Economist Robert Reich: Trump is shamelessly ‘exploiting chaos for personal gain’ during the deadly coronavirus crisis

Words like “incompetent” and “inept” have often been used by President Donald Trump’s critics to describe his response to the coronavirus pandemic. And while economist Robert Reich, a vehement Trump critic, doesn’t necessarily disagree with those adjectives, he has another term to describe Trump’s coronavirus response: power grab. And in an op-ed for The Guardian, Reich (who served as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton the 1990s) lays out why he sees it that way.

“The utter chaos in America’s response to the coronavirus pandemic — shortages of equipment to protect hospital workers, dwindling supplies of ventilators and critical medications, jaw-dropping confusion over how $2.2tn of aid in the recent coronavirus law will be distributed — was perhaps predictable in a nation that prides itself on competitive individualism and hates centralized power,” Reich explains. “But it is also tailor-made for Donald Trump, who has spent a lifetime exploiting chaos for personal gain and blaming others for losses.”

Reich goes on to cite some examples of “chaos” during the pandemic — which, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, has killed more than 70,000 people worldwide (as of Monday morning, April 6).

“Trump has told governors to find life-saving equipment on their own,” Reich notes. “He refuses to create a central bargaining agent, arguing the federal government is ‘not a shipping clerk.’ This has left states and cities bidding against each other, driving up prices.”

For example, Reich adds, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, has pointed out how the price of ventilators went from $25,000 to $45,000 “because we bid $25,000. California says, ‘I’ll give you $30,000,’ and Illinois says, ‘I’ll give you $35,000’ — and Florida says, ‘I’ll give you $40,000.’ And then, FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) gets involved, and FEMA starts bidding.”

New York State, Reich observes, “is paying 20 cents for gloves that normally cost less than five cents, $7.50 for masks that normally go for 50 cents, $2795 for infusion pumps that normally cost half that, $248,841 for a portable X-ray machine that typically sells for $30,000 to $80,000. Who’s pocketing all this? An array of producers, importers, wholesalers and speculators. State laws against price gouging usually don’t apply to government purchases.”

Other examples of coronavirus madness in Trumpworld, Reich observes, range from White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner “running a ‘shadow’ coronavirus task force that has been enlisting the private sector” to corporate provisions in the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill Trump recently signed into law.

“Is there any doubt Trump will try to use this money, as well as his son-in-law’s secretive dealings, to improve his odds of re-election?,” Reich asserts.

CNN’s website has devoted a page to John Hopkins University figures on coronavirus and the United States; according to that page, at least 9600 people have died from coronavirus in the U.S. (as of Monday morning, April 6). And Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx, both part of Trump’s coronavirus task force, have warned that 100,000-240,000 U.S. residents could die from coronavirus in the months to come — and that is even with aggressive social distancing measures.

Reich wraps up his op-ed by warning that Trump will use the deadly pandemic to his political advantage in any way he can.

“Donald Trump calls allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 election a ‘hoax,’” Reich writes. “He called his impeachment a ‘hoax.’ He initially called the coronavirus a ‘hoax,’ but the real hoax is Trump’s commitment to America. In reality, he will do anything – anything – to hold on to power. In his mind, the coronavirus crisis is just another opportunity.”