April 11, 2020

Atheists in church

Possibly, just possibly, the country will learn a lesson from the coronavirus crisis: don’t put people in charge of government who don’t believe in it.  The damage is especially great if the federal government is in their hands.

They reject what they are told by government agencies.  They are reluctant to use government resources, preferring to dump responsibility on the states.  They argue that private enterprise can work more efficiently than any public body.  When they are forced to act, they bungle, being unfamiliar with, and resentful of, administrative practices, and needing resources that they have neglected or destroyed.

Governmental agencies, employees and experts are part of the dreaded Deep State.  Trump knows that he

mustn’t trust them because Rush Limbaugh, to whom he awarded the Medal of Freedom, told him so.  Rush dismissed the coronavirus as merely the flu and, when those with some knowledge of the subject declared otherwise, offered this rebuttal: “You know, we've talked about the ‘Deep State’ all these years since Trump was elected . . . well, the Deep State extends very deeply. And the American people did not elect a bunch of health experts that we don't know. We didn't elect a president to defer to a bunch of health experts that we don't know.”²⁹  

For the President, inspectors general are the epitome of the dreaded Deep State (a concept so captivating that he referred to his foreign office as the Deep State Department).  Any action by an inspector general is suspect and probably disloyal.  After all, one of them, the Intelligence Community Inspector General, informed Congress of the whistle blower complaint about the Ukraine phone conversation.  Trump fired him.

Another such sinister operative produced a report on the current crisis: “The Office of Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services conducted phone interviews with administrators from 323 hospitals across 46 states” which revealed that hospitals are “unable to keep up with COVID-19 testing demands" and are experiencing "severe shortages."  Trump’s response: “It's just wrong, Did I hear the words ‘inspector general’? Really? It's wrong."³⁰

As part of the stimulus plan, Congress created the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC), within the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE).  On April 1, 2020, the CIGIE released a statement that, "The PRAC will promote transparency and support independent oversight of the funds” provided by the stimulus bills and "prevent and detect fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement."³¹  Acting Pentagon Inspector General Glenn Fine was selected by a council of inspectors general to lead the Committee.  Trump fired him as Defense IG. and, because he is no longer an inspector general, he is ineligible to hold the committee post.  “Inspector General” and “independent oversight” are frightening terms.

Fortunately, there is an antidote to the Deep State readily available: Jared Kushner, all-around expert whom no one will accuse of depth. 

Republicans in Congress, surprisingly, voted for relief bills.  However, the administration’s ineptitude and its reliance on private banks has delayed distribution of funds.  As to obtaining badly needed protective gear, it first left that to the states, then interfered with orders for equipment placed by them.

Even if the Trump administration had realized early on how serious the virus pandemic is, its previous anti-government bias would have left it ill-prepared to respond.  A group specifically designed to warn of possible pandemics was disbanded, and numerous relevant positions were unfilled.³²  This thinning out was no accident.   Stephen Bannon had declared that “the mission of the Donald Trump Administration would be ‘deconstruction of the administrative state’.”  Those appointed to Cabinet posts, he said, “were all selected for a reason. And that is the deconstruction.”³³ 

Despite efforts to dismantle government, warnings about a possible pandemic were made and, at least in theory, reached Trump.  According to ABC News, “As far back as late November, U.S. intelligence officials were warning that a contagion was sweeping through China’s Wuhan region, changing the patterns of life and business and posing a threat to the population.”  The warning was contained in “a November intelligence report by the military's National Center for Medical Intelligence.”  That led to “briefings through December for policy-makers and decision-makers across the federal government as well as the National Security Council.”  Finally, “a detailed explanation of the problem . . . appeared in the President’s Daily Brief of intelligence matters in early January.”³⁴ 

  

Even if Trump doesn’t read the Daily Brief, or have it read to him, even if he dismissed those reports as coming from Deep State experts, a warning was circulated by another, presumably trusted source.  Peter Navarro, the President’s trade adviser, authored a memo on January 27 stating: “The lack of immune protection or an existing cure or vaccine would leave Americans defenseless in the case of a full-blown coronavirus outbreak on U.S. soil. This lack of protection elevates the risk of the coronavirus evolving into a full-blown pandemic, imperiling the lives of millions of Americans.”³⁵ 

Should Trump act?   No: "It’s going to disappear. One day, it's like a miracle, it will disappear." Even if it doesn’t, the administration won’t take the lead: “States can do their own testing. . . . We’re the federal government. We’re not supposed to stand on street corners doing testing.” As the organization he nominally heads has no role, he can  tell us “I take no responsibility at all.” 

____________________________

29. https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/rush-limbaugh-health-experts-are-part-deep-state-and- shouldnt-be-trusted

30.  https://americanindependent.com/donald-trump-health-and-human-services-inspector-general-report- covid-19-testing/

31. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandemic_Response_Accountability_Committee#cite_note-CIGIE_040120-4

32. https://time.com/5792015/trump-coronavirus-vacancies/

https://americanindependent.com/donald-trump-coronavirus-warnings-ignored-pandemic-response-team-white-house-covid-19/

33. https://time.com/4998276/demolition-crew/?xid=homepage&pcd=hp-magmod

34. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/intelligence-report-warned-coronavirus-crisis-early-november-sources/ story?id=70031273

35. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/us/politics/navarro-warning-trump-coronavirus.html