Analysis: The toxic partisanship and gridlock that have defined recent American politics are re-emerging with vengeance amid the coronavirus pandemic | KnottMatthew
Trump has not, in any meaningful way, closed the US economy. He restricted travel from China and Europe, and released voluntary physical distancing guidelines. It was state governors and local mayors who took the hard calls to close schools, shutter non-essential businesses and ban social gatherings.
On both coasts, states are forming regional blocs to co-ordinate the re-opening of their economies. In the north-east, the governors of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Rhode Island Massachusetts and Pennsylvania announced they would develop a joint plan to re-open their businesses and schools.Cuomo stressed it would be a slow and gradual process - a stance at odds with Trump's desire to re-open the country with a "big bang".
While the governors are in charge of ending their lockdowns, Trump still wields enormous power over them. The pandemic has smashed the budgets of states like New York, and the governors are pleading with Congress to hand them hundreds of billions of dollars in support. Trump would have to sign off on any bill in order for them to get the money.
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