So Un-Trumpian That Fauci Hasn't Been Fired Yet

This is quintessentially Trumpian: "falsely asserting how quickly automakers including GM, Ford and Tesla can manufacture ventilators to help fill an acute U.S. shortage of the medical equipment for coronavirus patients. Ford and GM have yet to start production, and it would take them months, if not longer, to begin production, if it’s even possible." And so was this: "Our country wasn't built to be shut down."

I keep hearing people moaning that Anthony Fauci, the director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is the kind of guy we need leading the U.S. response to the pandemic now, not the clownish, self-serving Trumpanzee. You might want to read Jon Cohen's interview with Fauci at Science magazine, which appears to explain why Trump seems to have side-lined Fauci yesterday. Cohen introduced him as "the scientific voice of reason about how to respond to the new coronavirus." Although Kushner-in-law, has tried inserting himself into the decision-making process, Fauci chairs the White House Coronavirus Task Force. The first question Coehn asked him was how he is. He averred that he is neither infected nor fired. He said that Pence tries to keep the crowds down at the meetings and that when more than 10 people show up, he tells them to go to another room. Trump-- not so much. "The situation on stage [for the press briefings] is a bit more problematic," said Fauci. "I keep saying, is there any way we can get a virtual press conference. Thus far, no. But when you're dealing with the White House, sometimes you have to say things one, two, three, four times, and then it happens. So I'm going to keep pushing."

Q: What about the travel restrictions? President Trump keeps saying that the travel ban for China, which began 2 February, had a big impact [on slowing the spread of the virus to the United States] and that he wishes China would have told us 3 to 4 months earlier and that they were “very secretive.” [China did not immediately reveal the discovery of a new coronavirus in late December 2019, but by 10 January, Chinese researchers made the sequence of the virus public.] It just doesn't comport with facts.

A:  I know, but what do you want me to do? I mean, seriously Jon, let’s get real, what do you want me to do?

Q: Most everyone thinks that you’re doing a remarkable job, but you're standing there as the representative of truth and facts but things are being said that aren't true and aren't factual.

A: The way it happened is that after he made that statement [suggesting China could have revealed the discovery of a new coronavirus 3 to 4 months earlier], I told the appropriate people, it doesn't comport,  because 2 or 3 months earlier would have been September. The next time they sit down with him and talk about what he’s going to say, they will say, by the way, Mr. President, be careful about this and don't say that. But I can't jump in front of the microphone and push him down. OK, he said it. Let's try and get it corrected for the next time.

Q: You have not said China virus. [Trump frequently calls the cause of the spreading illness known as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) a “China virus” or a “Chinese virus.”]

A: Ever.

Q: And you never will, will you?

A: No.

Q: I'm curious about some things that aren't happening on a national scale. One is, why are shelter in place orders happening state by state? Why are we doing this sequentially? Is that a mistake?

A: No, I don't think we could say it's a mistake or not a mistake. There is a discussion and a delicate balance about what’s the overall impact of shutting everything down completely for an indefinite period of time. So there's a compromise. If you knock down the economy completely and disrupt infrastructure, you may be causing health issues, unintended consequences, for people who need to be able to get to places and can't. You do the best you can. I've emphasized very emphatically at every press conference that everybody in the country, at a minimum, should be following the fundamental guidelines. Elderly, stay out of society in self-isolation. Don't go to work if you don't have to. Yada, yada, yada. No bars, no restaurants, no nothing. Only essential services. When you get a place like New York or Washington or California, you have got to ratchet it up. But it is felt-- and it isn't me only speaking, it’s a bunch of people who make the decisions-- that if you lock down everything now, you're going to crash the whole society. So, you do what you can do, as best as you can. Do as much physical separation as you can and ratchet it up at the places you know are at highest risk.

Q:  But I heard a guy say, if you think you're doing too much, you're probably doing the right amount.

A: That’s me.

Q: I know it's you. The “15 Days to Slow the Spread” campaign doesn't mention religious gatherings. I know Pence mentioned them yesterday. But why aren’t they on the 15 days recommendations? All these other places are mentioned.

A: It was implied in no crowds of more than 10 people. But you’re right, crowds in church are important and every time I get a chance to say it, I mention it. I can't really criticize them strongly for that at all. When you say less than 10, it makes common sense that it involves the church. I say it publicly and even the vice president has said it publicly.

...Q: At Friday’s press conference, you put your hands over your face when President Trump referred to the “deep State Department,” [a popular conspiracy theory]. It’s even become an internet meme. Have you been criticized for what you did?

A: No comment.

Q: We've seen creative ideas about how to respond in other countries that we aren’t adopting. China uses thermometers at supermarkets before letting people in. Should we be considering that?

A: Yes, of course. I think the logistics of that have to be worked out. That was discussed. All these things are discussed. Not all of them are implemented. This is something that should be considered. I will bring it up at the next task force meeting and see whether there’s some sort of a logistical, bureaucratic reason why it can't be done. The rationale for doing it is at least worth serious consideration.

Q:  Big picture: We've had all this pandemic preparedness. Why did this fail? What went wrong?

A: I think we'll have to wait until it is over and we look back before we can answer that. It's almost like the fog of war. After the war is over, you then look back and say, 'Wow, this plan, as great as it was, didn't quite work once they started throwing hand grenades at us.' It really is similar to that. Obviously, testing [for the new coronavirus] is one clear issue that needs to be relooked at. Why were we not able to mobilize on a broader scale? But I don't think we can do that right now. I think it's premature. We really need to look forward.

The following day Allyson Chiu, wroting for the Washington Post, reported that Fauci "has been charged with a herculean task: trying to keep President Trump’s public statements about the novel virus rooted in fact." Her read of the interview is that "Fauci's frustration is showing... On more than one occasion, Fauci, described by the Washington Post’s Ellen McCarthy and Ben Terris as 'the grandfatherly captain of the corona­virus crisis,' has found himself in the uncomfortable position of having to publicly contradict the president-- a risky action that could conceivably jeopardize the scientist’s job... Most recently, Fauci has sought to temper Trump’s comments touting an old anti-malarial drug as a potential treatment for covid-19. At a news conference Friday, one day after Trump called the medicine a possible 'game-changer,' Fauci said the only evidence of the drug’s promise so far has been 'anecdotal,' adding, 'So you really can’t make any definitive statement about it.' In an appearance on Face the Nation Sunday, Fauci downplayed the disagreement, telling CBS’s Margaret Brennan that 'there isn’t, fundamentally, a difference' between his view and Trump’s on fighting the virus. 'I was taking a purely medical, scientific standpoint and the president was trying to bring hope to the people,' he said."

False hope, though, is all Trump offers.

The Q&A with Science magazine came on the heels of two other illuminating interviews Fauci did that came out over the weekend, prompting some to worry that he might endangering his position.

“Fauci’s going to get fired,” tweeted journalist Joe Nocera. “He’s been way too honest in interviews this weekend.”

But, in a recent interview with The Atlantic published Sunday, Fauci said he didn’t anticipate losing his position.

“I don’t think they’re going to try to silence me. I think that would be foolish on their part,” he said. “I think, in some respects, they welcome my voice out there telling the truth. I’m going to keep doing it. And no matter what happens to me, I’m going to keep doing it.”

Polly Cleveland is an Adjunct Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and she's trying to figure out how to cope with the other aspect of the pandemic-- the economic one. Or rather, she's trying to figure out how the government should. In an e-mail today she noted that "As the Great Depression worsened, the new President Franklin D. Roosevelt greatly expanded the powers of an agency created by outgoing President Herbert Hoover: the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. Under its dynamic leader, Houston businessman Jesse Jones, the RFC first made loans to prevent banks and businesses from collapsing during the Depression, and then organized and funded production of military suppplies for World War II. In the 1989-1995 period, Congress created a similar agency, The Resolution Trust Corporation, to deal with failed savings and loan banks. Historian Michael Lind and economist James Galbraith propose that Congress should immediately create a federal Health Finance Corporation to address the Coronavirus crisis:

The first wave of Covid-19 costs is upon us. Public funds are now required to pay for the production of protective suits, masks, and testing kits; additional hospital beds, supplies, respirators, oxygen tanks, and intensive care units; the hiring and training of additional health care workers and the funding of emergency research and development. The $8.3 billion in emergency funding passed by Congress and signed by the president last week is the necessary first installment.

A second wave of costs will follow. It will be much larger and, for many, it will be lethal in a different way. The pandemic will bring a collapse of air travel and threats of bankruptcy to many businesses, large and small, whose customers will avoid crowds. Services of all kinds-- including retail stores and restaurants-- will be hard hit. Workers in those sectors will lose pay and in many cases their jobs. Debtors and taxpayers will have trouble making payments, especially if major cities go on lock-down, as all of Italy did on Wednesday, shuttering all stores except supermarkets and pharmacies.

