Sure, the President needs to respond to incompetence. The CDC was unacceptably slow getting testing up and running, and even now it's far limited and far too slow. That's a problem. But there's another problem. [poop] like this:
The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, is doing everything within its semi-considerable power (it used to be greater!) to inflame the CoronaVirus situation, far beyond what the facts would warrant. Surgeon General, “The risk is low to the average American.”
~ Donald J. Trump, 3/9/2020 (6 days before declaring the coronavirus a national emergency)
Prior to that he made countless statements downplaying the risk of the coronavirus and insisting that his Administration had it under control. He didn't start taking it seriously until the middle of March, and even now he's continuing his attacks on the media. The last 6 weeks has been a microcosm of the last 3 years. He tries to spin, misdirect, and lie his way through every crisis, and when he's finally cornered he insists that media reports of his lies, misdirections, and spin are actually all fake news. Consequently he has very little credibility.
The fact is the President is just not a serious, detail-oriented, proactive guy. He's all about flying by the seat of his pants, and then using his media skills to spin his way out of whatever [poop]pile his impulsivity, inattention, and ignorance land him in. For example:
In one of the most important addresses of his Presidency he misread his teleprompter and accidentally, incorrectly informed the world that all trade with Europe was suspended. That can happen. Sometimes people say the wrong word. But serious people are
paying attention to what they read, they
notice mistakes, and they
correct them. Trump didn't pay attention, notice, or correct, and the Dow Jones futures market crashed while he was speaking. The following day was a bloodbath where the Dow lost over 2,000 points. Anyone but the President would have been fired on the spot.
Up until last week Trump consistently downplayed the threat of the coronavirus, and as of the most recent polls I've seen, about 60% of Republicans
still don't take the threat seriously. That's going to cost lives.
Trump invoked the Defense Production Act so that factories could be mobilized to produce ventilators, masks, and medical supplies. People were pleased and relieved, at least until he tweeted that he would only use the powers granted in the act in a worst case scenario, which would hopefully never come. This has led people to wonder just what the hell constitutes a worst case scenario, being that the virus is apparently spreading like wildfire, schools and businesses are closed across the country, store shelves are bare, and the Dow is down 30% since mid February.
Trump also said that Navy hospital ships would be deployed immediately to help on the East and West coasts. Turns out they won't be ready for a few weeks.
There's plenty more, but you get the gist.
So when Trump assures us on Twitter that he's spoken to grocery store execs, they're confident that the supply chain will be maintained, and there's no reason to panic do you think people are going to believe him, or keep on hoarding canned goods and toilet paper? I haven't seen bread, toilet paper, or canned goods in a week. Even the flour and yeast are sold out. Single packets of Fleischmann's yeast are being offered at $11+ on eBay. A 3-pack is typically $1.50.
So yeah, I'm guessing it's the latter...
She gave me a mask, made me put it on, and charged me 50 cents for it.