Is Trump Acting Presidential?

Thomas A. FireyAmong the criticisms President Trump has received over his handling of COVID-19, one is that he ’s playing politics with disaster aid. TheDenver Post recently charged that he “is treating life‐​saving medical equipment as emoluments he can dole out as favors to loyalists.” Michigan Gov.Gretchen Whitmer has claimed that “vendors are being told not to send stuff here to Michigan.” Trump himself has said the governors “have to treat us well also” in order to get what they need.So far, evidence of actual favoritism is mixed. A Washington Post review of federal distribution of ventilators, surgical masks, and N95 respirators found no apparent favoritism of red or blue states (though it also noted that overall distribution has been lousy). On the other hand,an early analysis of the Paycheck Protection Program, intended to support small businesses during the COVID ‐​induced recession, found that businesses in states that supported Trump in 2016 have received much more generous support than businesses in states that went for Hillary Clinton.If Trumpis showing political favoritism with disaster aid, he wouldn ’t be the first president or other federal policymaker to do so. As economistsSteven Horwitz andFrank Stephenson explain in a forthcoming article in Cato ’s policy journalRegulation, such favoritism is a D.C. tradition.Horwitz and Stephenson summarize a rich academic literature finding that New Deal aid was channeled to...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs