Many have been rightly criticizing the EU for its disjointed response to Coronavirus, for not doing enough to help Italy etc. But note that the US federal gov, which has resources & powers far beyond anything the EU institutions have, has been doing perhaps an even worse job. 1/n
Rather than mobilizing power of fed gov to address ventilator shortage, Trump tells governors to 'try getting it yourselves': nytimes.com/2020/03/16/us/… 2/n
With no federal standards on measures to suppress the spread of the epidemic, states are going their own way. Some states, such as NY, CT, NJ, and PA, are coordinating regionally: 3/n
In other states, governors refuse to mandate closures & distancing. Florida governor won't close beaches. Crowds of visiting spring breakers may be spreading virus; then they can fly home spreading it nationwide & undermining other states' measures 4/n thehill.com/homenews/state…
OK - finally a change here: 5/n
Again, Trump says fed gov isn't responsible “Governors are supposed to be doing a lot of this work... The Federal government is not supposed to be out there buying vast amounts of items and then shipping. You know, we’re not a shipping clerk.” 6/n politico.com/news/2020/03/1…
Meanwhile, European Commission is - within its limited capacities - at least trying to coordinate response & support states in need by "creating a stockpile of medical equipment to rapidly get the supplies needed to Member States to fight #COVID19" 7/n
Seems that now "EU Ministers of Health have decided for a centralized management of medical equipment" whereas in US, Trump is telling states to fend for themselves in finding respirators 8/n
The EU's joint procurement scheme is now launched - no such scheme at all in US, where states are competing with each other for limited supplies. 9/n
H/t to @nicolas_veron for alerting me to this piece on how coronavirus is also exposing tensions between federal gov and cantons in Switzerland 10/n https://t.co/g11mwuX18S
Back to US/EU comparison, at least in Europe there is no sign yet that EU aid will be allocated to member states on basis of partisan orientation of their government as is case in US under Trump’s criminal administration 11/n https://t.co/vC3I7QgqYX
and while we are seeing solidarity with Germany taking in Italian covid patients () we see the governor of Florida blocking cruise ship with sick and dying 'non-Floridians' from docking in Florida. 12/n
Great piece comparing issue of border closures between states in US and EU by @ThatSaraGoodman 13/n https://t.co/Ge1FTrFenW
EU has been slow getting its act together but is now organizing joint procurement of Ned supplies & trying to help states. Trump’s criminal administration meanwhile first told states to get supplies themselves & then directly undermined their efforts 14/n https://t.co/4H8ILrSNmb
Here is an incredible story by @sbg1 on Trump's refusal to help state governments and fact feds did not even place bulk orders of med equipment until mid-March... but wait it gets worse 15/n newyorker.com/news/letter-fr…
When Trump controlled fed gov does buy supplies, it doesn't distribute them to states, but channels them to private companies who can then profiteer as states compete to buy them. 16/n
This piece by Simon Jenkins claims the EU's weak coronavirus response shows that it is not a real union. However, his 'analysis' is not informed by any actual knowledge about how real political unions or federations work or have responded to corona. 17/n
Here @hhesterm does the public service of eviscerating Jenkins' nonsense column. 18/n
Here's a reminder that in US, federal gov't under the criminal Trump administration is undermining states' efforts to combat coronavirus, hijacking their med supply orders & redistributing them on a partisan basis (& as noted above, for profiteering) 19/n huffpost.com/entry/trump-co…
and a piece by @joshuakeating on resurgence of state border controls in US: "the peculiar nature of this threat, and the political moment in which it arrived, makes it feel more like it’s coming apart into 50 [nations]". 20/n
And here is an excerpt from a @washingtonpost article again detailing hostile moves by federal gov to undermine states’ efforts to buy their own med supplies - when it has failed to supply them 21/n
