President Trump versus the governors

That's all the United States needs, a right old battle between President Trump and all the state governors. He, Trump, says he and he alone will decide when the country should go back to business, like some sort of autocratic emperor, and the governors say, no way, they, either individually or in a group, will make that decision. Of course the best thing would be if Trump got all the governors together - two metres apart - or better still on a Zoom conference and had a thoroughly intelligent and sensible discussion about what is the best thing to do and try to reach a consensus. But judging by the noises coming out of the White House, that ain't going to happen. Trump wants to be in charge and to be seen to be in charge, and if he says the whole nation should go back to work in, say, four weeks, he will expect the governors to obey. That is not going to happen. The governors have their own powers and they have responsibilities that cannot be wrested away from them by a truculent president. But Trump is in reelection mood. Notice what he said in his hysterical press conference yesterday when he berated reporters for writing fake news. He referred to a future time ahead - five years - when he will no longer be president. No suggestion of course that he might be thrown out of office in November by "Sleepy Joe" Biden, as he likes to call him. Ok, Trump is probably right to be confident of another four years. But to sweep Biden out of the way, he needs to be seen to be masterminding the greatest comeback for the US economy in modern times and with all the governors bowing to his every wish and command. So I think Trump is going to make a big announcement within the next few weeks in which he will tell the country that thanks to federal help which he, Trump, instigated and authorised, every state and every state governor is obliged to show their gratitude by getting everyone back to work to spur the economy onwards and upwards. If his plan works and there is no resurgence of coronavirus - a second phase of rocketing deaths - Trump will seek to grab all the glory for himself and there will be very little that Joe Biden can do about it. But if it all goes wrong for Trump and the economy fails to liven up and there is total division between the governors and the White House, Biden, if he's smart, will step in as the true messiah (small 'm') with a hugely practical alternative proposal to push Trump to one side. Either way, from now on it's all about who takes charge in the White House in November. And the economy, not the virus, is now taking the lead. If the US, or the UK or France or Germany or wherever, take too long to let the virus subside, the economies could deteriorate too far and it could take years for the world to recover. Years!!