It’s March 2020. The coronavirus has started to arrive on American shores, but the country is as prepared as we could ever be.
State and municipal budgets have started to feel the strain of lockdowns and stepped-up services, but fortunately, a trillion-dollar infrastructure bill passed in Trump’s first year has alleviated the burden of crumbling public works, leaving them with more money to spare. Many projects, which are months or even years from completion, are keeping thousands of workers on the job (construction being considered essential work).
Instead of approving the importation of foreign-made prescription drugs from Canada, over the past two years the administration has made a deliberate effort to cultivate domestic drug manufacturing as part of a broader industrial strategy. Production will still take weeks to ramp up, but domestic producers finally have the capacity to respond to a crisis like this.
Millions of workers are facing layoffs, but three years of dramatic cutbacks to the H1-B visa program have meant the vast numbers of college-educated young people working in low-skilled service jobs have shifted to work that can be done remotely. A tighter labor market generally has resulted in higher wages and more money in Americans’ pockets, leaving them better able to handle lockdown-related hardship.
A full exit from Iraq and Afghanistan has also taken some of the pressure off the federal budget, with plenty to spend on activating reservists to help with the crisis at home, in the event that becomes necessary.
Trump’s young supporters have stepped in to help their neighbors with a coordinated effort led by Turning Point USA to deliver groceries and other necessities to the elderly and at-risk. “This country that has given us so much needs our help now. We’re young, and have less to fear from the virus, and today our fellow citizens need us. It’s time to step up,” Charlie Kirk told his network via Periscope.
Dare to dream, right?
Much has already been said about how the coronavirus is a crisis that seems tailor-made for the critics of globalization and free trade. But a similar point is also worth making: almost any policy priority that nationalists had hopes of seeing realized in a Trump administration, from infrastructure to returning manufacturing to immigration restriction, would have left our country better prepared for the unprecedented situation we now find ourselves in.
It’s true that Trump is being unfairly blamed for a lot of things related to the pandemic. His administration is accused of disbanding the NSC’s pandemic response team, but in fact only one person with no pandemic experience was fired. And to be sure most of his current critics have no interest in these kinds of nationalist policies. But it’s also true that the Trump administration’s focus on more conventional Republican priorities like corporate tax cuts and endless war in the Middle East seem even more mistaken in light of the current pandemic. Ordinary Americans are now paying the price for those compromises.
What’s past is past. Nobody saw this coming, and the important thing now is how we move forward. One hopes that Trump himself will continue to ignore the people in his White House who are leaking nastygrams about Peter Navarro to the Daily Beast. If ever there was a moment for Trump to double down on the set of issues that got him elected, this is it. Much depends on Steve Mnuchin, with the enormous discretionary power at his disposal for the corporate bailout portion of the coronavirus relief package. That funding should be granted in ways that make the country less vulnerable to global disruptions like this.
The political benefit is obvious: throughout the debates over pandemic relief it was generally Republicans, not Democrats, who were offering more generous support to working people, which is as it should be if Republican voters are trending downscale. As for support to corporations, right now Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are sounding more like Chamber of Commerce press agents, begging Mnuchin not to attach too many strings to the airline bailout. Leaning into this dynamic will further split the Democratic Party, which is already struggling to accommodate its progressive wing. As they used to say about another Republican president, let Trump be Trump.
Pres. Trump has done a good job. Those who don’t think so are looking thru leftist glasses and refusing the truth. He’s failed miserably at stopping gun grabbers and ending abortion as he promised he would.
His leadership thru this difficult time has been rocksteady and efficient. Unlike cuomo in NY. sisolak in Nevada both of whom blame Trump while making asinine decisions. Typical move by the left. They stab you in the back and blame you for doing it!! here in Nevada the governor is making decisions based on fear. Our President has done very well and the team he assembled are Rock stars… Thank you Sir and the team’s
I so agree Kevin T, Smith, I feel so sorry for Our President and his family, I want to Thank Our President and his team..so sorry they have had to put up woth on the trouble they have..
Can you imagine how wonderful the United States would be if the democrats had done their jobs and worked WITH the republicans and President Trump for the good of the country? Even having the democrats and rinos opposing all President Trumps programs, the country was experiencing it greatest employment history ever, the stock market was at all time highs, the economy was booming and new successful trade deals had been reached. As a former democrat, I am disgusted with what Nancy Pelosi and her like are doing to MY country. I will NEVER vote democrat again and I hope that other Americans feel likewise.
Good article……I shutter think how Hillary would have reacted to this pandemic. We have had flue problems in the past with many deaths but we never saw the liberal media attacking the administration at the time. We will come out of this as we see the solution is in the works at many levels of the health care and pharma industries and research groups. We have not heard from Joe Biden and all Sanders talks about is his free stuff. IMO, Cuomo will be the democrat candidate. In my neighborhood there is a sign of confidence very visible. I see every day people walking their dogs, children . There is a green space across from my home and families bring their child to it to play and yest they keep the distance from other non family members. Finally, IMO, we will see the DOW go to all time highs prior to the elections .
I love our President he is doing a great job.
We need to get rid of anyone who is not willing to come together and work to make our country stronger more independent from other countries!
Get that wall built! Come in the right way or stay the hell out. We don’t want you we don’t need you we have enough of our own homeless people and our we don’t need one million more because you have this dream it’s better here! Well go home do something about your own country enough people here struggle.
I’m sorry it may be mean but our fathers before us came in the right way and I’d you can’t then you must not be a good person. Secure the borders.
Make our own medications and our own plate and silver ware not everything needs to be shipped from China. I pick up 90% of my crap and it’s made in China really people? What are we doing as a country?
Get it together Demonuts!
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