To Donald Trump, coronavirus is just one more chance for a power grab

[dalton99a]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/04/donald-trump-coronavirus-power-grab

To Donald Trump, coronavirus is just one more chance for a power grab
Chaos in response to Covid-19 is no surprise. Nor is the unscrupulous operators’ pursuit of profit and political advantage
Robert Reich
Sun 5 Apr 2020 01.00 EDT

The utter chaos in America’s response to the coronavirus pandemic – shortages of equipment to protect hospital workers, dwindling supplies of ventilators and critical medications, jaw-dropping confusion over how $2.2tn of aid in the recent coronavirus law will be distributed – was perhaps predictable in a nation that prides itself on competitive individualism and hates centralized power.

But it is also tailor-made for Donald Trump, who has spent a lifetime exploiting chaos for personal gain and blaming others for losses.

“I don’t take responsibility” for the slow rate of coronavirus testing in the US, he said.

On Friday, when asked if he could assure New Yorkers there would be enough ventilators next week when virus victims are expected to overwhelm city hospitals, he replied: “No. They should have had more ventilators.”

Trump has told governors to find life-saving equipment on their own. He refuses to create a central bargaining agent, arguing the federal government is “not a shipping clerk”. This has left states and cities bidding against each other, driving up prices.

Andrew Cuomo, the New York governor, described how ventilators went from $25,000 to $45,000 “because we bid $25,000. California says, ‘I’ll give you $30,000’ and Illinois says, ‘I’ll give you $35,000’ and Florida says ‘I’ll give you $40,000. And then, Fema [the Federal Emergency Management Agency] gets involved and Fema starts bidding!

“And now Fema is bidding on top of the 50! So Fema is driving up the price. What sense does this make? We’re literally bidding up the prices ourselves.”

New York state is paying 20 cents for gloves that normally cost less than five cents, $7.50 for masks that normally go for 50 cents, $2,795 for infusion pumps that normally cost half that, $248,841 for a portable X-ray machine that typically sells for $30,000 to $80,000.

Who’s pocketing all this? An array of producers, importers, wholesalers and speculators. State laws against price gouging usually don’t apply to government purchases.

Some of it may be finding its way into this fall’s election campaigns. The veteran Republican fundraiser Mike Gula and Republican political operative John Thomas just started a company selling coronavirus testing kits, personal protective equipment and other “hard to find medical supplies to beat the outbreak”. They call themselves “the largest global network of Covid-19 medical suppliers”.

Asked how he’d found such equipment, Gula explained: “I have relationships with a lot of people.”

[Blue Owl]

1. His greedy, grubby little hands make me sick

[scarletwoman]

2. OMG - that last bit:

Who’s pocketing all this?
<snip>
Some of it may be finding its way into this fall’s election campaigns. The veteran Republican fundraiser Mike Gula and Republican political operative John Thomas just started a company selling coronavirus testing kits, personal protective equipment and other “hard to find medical supplies to beat the outbreak”. They call themselves “the largest global network of Covid-19 medical suppliers”.

Asked how he’d found such equipment, Gula explained: “I have relationships with a lot of people.”

Fucking asshole profiteers.

[Mc Mike]

3. Yeah, he wants ALL the power, AND he's just a back up.

That way, he does anything he wants to do, any time he feels like doing it, like he's a king.

Also, he does NOTHING he doesn't feel like doing, and can be as lazy as he always wants to be. And he's to blame for nothing, gets to give himself an A+ grade; he'll get furious and make you pay for daring to ask any questions that come uncomfortably close to saying he doesn't get an A+.

[Chainfire]

4. From chaos

comes opportunity.

Trump is devoid of empathy, the people dying by the thousands is just an inconvenience for him in the pursuit of his goals. It has offered him the opportunity to be in front of the cameras every day at no cost to his campaign, while his political opponent has been swept into the backwaters of publicity. The type of exposure he is getting is positive, even if his presentations are awful.

The squeaky wheel is the first to get the grease.