President Trump says he is now considering a quarantine of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to stop the spread of the Coronavirus.
The problem is that Trump didn't bother to raise this with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont. Cuomo said that he spoke with Trump this morning and that the President made no mention of it.
What this quarantine would look like isn't clear. Trump says the NYC subway wouldn't be shut down, but what about the Metro North Railroad and Long Island Rail Road? Would grocery stores and pharmacies be shut down? It might have been useful for Trump to have mentioned what he was thinking when he spoke with Cuomo this morning.
Of course, naturally there is an assumption that Trump is capable of thought. Did Florida Governor Ron De Santis put the bug in Trump's ear when he complained about New Yorkers making their way to vacation properties in the Sunshine state (kind of like Trump himself). Mind you this is the same Florida Governor who thought it unnecessary to shut down his state's beaches for out of state students on spring break.
Above all else, this is Trump's standard operating procedure. This is the man who announced troop withdrawals from Syria last fall after a phone call with Turkish President Erdogan. He did so without consulting the Pentagon, the State Department much less lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Trump acts on impulse and without any coherent thought behind it.
This isn't Governor Cuomo bringing in the National Guard to contain the spread of infection in New Rochelle. If the President genuinely believes it is necessary to quarantine an area comprising of 30 million people then he needs to sound out those Governors and other state officials and work out the details before telling the entire world of his half baked schemes. It is every bit as irresponsible as his wish for packed churches on Easter.
Unfortunately, this won't be the last time Trump announces he is going to do something without bothering to tell the people responsible for implementing the an order much less the people it will adversely affect. We can only hope this country strong enough to survive the idiot who is trying to run it into the ground.
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