Topline: President Trump told a group of governors on Monday to “try getting [emergency equipment] yourselves,” the New York Times first reported, after several state and city officials blasted his administration’s slow response to the coronavirus pandemic, as the number of cases and deaths nationwide continues to climb.

  • New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who said Wednesday that coronavirus would be “the public health version of Hurricane Katrina” and slammed the Centers for Disease Control’s initial response as “absurd and nonsensical,” wrote in a Sunday New York Times op-ed that, “Every country affected by this crisis has handled it on a national basis. The United States has not.”
  • New York City mayor and former Democratic presidential candidate Bill de Blasio on February 28 described the federal response as “malpractice,” and in a Sunday CNN appearance said the administration was playing “catch up” with the virus. 
  • J.B. Pritzker, the governor of Illinois, tweeted on Saturday that the “federal government needs to get its s@#t [sic] together NOW” after travelers were met with four-hour long lines for medical screening at O’Hare International Airport after the Trump administration enacted a 30-day travel ban from Europe.
  • Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot tweeted at Trump that “we have no time for your incompetence” due to O’Hare’s airport chaos; Mayor Ron Nirenberg of San Antonio, Texas, on March 9 described the Trump administration’s lack of a coordinated response as “simply stunning.”
  • Former New York City mayor and Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg funded an ad in February for his now-defunct campaign attacking Trump over coronavirus, in which he says “There’s nobody here to figure out what the hell we should be doing.”
  • Despite Trump calling Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee a “snake,” on March 6 and claiming that he told Vice President Mike Pence to not be complementary of the governor, Inslee brushed off the slight, calling it “background noise,” Seattle mayor Jenny Durkan said later that day the administration’s “name-calling and making inaccurate off-the-cuff comments [was] simply irresponsible.”

Crucial quote: “Respirators, ventilators, all of the equipment—try getting it yourselves,” Trump told the governors, according to the Times, adding, “We will be backing you, but try getting it yourselves. Point of sales, much better, much more direct if you can get it yourself.”

Chief critic: Trump. He fired back at Cuomo on Twitter Monday: “Cuomo of New York has to “do more”.[sic] Cuomo shot back, writing, “I have to do more? No—YOU have to do something!  You’re supposed to be the President.”

Key background: According to the Washington Post, the administration, and specifically Pence, have been in regular contact with state governments as they work to contain the spread of coronavirus. Part of that response has been requests from state governments for equipment needed to fight the coronavirus on the ground. New York City, for example, has asked for 300,000 additional masks and other protective gear from the federal government. The virus, however, has continued to infect more Americans, with over 3,800 cases and at least 69 deaths as of Monday afternoon, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Trump said Friday that he does not take responsibility for the slow, botched rollout of testing for coronavirus during a press conference to announce a national state of emergency over the pandemic, despite an earlier report that said Trump didn’t push more aggressively for tests because it might hurt his chances for reelection.