• Trump has been inexplicably reluctant to use the Defense Production Act to control the production of needed medical supplies. He’s frequently said he’s used the act when he’s merely threatened to do so. It’s still unclear if the act has actually been used to produce medical supplies. But the president has had no problem using the act when it comes to military equipment. The Pentagon has been using the act roughly 300,000 times a year to procure needed military supplies. States are currently competing with each other and with the federal government over supplies which drives up costs and results in chaotic distribution. Were Trump to use the power he already has, prices would be kept in check and supplies distributed where they’re most needed. It’s a mystery as to why he isn’t doing this.

• The Trump administration has repeatedly said there was no way to anticipate the outbreak. And repeatedly we learn that several parts of the government did just that. The Pentagon put out a report in 2017 detailing the dangers of an infectious disease pandemic and highlighted areas where the US was unprepared, specifically mentioning a shortage of protection equipment for healthcare workers. Just seven months ago, the Council of Economic Advisers put out a report about a potential pandemic which explicitly warned about comparing such a disease to a normal flu, as Trump did several times.

• The White House asked the government of Thailand if they could spare certain medical supplies. The Thais were perplexed as the United States had just shipped the same supplies TO Thailand. The administration does not have a handle on what inventory it possesses and where it is being sent.

• Yesterday in a press briefing, the president went off on a tangent about the border wall claiming 160 miles had been built. The actual number of new wall built under the Trump administration is 2. (That’s not a typo.)

• The Navy has relieved Captain Brett Crozier of his command after he leaked a letter to the media desperately asking for help with the outbreak on the USS Theodore Roosevelt. 93 of the 5000 crewman have tested positive for the virus so far.

• Trump said in today’s press briefing that scarves generally work better than masks because they’re thicker. This is dangerously false. Scarves are extremely porous.

The rest of today’s piece focuses on Jared Kushner. Kushner has absolutely zero experience in any sort of medical work, much less overseeing and organizing large organizations dealing with a pandemic. Yet he is in charge of a significant portion of the US response.

• Kushner’s covid-19 task force has been using private emails to conduct official business. Kushner has frequently used private emails as part of his job as well as encrypted messaging apps which both prevent oversight of his activities. Those concerned about Hillary Clinton doing the same are strangely unconcerned by this.

• Kushner said today that the national stockpile is not meant to be used for the states and is instead “ours.” The national stockpile website explicitly states the supplies are to be used for state emergencies.

• The source for Trump saying New York doesn’t need 30,000 – 40,000 ventilators was Kushner. Kushner stated in a meeting that Governor Cuomo was being alarmist and said “I have all this data about ICU capacity. I’m doing my own projections, and I’ve gotten a lot smarter about this. New York doesn’t need all the ventilators.” I’ll again point out Kushner has absolutely zero relevant experience to make this claim.

• Kushner appears to be involved in several of the White House missteps, including the false promise of a screening website, ventilators from GM, and the announcement of drive-thru testing in partnership with commercial businesses, none of which have panned out.