The length and depth of this meltdown may depend on the course of the epidemic over the summer. Not every consequence can be foreseen. The situation is moving fast, and there is an immediate need for a federal agency to manage resource allocation and the financing of the response.

To meet this need, Congress should create a time-limited government corporation, a Health Finance Corporation. It should be modeled on the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, created during the Depression and used to support the New Deal and the World War II mobilization.

The Health Finance Corporation should be a wholly-owned government corporation, similar to the Commodity Credit Corporation, the Export-Import Bank, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. Temporary and subject to recharter by Congress after a few years, it would resemble the Resolution Trust Corporation, which dealt with failed savings and loan institutions between 1989 and 1995.

As a government corporation, the Health Finance Corporation would have greater flexibility than a Cabinet department or independent agency. The CEO and board would be appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, and should include medical experts, engineers and logisticians, key cabinet officers, as well as designees of the Senate and House leaders from both parties.

The Health Finance Corporation would require full financial powers and the necessary flexibility to meet the unexpected needs of the coronavirus pandemic. Like the Commodity Credit Corporation and the Small Business Administration, it should be empowered to make loans, loan guarantees, and grants. It should have the power to provide emergency funding to the Centers for Disease Control, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Defense as well as state and local governments, health insurance companies, medical firms, and nonprofits and service organizations. The Health Finance Corporation should also be authorized to buy equity in firms whose survival or rapid expansion is needed to combat the pandemic and stabilize core economic activities, such as utilities and other basic services.

The Health Finance Corporation would be an efficient one-stop shop for financial resources in this crisis. It could fund clinics, factories, emergency field hospitals, quarantine centers, civilian supply-- whatever is needed to get the nation through the crisis. It could pay for emergency R&D by the NIH, universities, and private drug laboratories. It could make grants to existing hospitals to buy beds and add staff. It could rescue critical medical goods suppliers. It could do all of this rapidly, with public oversight but a minimum of red tape.

Unlike a conventional federal agency, the Health Finance Corporation could raise funds by mobilizing private capital. As a wholly-owned government corporation, it would have no shares. But it could issue bonds, backed by the full faith and credit of the US government. With the entire Treasury yield curve under 1 percent, there is no financial constraint. Indeed, private investors are clamoring for safe government bonds. There is no need for new taxes right now.

The Reconstruction Finance Corporation is the most important precedent for a new Health Finance Corporation. Created in 1932 by President Hoover to stabilize the banking sector, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation was expanded under President Roosevelt to provide loans to state governments and aid farmers, homeowners, and exporters. Run by a legendary Texas business leader, Jesse Jones, it created special-purpose subsidiaries during World War II, including the Defense Plant Corporation, which built factories for explosives, ammunition, and other materiel. Before its final disbanding in 1957, it financed civil defense hospitals thought necessary during the Cold War.

From the Great Depression to the savings and loan crisis, government corporations have been created to mobilize public and private capital in national emergencies. Congress and the Trump administration should act to meet the pressing needs of the country and counter the economic effects of the Covid-19 crisis by creating, empowering, and providing capital for a Health Finance Corporation immediately.

The Dow almost hit 18,000 yesterday, despite-- or because of-- the panic from the Fed. Today it opened with a bull trap-- a fake rally. McConnell keeps trying to pass an inadequate goodies-for-corporations-laden stimulus package but he's starting to realize that with so many of his members in quarantine, he's going to have to work with the Democrats, and give up-- at least partially-- his plans to screw working families some more... the GOP go-to position for any national emergency. The Miami Herald editorial, Coronavirus is killing us in Florida, Gov. DeSantis. Act like you give a damn on Sunday, was aimed only at one Republican-- Florida Governor Ron DeSantis-- but it could just as well been aimed to conservatism and the Republican Party in general:

There is no operator’s manual for handling the most singular health threat in this country in more than a century. But if there were, we would urge Gov. Gavin Newsom, of California, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, of New York, or Gov. Ned Lamont of Connecticut to share it with Florida’s governor-- quickly. These other state leaders have taken decisive actions, not necessarily popular, but deemed necessary, nonetheless, to slow the virus’ spread. Newsom ordered the 40 million state residents, with some exceptions, to stay home. Cuomo, Lamont and others have issued similar directives.

