There is no “presidential” pivot coming from Donald Trump. That was clear long before his surprise election victory in 2016, but has never been as painfully evident as it is in the middle of this global pandemic. Faced with a deadly pathogen he can’t simply mock into submission (although he’s trotted out the Twitter nickname shtick to distract from his failures), President Trump has returned to familiar territory: revenge politics.
From his signature corporate tax cuts, which eliminated deductions for state and local income taxes that disproportionately hit blue states, to his legal battles with attorneys general in coastal states like New York and California, President Trump has spent much of his first term sticking it to his political enemies. It’s as close to a consistent ideology as anything he’s ever displayed.
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In Puerto Rico, where elected officials publicly criticized his handling of Hurricane Maria, Trump sought to stop federal aid to the recovering island. In Ukraine — a nation he was half-convinced had conspired against him — the president attempted to extract an investigation of Joe Biden in exchange for congressionally-mandated aid. In the midst of this coronavirus pandemic, he appears to prioritize petty fights with Democratic leaders of the blue states that have been hit hardest so far.
In New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio recently warned that hospitals are less than 10 days away from shortages in “really basic supplies” needed to protect health care workers and patients alike. Trump was born and raised in New York, as de Blasio noted on Sunday’s “Meet the Press,” yet “he will not lift a finger to help his hometown.”
“I don’t get it,” the mayor continued. “Right now, I have asked repeatedly for the military to be mobilized, for the Defense Production Act to be used to its fullest to get us things like ventilators. … If the president doesn’t act, people will die who could have lived otherwise.”
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The Trump administration made a big show of signing an executive order invoking the Defense Production Act, which allows the federal government to compel private manufacturers to produce badly needed materials. But it has become clear in the ensuing week that there are no plans to enforce corporate cooperation — reportedly at the behest of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. When governors sought assistance from the federal government in the procurement of much needed medical supplies last week, Trump suggested they fend for themselves, saying the the federal government was not “a shipping clerk.” Then he outbid them.
Even when the Trump administration has stepped up to lend a hand, the distribution of aid has been noticeably misaligned with the realities on the ground. In Florida, a state which voted for Trump but hasn’t yet seen an explosion of cases, officials received 100% of the medical supplies they requested earlier this month within three days. New Jersey, however, received less than 6% of its February request — more than two weeks later. FEMA had provided just 400 ventilators to New York, one of the hardest-hit states, as of Tuesday morning. Gov. Andrew Cuomo had requested 30,000.
“It’s a two-way street — they have to treat us well too,” Trump said after Cuomo, a Democrat, complained. “He should’ve ordered the ventilators,” Trump said of during a Fox News town hall on Tuesday. “They can’t blame us for that. Gov. Cuomo is supposed to be buying his own ventilators.” This appears to be the continuation of a long-running feud.
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I’m seeing Governor Cuomo today at The White House. He must understand that National Security far exceeds politics. New York must stop all of its unnecessary lawsuits & harrassment, start cleaning itself up, and lowering taxes. Build relationships, but don’t bring Fredo!
“The only way we can obtain these ventilators is from the federal government,” Cuomo said in response, noting that the state was able to procure just 7,000 ventilators. “Not to exercise that power is inexplicable to me.”
By refusing to actually invoke the Defense Production Act to rush the production of much-needed ventilators, and then blaming Democrats for not being nicer to him, the notoriously thin-skinned president appears to be prioritizing his ego over people’s lives. At this point that’s no huge surprise, but it’s worse than incompetence. It’s exploiting a crisis to wreak revenge.
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Trump’s refusal to help states get enough supplies will almost certainly have deadly consequences. Several states have policies that ration care at the expense of people with disabilities — and hospitals are rapidly being overrun.
In the midst of a pandemic, Trump is relying on petty politics to pick winners and losers.
His coronavirus task force, for example, includes a former lobbyist for Gilead, a pharmaceutical firm. This week, a Gilead drug was granted “rare disease” status that allows the company to profit from it exclusively for seven years, even as it is likely to severely limit supply. Gilead shut down its emergency access program, just as its stock price rose.
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Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has warned that the U.S. jobless rate could hit 20%, a rate double that of the worst unemployment level of the 2008 recession, but the Trump administration continues its fight to kick nearly 700,000 people off food stamps. And while much of the nation is distracted by concerns over the spread of COVID-19, the Trump administration has canceled public hearings on plans to gut environmental regulations, while maintaining the rule-making schedule. Anti-union rules have similarly been hurried through in the shadow of this crisis.
