‘Wartime President’ Trump Receives Bipartisan Support for Emergency Response

In a rare moment of unity across the aisles, Trump has received widespread praise for his response to the economic fallout of the COVID-19 crisis.

The President is fully mobilizing the power of the federal government to tackle both the public health and economic costs of the disease. Working closely with an unusually effective Congress, the president is rolling out a vast relief package with an estimated price tag of $1 trillion.

This package includes paid sick leave for workers and relief for embattled industries. Half of the trillion dollars will be spent on his most direct, aggressive and unprecedented measure: two $250 billion payments directly to Americans. The scheme would send two checks, one in April and one in May, to American households in an amount determined by income. The idea is to inject stimulus money direct into the economy.

The economic stimulus package alone will be larger than the one introduced by the Obama administration during the financial crisis. This figure does not include the money spent on the response to the actual public health crisis itself. The United States is aggressively trying to evade the fate of nations like Italy, whose initial inaction had led to overwhelmed hospitals, full lockdown across the country, and a soaring death toll.

Donald Trump declares himself a “wartime president” https://t.co/trTxg0zJ1Q

— Bloomberg (@business) March 19, 2020

Applauding Bold Action

The response to Trump’s actions has been one of nearly unanimous praise, a first for his tenure. Ilhan Omar, one of Trump’s greatest foes in the House of Representatives, praised President Trump’s unprecedented stimulus measures. Referencing the stimulus and Donald Trump’s invocation of the Defense Production Act, Ilhan tweeted, “unprecedented times require unprecedented leadership and we are seeing that in our country right now.”

Andrew Cuomo, who earlier in the week traded barbs with Trump over their respective response to the outbreak, praised him for his recent action.

Even the fourth estate, President Trump’s most steadfast foe during his administration, has changed its tone as he demonstrates the kind of creative, aggressive response necessary to soften the blow to American families. CNN’s Dana Bash lauded Trump’s efforts to bring economic stimulus directly to the families that need it, saying that the crisis was making him the “kind of leader people need”.

Former NJ Gov. Chris Christie applauds Trump's 'wartime president' attitude amid coronavirus crisis: "If he has been convinced of that, that’s a good thing." https://t.co/Wm9pVclKHz

— ABC News (@ABC) March 19, 2020

‘Wartime President’

If one could criticize the administration for a slow initial response to the virus, no such claim can be made now. The president fully appreciates the gravity of the situation, labeling himself a “wartime president” and demonstrating the will and political capital necessary to mobilize the nation’s full resources to combat the contagion.

This week, Trump invoked the Defense Production Act, a law enacted in the Korean War era which gives the United States government the power to call on the private sector to produce goods and services necessary for the national defense. In this case, industries would likely include producers of essential goods, such as medical equipment and food, as well as logistical services.

The law was created to facilitate a full mobilization of the country’s resources, as seen in World 2.