Donald Trump and much of the GOP is frantic to reopen the U.S. economy in the hope that a return to normal will save their re-election prospects come November. In doing so, Americans are being offered a false choice: (i) economic recovery combined with rising infections and deaths or (ii) continued economic disaster combined with fewer fatalities. Some Republicans have insanely suggested that increased deaths among the elderly is an acceptable trade off for a revived economy. In a column in the Washington Post, Joe Biden calls out Trump - and indirectly the GOP - for foisting a false choice on Americans and lays out how and economic reopening could be combined with health safety. Of course, it requires what the Trump regime has failed to provide: widespread testing to identify those with the virus and preventing them from spreading it to others. Access to testing remains difficult and shows little sign of improving to the scale needed thanks in no part to an incompetent White House regime. Here are column highlights:
The coronavirus, to date, has taken the lives of more than 79,000 Americans. One of every 5 U.S. workers has filed for unemployment — with the unemployment rate now the highest since the Great Depression. It is an extraordinary moment — the kind that begs for urgent, steady, empathetic, unifying leadership.
But instead of unifying the country to accelerate our public health response and get economic relief to those who need it,PresidentTrump is reverting to a familiar strategy of deflecting blame and dividing Americans. His goal is as obvious as it is craven: He hopes to split the country into dueling camps, casting Democrats as doomsayers hoping to keep America grounded and Republicans as freedom fighters trying to liberate the economy.
It’s a childish tactic — and a false choice that none of us should fall for.
The truth is that everyone wants America to reopen as soon as possible — claiming otherwise is completely absurd. Governors from both parties are doing their best to make that happen, but their efforts have been slowed and hampered because they haven’t gotten the tools, resources and guidance they need from the federal government to reopen safely and sustainably. That responsibility falls on Trump’s shoulders — but he isn’t up to the task.
It’s been more than two months since Trump claimed that “anybody that wants a test can get a test.” It was a baldfaced lie when he said it, and it still isn’t remotely true. If we’re going to have thriving workplaces, restaurants, stores and parks, we need widespread testing.
In addition to forgetting the tests, he seems to have forgotten that ours is a demand-driven economy — you can shout from the rooftops that we’re open for business, but the economy will not get back to full strength if the number of new cases is still rising or plateauing and people don’t believe that it’s safe to return to normal activities. Without measures in place to prevent the spread of the virus, many Americans won’t want to shop in stores, eat in restaurants or travel; small-business owners know that a nervous public won’t provide enough customers to ensure they thrive.
States and cities that have attempted to reopen are discovering that the economy isn’t a light switch you can simply flip on — people need confidence to make it run, and that confidence must be earned by credible leadership and demonstrable safety.
Again, the solution isn’t a mystery. The Trump administration could focus on producing and distributing adequate testing and protocols that conform with the guidance of public health experts; doing so would speed up the reopening process considerably and make it a whole lot more effective.
If Trump and his team understand how critical testing is to their safety — and they seem to, given their own behavior — why are they insisting that it’s unnecessary for the American people?
And why does the president insist on trying to turn this into yet another line of division, pitting strained, grieving Americans against one another across manufactured battle lines of “health” and “the economy”? Everybody knows that we can’t revive the latter unless we safeguard the former — and pretending otherwise is the most transparent of political ploys.
Trump should be working to get Americans the same necessary protections he has gotten for himself. It’s the right thing to do, and the only path to truly getting the economy back on track.
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