With thousands dead and hospitals running out of vital equipment across the country, the President of the United States is seemingly using the distribution of that equipment for political gains.
The ongoing struggle between governors seeking aid for their states and the Federal government has only accelerated in the past week as the conditions in states like New York and Michigan become more and more dire. More medical professionals and government officials come forward pleading for assistance and equipment every day, but President Donald Trump has claimed this is just an overreaction by people trying to stock up on more supplies than they really need.
Lacking federal assistance, state officials have turned to the open market to source equipment. However, governors claim they are facing competition from not just other states but also the federal government.
CNN found that many of the orders placed by Democratic Governor of Colorado Jared Polis had been canceled because the Federal government had bought the supplies. Colorado had ordered 500 ventilators from a private company, but FEMA seized the ventilators instead, leaving Colorado to fend for itself.
Polis has expressed frustration with the federal governments inconsistent approach to the crisis and the distribution of medical supplies: "Either be in or out, folks. Either you're buying them and you're providing them to states and you're letting us know what we're going to get and when we're going to get them. Or you stay out, and let us buy them."
Among those receiving political aid from the President is Colorado Senator Cory Gardner who is facing an uphill re-election campaign. After seizing Colorado's order of ventilators, Trump announced he would be giving them 100 ventilators, 400 short of Colorado's own estimated needs, thanks to Gardner's efforts.
"Will be immediately sending 100 Ventilators to Colorado at the request of Senator Gardner!" Trump tweeted.
Compare Trump's tweet about Gardner with his later tweet about Michigan Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer:
"Failing Michigan Governor must work harder and be much more proactive. We are pushing her to get the job done," Trump tweeted.
The President's mistreatment of Whitmer and other governors like her isn't restricted to Twitter either. He's also admitted encouraging Vice President Mike Pence, the man directing the official White House response effort, not to call "the woman in Michigan" or her fellow Democratic governor Jay Inslee of Washington. Republican Governor of Florida and Trump ally Ron DeSantis has "promptly" received all of the supplies he has requested, according to the Washington Post.
Colorado Gov. Polis said he was "grateful" for the 100 ventilators Trump promised, and Gardner promised that he would "continue to work with the President for more and continue to meet Colorado's needs." Democratic Representative for Colorado Diana Degette was not so gracious.
"Governor Polis and our Congressional delegation have been working to get more ventilators to Colorado for weeks. In fact, Colorado was set to receive 500 ventilators until FEMA blocked the shipment. Now, President Trump says we will get 100 as a courtesy to Senator Gardner," DeGette said in a statement. "That means, because the president is playing politics with public health, we're still 400 ventilators short from what we should have received. His mismanagement of this crisis is costing lives and livelihoods."
The Denver Post went even farther in a scathing editorial against the President's actions.
"President Donald Trump is treating life-saving medical equipment as... favors to loyalists. It's the worst imaginable form of corruption - playing political games with lives. For the good of this nation during what should be a time of unity, he must stop."
Trump also implied that states should have been stocking up on supplies for years after his own administration did away with a National Security Council body charged with preparing for the next pandemic that experts at the time said was inevitable.
"What they should do is they should've, long before this pandemic arrived, they should've been on the open market, just buying, there was no competition, you could've made a great price," Trump said. "The states have to stock up."