By Andrea Widburg, AMERICAN THINKER
Trump’s approach to coronavirus is exposing one of the great fault lines in American politics, which is the battle between those who believe in the free market and the private sector versus those who believe that the answer is always the government. This fault line has obviously existed for a long time, but it’s never been exposed in starker terms than now, when there is a crushing weight bearing down on America. So far, the private sector is proving more adaptable, more effective, and more decent.
At John Solomon’s new website, Just The News, Stephanie Gutmann has written a superb article explaining how Trump’s approach to the emergency differs from the approach that any American politician, past or present, has taken, because he’s disempowering, rather than empowering, the government:
In Washington, leaders typically respond to crises by expanding federal power — drafting new laws and regulations, leaning heavily on federal muscle. The COVID-19 pandemic is revealing President Trump to be a different kind of animal, with instincts and alliances that were forged over years in the private sector, where initiatives tend to move faster and finding creative ways to save money is considered a bragging point. (After all, it is usually one’s own money.)
If the president’s popular approval ratings are reaching new highs, it may be due in part to the Trump the public is seeing on display at the daily briefings of his Coronavirus Task Force. This Trump represents in many ways a return to form for the president, a rebirth of the hard-driving, can-do developer who famously slashed through red tape to restore New York’s iconic Wollman Skating Rink under budget and ahead of schedule 34 years ago.
The president has assembled a Coronavirus Task Force studded with federal agency heads like Dr. Stephen Hahn of the FDA, but their marching orders are clear. As National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci expressed it in a Task Force briefing back on March 13: “We’re going to be able to remove the constraints so that people at the state and the local level — the individual physician all the way up through the federal government … [are able] to do everything they possibly can.”
That’s just the introduction. Gutmann writes at some length about how Trump is unchaining the private sector in the war against disease, and I highly recommend reading the entire article.
Democrats, of course, are angry that Trump is relying on the public sector. That American corporations are stepping up to help America offends their belief that government, and only government, can help.
For ordinary Americans, it’s comforting when CEOs step up to the podium at a press conference to explain how they’ve moved at warp speed to reconfigure their factories to produce ventilators, masks, gowns, or test kits, or how they’ve opened their facilities to make it possible for mass numbers of Americans to take the tests. For leftists, though, Trump is simply providing free advertising for evil corporations (never mind that the evil corporations are providing products and services after the government failed to do so):
?@JohnFugelsang
My Pillow CEO today “God gave us grace on November 8, 2016 to change the course we were on.”
Yet another white man confusing “God” with “An Electoral College Demanded by Dead Slaveowners.”
What’s funny is Mypillow is a tv advertiser. He just got millions of free advertising. And this is why they shouldn’t cover these campaign rallies er press conferences live. He’s not telling us anything new but just saying the same lies over and over Goebbels style.
See pie on the head ‘s other Tweets
Is it necessary to thank POTUS for doing HIS JOB ? I know these companies are getting free advertising but still have some dignity. #PressConference #pressbriefing
Many of the people behind the “evil” corporations are also making personal sacrifices to help their employees or help their customers:
The Hollywood Reporter
The Walt Disney Co. said on Monday that executive chairman Robert Iger will forgo his entire salary and recently named CEO Bob Chapek will take a 50 percent pay cut amid the coronavirus pandemic http://thr.cm/AalSVqc
CEO Bob Chapek will take a 50 percent pay cut.
hollywoodreporter.com1,212 people are talking about this
New York Daily News
Texas Roadhouse CEO — who reportedly made $1.3 million in 2018 — will forgo his base salary and incentive bonus.
“The additional funds will be made available to assist front-line hourly restaurant employees,” the report states.https://trib.al/dFQDgkpTexas Roadhouse CEO gives up nearly a year’s worth of salary, bonus to pay front-line restaurant…
The CEO of Texas Roadhouse is giving up nearly a year’s worth of salary and bonus to help hourly restaurant workers who are seeing their income essentially disappear during the coronavirus pandemic….
Bloomberg
Two of America’s largest health insurers, Cigna and Humana, say they will waive out-of-pocket costs for patients who need treatment for Covid-19 https://trib.al/OXrVEcV
Cigna, Humana Waive Cost-Sharing for Covid-19 Treatments
Two of America’s largest health insurers, Cigna Corp. and Humana Inc., said they will waive out-of-pocket costs for patients who need treatment for Covid-19.
bloomberg.com128 people are talking about this.
Meanwhile, when it comes to organizations or individuals who feed off the government teat . . . the picture’s not that pretty:
Georgia Log Cabin
Kennedy Center fires musicians after $25M bailout https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/after-25-million-stimulus-stunned-nso-players-receive-one-week-notice-from-kennedy-center/2020/03/28/9c27603e-7118-11ea-aa80-c2470c6b2034_story.html …
After $25 million stimulus, stunned NSO players receive one-week notice from Kennedy Center
The orchestra’s 96 musicians will receive their last paychecks on April 3.
washingtonpost.com41 people are talking about this
P. Aaron@BonHagar
CALIFORNIA PRIVILEGE: “Superintendent Aguilar’s total compensation climbed from $380,692.47 to $414,818, an increase of $34,126 or 9.0% (see below). This does not include Mr. Aguilar’s second salary from UC Merced.” https://californiaglobe.com/section-2/sacramento-city-schools-superintendent-aguilar-takes-a-big-pay-increase-while-schools-closed/ …
Sacramento City Schools Superintendent Aguilar Takes a Big Pay Increase While Schools Closed -…
In March 2019, California Globe reported Sacramento City Unified School District Superintendent Jorge Aguilar and seven other administrators spent more
californiaglobe.com
Coronavirus is a miserable experience for the people who have it and the countries that try to navigate around it. Nevertheless, it has to be credited for bringing clarity to many of the things about which Americans have been fighting in the 21st century. We can only hope that ordinary American people, the ones who aren’t obsessive news junkies, are seeing past the cloud of anti-private sector dust media stir up and are able to recognize what’s really going on.
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