Posted with permission