An underrated danger of the amount of power and leadership the legislative GOP has ceded to the White House: they are not prepared to take any action without top-down direction.
The usual thinking is that in a crisis like this having a strong chief executive with sweeping powers is actually preferable because one person can direct policy with more speed and clarity than a bunch of committees.
But that assumes the central figure is interested.
But that assumes the central figure is interested.
Trump has assumed massive amounts of unchecked centralized authority even by the standards of 21st century US presidents, but all he's interested in doing on COVID-19 is figuring out ways to spin it and explain it away.
Trump is essentially *hoarding* his authority. In both the executive branch bureaucracy and on the legislative side in the Senate, there's no one with power to act who is willing to do so without his blessing, lest he decides they've undercut him and his chosen narrative.
Like, how is Mitch McConnell going to propose a solution for a problem that Hair Furor is pretending is already under control? He can't, if he wants to.