Of course, like almost all things Trump, his behavior is just the unvarnished version of modern Republican thinking. Senate Republicans proved this week that they had no principled objection to government picking winners and losers, just partisan opposition. The purveyors of free-market capitalism are suddenly eager to embrace another bailout of corporate America — now that a Republican is back in the White House. This time they even wanted the executive branch to have sole discretion over the allocation and distribution of aid, a far cry from their complaints about the Obama administration. What could go wrong with Mnuchin picking the winners and losers with no public review, during the months just before a presidential election?
Trump has laid bare, not for the first time, what lies so much of Republican orthodoxy is built upon. With his rush to return to normal as the coronavirus spreads across the nation and his suggestion that sacrificing the sick and the elderly is an acceptable compromise, he’s revealed the GOP to be exactly as callous as its policy preferences over the last several decades have indicated. This pandemic has stripped off the Republican facade, at least.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MONTREAL – NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he will not be taking advice from Pierre Poilievre after the Conservative leader challenged him to bring down government.
“I say directly to Pierre Poilievre: I’m not going to listen to you,” said Singh on Wednesday, accusing Poilievre of wanting to take away dental-care coverage from Canadians, among other things.
“I’m not going to listen to your advice. You want to destroy people’s lives, I want to build up a brighter future.”
Earlier in the day, Poilievre challenged Singh to commit to voting non-confidence in the government, saying his party will force a vote in the House of Commons “at the earliest possibly opportunity.”
“I’m asking Jagmeet Singh and the NDP to commit unequivocally before Monday’s byelections: will they vote non-confidence to bring down the costly coalition and trigger a carbon tax election, or will Jagmeet Singh sell out Canadians again?” Poilievre said.
“It’s put up or shut up time for the NDP.”
While Singh rejected the idea he would ever listen to Poilievre, he did not say how the NDP would vote on a non-confidence motion.
“I’ve said on any vote, we’re going to look at the vote and we’ll make our decision. I’m not going to say our decision ahead of time,” he said.
Singh’s top adviser said on Tuesday the NDP leader is not particularly eager to trigger an election, even as the Conservatives challenge him to do just that.
Anne McGrath, Singh’s principal secretary, says there will be more volatility in Parliament and the odds of an early election have risen.
“I don’t think he is anxious to launch one, or chomping at the bit to have one, but it can happen,” she said in an interview.
New Democrat MPs are in a second day of meetings in Montreal as they nail down a plan for how to navigate the minority Parliament this fall.
The caucus retreat comes one week after Singh announced the party has left the supply-and-confidence agreement with the governing Liberals.
It’s also taking place in the very city where New Democrats are hoping to pick up a seat on Monday, when voters go to the polls in Montreal’s LaSalle—Émard—Verdun. A second byelection is being held that day in the Winnipeg riding of Elmwood—Transcona, where the NDP is hoping to hold onto a seat the Conservatives are also vying for.
While New Democrats are seeking to distance themselves from the Liberals, they don’t appear ready to trigger a general election.
Singh signalled on Tuesday that he will have more to say Wednesday about the party’s strategy for the upcoming sitting.
He is hoping to convince Canadians that his party can defeat the federal Conservatives, who have been riding high in the polls over the last year.
Singh has attacked Poilievre as someone who would bring back Harper-style cuts to programs that Canadians rely on, including the national dental-care program that was part of the supply-and-confidence agreement.
The Canadian Press has asked Poilievre’s office whether the Conservative leader intends to keep the program in place, if he forms government after the next election.
With the return of Parliament just days away, the NDP is also keeping in mind how other parties will look to capitalize on the new makeup of the House of Commons.
The Bloc Québécois has already indicated that it’s written up a list of demands for the Liberals in exchange for support on votes.
The next federal election must take place by October 2025 at the latest.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante is defending her decision to turn off comments on her social media accounts — with an announcement on social media.
She posted screenshots to X this morning of vulgar names she’s been called on the platform, and says comments on her posts for months have been dominated by insults, to the point that she decided to block them.
Montreal’s Opposition leader and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association have criticized Plante for limiting freedom of expression by restricting comments on her X and Instagram accounts.
They say elected officials who use social media should be willing to hear from constituents on those platforms.
However, Plante says some people may believe there is a fundamental right to call someone offensive names and to normalize violence online, but she disagrees.
Her statement on X is closed to comments.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
