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The Trump White House is doubling down on a strategy to govern the coronavirus pandemic: pushing authority and responsibility for the response onto the states.

As the virus spreads across the U.S. and new hot spots emerge in states such as Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan and Texas, senior administration aides have privately argued the coronavirus response is a test of local politicians’ leadership and resourcefulness — with the White House acting as a backstop for the front-line state-by-state efforts.

The strategy is built on the idea that state leaders have the greatest familiarity with residents, hospitals and public health departments, as President Donald Trump and his allies argue. But it has a political subtext: The approach could give the White House an opportunity to extract Trump from future criticism as the virus spreads throughout the nation and threatens to kill hundreds of thousands of Americans. It also could backfire among Americans who prefer to see a firm national response to a disease that does not respect state borders.

“That is a Darwinian approach to federalism; that is states’ rights taken to a deadly extreme,” said Martin O’Malley, the former Maryland governor who served for eight years on the Homeland Security Task Force of the National Governors Association. “The better read of federalism is that the states and federal government work together when the U.S. is attacked, whether it is by imperial Japan or a pandemic.”

“For all of the good work I see governors doing, only the president has the intelligence and resources to tip the shores, the power to invoke the Defense Production Act and control over whether there are adequate stockpiles for the threats of our day and the FEMA reserves,” O’Malley added.

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Originally posted by jon-nyc:
This has always been in the governor's hands and it should be, for the most part.

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Originally posted by Mikhailoh:
Do any of you know what the president can do and not do? I don't for sure.

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Originally posted by wtg:

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Originally posted by Mikhailoh:
Do any of you know what the president can do and not do? I don't for sure.

Specifics, no. But I think it is reasonable to assume that someone like O'Malley does, given his prior roles. And given that many governors are making the same kinds of requests, do you think they are being unreasonable?

Seems like the model being followed by the Army Corps of Engineers that I posted in the other thread is the ideal working relationship. The Corps is responsible for managing the overarching logistics and contracts to get the work done that state and local officials have determined to be in their state's best interest.

There has to be a better way than the scattershot approach being taken now, with states and the federal government bidding against each other for supplies.

And the Feds have been nowhere when it comes to raising the alarm initially. As the gov of LA said, no one ever said anything about shutting down Mardi Gras. We know that people in the administration had early warnings but couldn't get anyone to take them seriously.

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Originally posted by jon-nyc:
I think you ignored 'for the most part'.

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Originally posted by Mikhailoh:
See, now, that is like I said. It is based on your preconception of the guy rather than any facts.