Unforeseen Contingencies

I just watched President Trump's press conference on the corona virus. My reaction: I’m very happy Donald Trump is our President. The corona virus appears to be a real threat.  I won't make the case here, but it seems likely to me that this is Chinese biological weapon that accidentally escaped form China's biological research institute in Wuhan.  That helps explain the unusual panic and secrecy from the Chinese leadership.  Regardless, I hope that this problem diminishes quickly and that the spread of the disease stops.

But regarding the press conference, I appreciated that Trump 1) put experts in charge, 2) deferred to them, and 3) isn’t following the advice of the wicked Rahm Emmanuel to “never let a crisis go to waste.”  Rather, Trump is working to avoid a crisis.  Having Vice President Pence coordinate efforts makes great sense.  Pence appears to be a competent manager, and there are no standard duties for the VP.  He's well-situated to move from agency to agency, so this makes sense.

I was not a Trump supporter until he was the only alternative to Hilliary, but he has greatly exceeded my expectations. He’s doing a fine job. Some of his questioners in the media seemed to be trying to trip him up with techincal questions or "gotcha" questions, but they failed.  President Trump deferred to experts or otherwise failed to bite.

That’s one thing that detractors (including the press) criticize. They want a central planner, a great leader, a man who is expert at everything…as Barack Obama pretended to be. Trump isn’t a central planner. And he doesn't try to be an expert on everything.  His opponents can hardly conceive of that, one reason they can’t fathom him. They really want a wise dictator, that’s what progressivism really is about, rule by unconstrained experts. And that’s not Trump.