Unfortunately, DeSantis, who despite trying to appear large and in charge in front the microphone and TV cameras delivering coronavirus updates, has been a timid leader in the face of the growing scourge-- and growing number of deaths-- from the disease in his state. By Saturday, the number of confirmed cases had exceeded 700. At least two more people had died bring the state total to at least 12. The governor announced that he was thinking about isolation shelters for people with confirmed COVID-19 or symptoms. Again, no details, no idea when it could happen.

Like we said, timid.

... In Indiana, Pence’s home state, a hospital chain is begging the public to sew face masks for use by its overwhelmed and underresourced staff. The hospitals’ Facebook post includes a video, pattern and instructions. In Georgia and California, the people who play doctors on TV are donating the contents of their costume and props departments to their real-life role models who have been told by our government to improvise essential safety gear using bandanas, scarves, and paper napkins.

...The president has clearly washed his hands of this national ordeal. After his administration has known since January that the deadly wave of coronavirus was going to wash ashore; after reportedly seeking to suppress the number of confirmed infections in the country by slow-walking test kits to the states; after taking “no responsibility” for the spread the disease domestically; after telling governors they’re on their own if they need medical supplies; after having no words of comfort at a Friday press conference-- Not. One. Word.-- for scared Americans, it’s not a stretch to say that this president does not fundamentally care whether we live or die.

DeSantis must step up, whether he ticks off his benefactor Trump or not. He must add his voice to the bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers and insist Florida get those “vital medical supplies, equipment, and personnel required to protect healthcare professionals, treat patients and combat the spread of COVID-19.” Otherwise, he’s as derelict as the president.


He must spearhead a plan to help the abruptly out-of-work. DeSantis made a decent start by eliminating the requirement that people seeking unemployment benefits must actively be looking for a job. Now, he must raise the abysmally low payment rate. In Florida, unemployment can reach a measly maximum of $275 per week, for anywhere between 12 to 23 weeks. In high-cost South Florida, that’s a joke. In fact, according to FileUnemployment.org, Florida is almost rock bottom in what it pays for unemployment insurance compensation. Only Alabama, Louisiana, Arizona and Mississippi, which pays the lowest at $235, keep Florida from complete embarrassment.

By raising the rate of payment, Florida will draw down more in federal funds. A provision in the coronavirus relief package passed last week by Congress and signed by the president-- What else could he do?-- says federal government will pay whatever Florida needs for unemployment compensation, U.S. Rep. Donna Shalala told the Editorial Board. However, those funds will be based on the level that individual states already pay. Florida’s pay rate is so low, Shalala said, that, “A lot of our tax money is going to go to Michigan.”

Why would DeSantis allow that to happen? Will he let a “small government is best” ideology cheat Floridians out of adequate healthcare, as did his predecessor’s refusal to expand Medicaid?

There are nearly 400,000 people employed in Florida hotels and businesses that support the hotel industry who are out of a job, according to data released by the American Hotel & Lodging Association. That number will soar when those employed in just about every other industry hard hit by coronavirus closures lose their jobs, too.

Unemployment and self-quarantine would be easier to bear if we knew that it would actually reduce the spread of the virus and save lives.

Public health professionals know how to do that, but DeSantis has elected not to put such people in charge. In the absence of coherent, evidence-based marching orders from DeSantis, local officials and industry executives have been making it up as they go along, getting farther out ahead of the curve than the governor.


The consequences of the governor’s hesitating approach are even being exported. Jeffrey Ghazarian, 34, died last week at a Pasadena, California, hospital, just days after a trip to Orlando’s Disney World and Universal theme parks. Pictures of Florida’s crowded beaches, taken days after every expert in the world was sounding the social-distancing alarm, have further cemented our place as an international punchline. Friday, DeSantis closed the beaches in Broward and Palm Beach counties, but is being sued by a Florida attorney to close all the beaches in the state.

On Friday, DeSantis issued the most widespread mandatory statewide restrictions on businesses to date-- closing gyms, fitness centers and limiting restaurants to delivery service.

The virus is so contagious that universities were closed indefinitely, but the college kids were still mobbing Florida beaches for Spring Break.

Asked to explain, the governor delivered a rambling, incoherent monologue that went on for too long.

But DeSantis thinks he’s doing a heckuva job. He’s not.