He Wants It Both Ways

To hear President Trump tell it, it is simply ridiculous to expect that the federal government of the United States should be operating drive-up coronavirus testing facilities in big-box-store parking lots.

On April 13, he ridiculed the idea, disparaging governors (who he identified as Democrats) who wanted the federal government to provide more help with testing capacity.
“Washington shouldn’t be doing that,” he said the next day. “We can’t be thinking about a Walmart parking lot that’s 2,000 miles away where we’re doing testing, but a governor of a state can, and a mayor can, and right down the line.”

He said something similar April 15. And on April 16. And on April 22. Over and over, Trump has disparaged the idea that the federal government should be figuring out whether there should be a testing facility outside a Target in whatever state.

But . . . . .

It was Trump himself who first raised the idea of having testing facilities in parking lots.

“We’ve been in discussions with pharmacies and retailers to make drive-through tests available in the critical locations identified by public health professionals,” Trump said March 13. “The goal is for individuals to be able to drive up and be swabbed without having to leave your car.”

The federal government has been very active in providing localized resources for states — and Trump’s been happy to take credit. For instance, on more than two dozen occasions over the past three weeks, Trump has boasted about how the military built field hospitals under his direction.

On the other hand, he has simultaneously sought to take credit for the country’s coronavirus testing capacity — while demanding that states bear accountability for any complaints about it. There’s an aspect of all that testing that Trump downplays when he’s bragging about it: It’s being conducted at the state level. Only a smattering of the tests have been completed by the federal government.

Trump wants all of the following:

• Credit for the number of tests being conducted nationally
• No blame for limits on testing at the state level
• Credit for an increase in economic activity, and
• No blame for outbreaks that derive from insufficient testing as distancing measures are scaled back.

So tests overall are a sign of success and tests at a state level are nothing to do with him.

“Again, testing is local,” Trump said Sunday. “You can’t have it both ways. Testing is a local thing. And it’s very important. It’s great. But it’s a local thing."

Except that Trump also crows about how “we’re doing testing at a level nobody has ever done before.” He said that Sunday, too — about 15 seconds after he said that testing was a local thing.

You can’t have it both ways.  Unless you’re President Trump.

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The Washington Post     04/24/2020