Trump and the GOP have a plan for governing during a pandemic: Just don't.

[Zorro]

Public officials are trying to escape responsibility for public health.

President Trump showed up at Monday’s White House news briefing to declare his administration’s response to the coronavirus a success yet again. When asked about the economic effects of the pandemic, Trump knew where to put the blame: “Nobody except one country can be held accountable for what happened. . . . We’re looking at a group of people that should have stopped it at the source.” He was, of course, talking about China, not his administration.

That’s because for Trump, nothing that goes wrong is ever his fault. In fact, nothing that can go wrong is even his job. This is partly a function of the president’s personal rejection of even minimal accountability, but it’s also rooted in a long-standing principle among Republicans that government solutions should be last resorts and the business of governing should be outsourced to actual businesses. Trump’s refusal to govern during the pandemic isn’t just ineptitude; it’s ideology, and he’s not the only one who embraces it.

This same attitude was on display recently when Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman appeared on cable news to call for reopening her city despite the absence of measures like comprehensive testing, tracking and tracing that would make it safe to do so. How could people maintain social distancing in a casino, where tourists from all over the country touch slot machines in close proximity to one another? “That’s up to them to figure out,” Goodman told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. She didn’t own a hotel and didn’t know how the business worked — a baffling claim for the mayor of a city built on the casino industry — but she asserted that free enterprise would remedy any fallout. “Let the businesses open, and competition will destroy that business if in fact they become evident that they have disease,” she said. Goodman was insisting that it’s not actually her job to govern during a pandemic; the market will figure it out.

Trump has done the same thing repeatedly, parading chief executives through press briefings and saying, out loud, “I don’t take responsibility at all” for the dangerously subpar federal response to the pandemic. The result is that Democrats and civic-minded members of the GOP are in the absurd position of having to argue that public health is a public-sector issue by definition — which shouldn’t really be up for debate.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/trump-coronavirus-blame-gop/2020/04/29/5a608982-89a0-11ea-9dfd-990f9dcc71fc_story.html

[CanonRay]

1. Some people have been calling for a General Strike to protest Trump

looks like we're gonna have it, no matter what.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

2. Coming up on 70,000 dead IS NOT a success story.....

By the end of May when I turn 68, the death rate from COVID-19 will have surpassed the 74,000 mark predicted for an August peak towards 100,000 or more.

The states employing openings without following the guidelines set, will see their numbers rise. The fault will lie with the Governors and the people who refuse to follow protocols. The 2nd wave will be brutal indeed.