And no, it’s not just what was sent to China.
Earlier, I posted a diary asking whether or not the Trump administration was trying to corner the market in medical supplies like masks and ventilators in order to reward politically-supportive states and punish detractors like Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer or New York’s Andrew Cuomo by shorting requests, competitive bidding against states, and canceling or impounding orders for said supplies.
On one hand, it’s sheer stupidity to have that conflict between federal and state governments. On the other, this could be driven by some beyond-nasty form of partisanship going on because some people are not fully rimming Trump’s sphincter as well as he expects.
Considering what’s in this Politico article from yesterday, there are third and fourth options on why the process of acquiring medical equipment is broken; until last week, Trump’s government didn’t know that the federal government itself was still exporting those items to other countries:
Last week, a Trump administration official working to secure much-needed protective gear for doctors and nurses in the United States had a startling encounter with counterparts in Thailand. The official asked the Thais for help—only to be informed by the puzzled voices on the other side of the line that a U.S. shipment of the same supplies, the second of two so far, was already on its way to Bangkok.
Trump aides were alarmed when they learned of the exchange, and immediately put the shipment on hold while they ordered a review of U.S. aid procedures. Crossed wires would only confuse our allies, they worried, or worse—offend them. And Americans confronting a surging death toll and shortages of medical equipment back home would likely be outraged.
And has failed to stop private, offshore purchasing of supplies:
The government has yet to curtail exports by U.S. companies, however—roughly 280 million masks in warehouses around the U.S. were purchased by foreign buyers on Monday alone, according to Forbes. A FEMA spokesperson said the agency “has not actively encouraged or discouraged U.S. companies from exporting overseas,” noting that various U.S. agencies are coordinating their activities with their overseas counterparts.
So take your pick; persistent incompetence, malfeasance, gross ignorance, or to cover up what Trump’s administration is (or is not) doing...Oh hell, pick all four if you want; it’s like a perfect shitstorm and we’re all stuck outside without an umbrella.
Simply put, no one on the Pence pandemic response team knew that USAID was going about business as usual for the last two months while most governors went begging for equipment and receiving little or none in return. USAID is the independent federal agency “responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance” and is helping other countries with their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. For now, USAID has been asked to send back most of the protective gear it has stockpiled in other countries, given that domestic need takes priority.
Now, I understand USAID’s mission in that these other countries do or will need help handling the pandemic lest it travels right back to U.S. in the near future. It’s the right and humane thing to do to provide some level of assistance…
...But making states compete against the federal government for supplies, doling them out to whoever is kissing Trump’s ass sufficiently, not stopping most the outflow of medical supplies to foreign countries, and then trying to cover said ass because it’s really bad optics for the America First crowd — Trump’s core constituency?
From this point I’m near speechless. Are there no responsible adults in the Executive branch?