I will be grateful for the things they do, but I must point out the needs they refuse to address, which I believed were basic federal responsibilities and were being withheld for political reasons. They were giving us crumbs, and I had to say New York needed more. This was not an acceptable stance.
My only remaining option was to go the other way. When Trump said he needed gratitude, he was exposing his insatiable need for affirmation. Going the other way meant openly criticizing him. If he needed affirmation, it meant he couldn’t take criticism. My weapon was to criticize his failure and neglect. I did it often and loudly. He hated criticism and couldn’t handle it, and this discomfort caused him to deliver more for New York than we would have otherwise received. A sick, disturbing, unethical federal posture, but in battle we pursue the strategy that wins.
APRIL 20 | 4,726 NEW CASES | 16,103 HOSPITALIZED | 478 DEATHS
“The beast will not destroy us.”
I ALWAYS ENJOY IT WHEN A technical expert can simplify a complex topic so a “normal” person can understand it. I was talking to a WHO official who had been working in China on its reopening, and he was explaining the pros and cons of different reopening schedules. He then said to me, “Governor, think of it this way: When you are home sick with a virus, you want to get back to work quickly to make money. But if you get out of bed too fast and get back to work too soon, you will have a relapse and wind up back in bed longer. What would you have accomplished?” The analogy stuck with me and helped me communicate our situation to people.
Above all, the reopening had to be calibrated. We wanted to reopen as quickly as possible, but the question was how to define “as possible.” The key was testing and tracing. I remained obsessively focused on testing. Testing could provide real facts, and facts could allow me to make a decision. Facts could also give people information and allow them to understand the basis of decisions. Facts are how I would defeat politics.
Anytime there was a function that needed to be performed by government, Trump instinctively withdrew. He had no knowledge of what government could or could not do. Trump’s instinct was also to avoid liability by refusing to be responsible for any quantifiable or specific task. He was still bristling over the criticism that he did not have enough ventilators. He was not about to now become engaged in establishing or operating a true nationwide testing system, which would be necessary for reopening.
So Trump developed a new mantra: “Testing was up to the states.” He was distancing himself as far as possible from this urgent challenge. His position was absurd. States had to handle the closedown and emergency operations. He wanted to handle the economic reopening, but states had to handle the testing to make reopening possible! The factual problem was the states couldn’t perform the testing because the national manufacturers controlled the actual testing kits and chemical agents. And the federal government controlled the national manufacturers.
The lack of a national testing system was just another component in the revelations about our failure to have a national public health system. There is no “national testing system.” There are private laboratories located across the nation that buy testing machines from different private companies that operate proprietary testing programs. Supplies are provided by specific manufacturers and can run only on that specific machine. In New York State we have 250 laboratories that purchase equipment from approximately ten large national manufacturers. Each national manufacturer then supplies that lab with materials needed to operate its machine. To increase testing capacity required each national manufacturer to provide more testing supplies for its specific equipment.
Once the 250 laboratories agreed to increase production on a 24/7 basis, the obstacle became their inability to secure the supplies from the national manufacturers. I called the national manufacturers. They told me their issue was the supply chain. They needed certain chemical reagents, and their main supplier was…wait for it…China. We needed the federal government to work with China and open up the supply chain.
The White House was frustrated with some states for not taking control of the testing function on the ground. They wanted the states to be more aggressive in setting up testing sites and marshaling local laboratories. They were not wrong: New York was unique in the way we had marshaled our private labs in our state to conduct our testing. Many states had not done enough with their own lab systems. New York had established eight hundred testing sites across the state and organized the 250 labs for maximum output. But we did not have the national manufacturers providing our labs with the necessary supplies to meet the capacity we had developed. We needed the federal government to intervene.
APRIL 21 | 4,178 NEW CASES | 16,044 HOSPITALIZED | 481 DEATHS
“Some of the most tragic situations actually forged the character and resolve of this nation.”
THE BRIEFINGS WERE REALLY GOING well. They were informative and even entertaining at times. And while occasionally the press questions could create great theater, some were just nasty and uninformed. Sometimes I would ask Melissa to answer. She grew up immersed in politics and has a computer for a mind. She would undress the reporter when the question was based on incorrect assumptions, always methodical in her dissection. Melissa was involved in all aspects of the crisis so she, like me, saw the whole field of engagement. This helped me immensely because I relied
