Not Guilty

Donald Trump did not cause the flooding in Texas. Donald Trump did not cause the Coronavirus that killed over 7 million people worldwide. He doesn't control the weather no matter how god-like he pretends to be and he is not smart enough to have created the Coronavirus. No one in their right mind has blamed him for creating or causing these things, but you might think otherwise if you listened to right-wing pundits proclaiming his innocence.

Donald Trump’s association and influence in these matters is restricted to his job in government where he is responsible and accountable for laws, rules, and directives that may have exacerbated these events. During his first term in office, he saw us through the first full year of the pandemic. We will never know if we would have fared better had he not fired the entire pandemic response team prior to the outbreak. Actually, he didn’t fire them but had John Bolton “restructure” the NSC and the Directorate of Global Health Security and Biodefense was disbanded.

The NSC’s Directorate mentioned above was responsible for monitoring global health risks and for coordinating the federal response to these risks. How handy it might have been to have a dedicated team whose job it was to evaluate the early reports of the virus and begin coordinationg our response. So, we can’t blame Trump and we will never know if their dismissal resulted in a worse outcome. It does, however, give rise to speculation.

Likewise, we will never know what impact the staffing cuts to the National Weather Service had on the recent Texas flooding tragedy. The complexity of the event, the influence of climate change, and the remnants of Tropical Storm Barry all played some role. No, Trump didn’t steer these events any more than he changed weather patterns with his Sharpie in 2019 when Hurricane Dorian was, according to him, threatening Alabama. No, but the loss of the person who would have been the vital link between forecasters and emergency managers during this tragedy certainly didn’t help matters. That his absence was directly linked to DOGE cuts to staffing at the NWS is a fact, but what difference this had can only be speculation at this point.

For Trump and his supporters to cry in outrage about suggestions that he made matters worse with some of his decisions, is laughable. Trump attacks these people for the mere suggestion of his culpability, when he is the king of pointing the “Fickle Finger of Fate” at others in similar situations. Who was it who blamed California Governor Newsome for not “raking the forests” to prevent those California wildfires?

Trump is not guilty of causing the pandemic or the flash flooding in Texas. He certainly didn’t help matters, and now the slow FEMA response will further communicate the fact that he doesn’t care. You can't cut funding to emergency management agencies and expect that they will all operate with the same efficiency.

Donald Trump will never be mistaken for President Harry S. Truman who famously kept a sign on his desk proclaiming that, “The Buck Stops Here.” No, Trump is more like Lou Grant on the Mary Tyler Moore Show who attributed his not having an ulcer because, “I’m able to delegate blame.” Donald Trump is very good at assigning blame and never taking responsibility.

Trump is not Truman, but he is perhaps a bit like Typhoid Mary who moved from job to job spreading disease, death and mayhem. He is our national Joe Btfsplk, the Li’l Abner character who always had a dark cloud over his head spreading trouble wherever he went. Trump is Trouble with a capital T.