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Trump declares National Emergency, markets soar and he refuses to take any responsibility for government’s slow response

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Trump declared a national coronavirus emergency, causing the stock market to soar. But he also sparked controversy when he was asked about the delays and answered: ” “I don’t take responsibility at all.”

The Washington Post’s two paragraph lede summarized it well. “President Trump declared a national emergency over the coronavirus pandemic Friday as public life in America continued to grind to a halt. Trump’s announcement sent the Dow soaring nearly 2,000 points…Concerns about the coronavirus rippled across the globe, as schools closed to millions of students; more events were canceled, more landmarks shuttered; and the Group of Seven leaders planned a virtual crisis conference.”

But some of his announcement/news conference is bound to cause more political fallout for him, Even though this declaration is welcome and frees up big bucks to battle the pandemic, he (again) refused to take responsibility for something bad that happened on his watch. Here’s how The Huff Post reported it:

“President Donald Trump on Friday declared a national emergency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but spent much of the announcement refusing to take responsibility for testing delays and praising his own inadequate response that helped let the coronavirus spread rapidly throughout much of the country.

Joined by representatives from companies like Walgreens, CVS and Quest Diagnostics, Trump unveiled a private-sector partnership to “vastly increase and accelerate our capacity to test for the coronavirus.”

He said half a million tests would be available by “early next week.”

“We want to make sure that those who need a test can get a test very safely, quickly and conveniently, but we don’t want people to take a test if we feel that they shouldn’t be doing it,” he said.

The national emergency declaration will also allocate up to $50 billion in disaster relief funding to states, effective immediately, Trump said.

The president and his administration have faced intense criticism for delays in testing for the new coronavirus. Many states and municipalities have reported a backlog in testing or an inability to test people who suspect they have contracted the virus.

Coronavirus tests are alarmingly hard to come by, which the top infectious disease expert at the National Institutes of Health called “a failing” on Thursday.

Asked about the delays Friday, Trump defiantly said: “I don’t take responsibility at all.”

When asked about his demolition of President Barack Obama’s pandemic response team, Trump called it “a nasty question.”

So while this was a dramatic improvement over the White House’s policy (or non-policy) from just a few days ago, this is unlikely to greatly alter Trump’s credibility deficit.

Nonetheless, the declaration of a national emergency was welcome news to health providers, public officials, all Americans — and the stock market.

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