Neither the media nor most of the public will ever get this right, but you should.
The bulk of the responsibility for combatting COVID 19 falls with governors, not the president.
The term for governmental authority and responsibility for health, safety, welfare, and morality is the “police power.” States have police power. The federal government does not.
The president has the power to control the borders of the United States.
So, putting these things together, the chief responsibility for President Trump is to ensure that we do our best to keep people with the disease from coming into the country.
However, most of the people who have brought the disease into the US are Americans who got sick in China or Italy, etc. They have the right to re-enter.
Governors have the authority and responsibility for seeking to stop the spread of the disease once it is in their state.
And we have seen Governors exercise great variation in their approaches. New York, for example, kept their schools open longer than other states.
If we want to know why New York is the hotspot now, we should examine the actions of Governor Cuomo not President Trump.
Indeed, when Trump suggested a federal quarantine on the New York area (NY, NJ, CT), Cuomo correctly said that such an order would be a violation of states’ rights.
Under modern practice, the federal government can assist the states in emergencies, but the true authority resides with the states.
The death toll is tragically rising. Responsibility follows authority.
There is a component of this that is beyond the power of any government to control. But given the statism that so many embrace, there is a wide assumption that government should have prevented every problem.
So if you want to assess blame on this basis, do it correctly. Look to your Governor. Evaluate his or her action. That’s where the constitutional responsibility lies.
