States confront new reality under Trump

Politico reports states are confronting a new reality as the Trump administration pushes authority and responsibility onto them amid the coronavirus pandemic.

President Donald Trump and his allies argue states have the most familiarity with their residents, hospitals and public health departments. Opponents say a strong national response is needed in the face of a virus that does not respect state borders.

“That is a Darwinian approach to federalism; that is states’ rights taken to a deadly extreme,” said Martin O’Malley, the former Maryland governor who served for eight years on the Homeland Security Task Force of the National Governors Association. “The better read of federalism is that the states and federal government work together when the U.S. is attacked, whether it is by imperial Japan or a pandemic.”

States reportedly also are competing against each other for needed resources from the federal government.

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