Government officials and other politicians continue to try navigating life in the time of the coronavirus, during which the efforts of unusual bipartisanship don’t completely mute the traditional brickbats of campaign operations.
Nowhere is that more obvious than the relationship between Gov. Jay Inslee and the Trump administration as the state and federal government try to fight the COVID-19 outbreak that hit here first.
At the beginning of the outbreak, Inslee tweeted a shot across the bow of the administration, urging Vice President Mike Pence, the newly named coronavirus czar, to emphasize science. It had some wondering about biting the hand that might feed you.
When Pence arrived a week later at Camp Murray on Air Force 2, he was bearing gifts like personal protective equipment. Neither he nor Inslee would be drawn into a discussion of the tweet or say anything remotely critical about each other’s response to the virus. In subsequent public statements, Inslee has been nothing if not complimentary about Pence.
During a tour of the CDC a day after the Camp Murray summit, Trump referred to Inslee as “a snake” and said he wouldn’t have been so nice to him. The governor mostly shrugged it off and said he was getting good cooperation from the feds.
Folks tuning in to the president’s daily coronavirus press conferences prior to Friday might have noticed Trump seems reluctant to mention Inslee by name. He’s pretty free tossing out New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s and California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s names when talking about federal responses to the major state outbreaks, but it’s usually “and the governor of Washington.”
The nation has 50 governors, so that’s better than “that snake of a governor in Washington” if Inslee’s name doesn’t come trippingly to Trump’s tongue.
On Friday, Trump took a more pointed shot at Inslee, again not by name, saying the governor of Washington was one who hadn’t been appreciative of him and what the federal government was doing and has advised Pence not to call. There’s no indication the vice president has dropped Inslee from his speed-dial list.
Thursday’s telephonic conference between the president and the governors was not open to the news media and public. The transcript obtained by some national news outlets said Inslee took a shot at Trump’s position that the federal government considers itself a “backup” for the states on efforts to obtain needed medical equipment.
“I don’t want you to be the backup quarterback, we need you to be Tom Brady here,” Inslee said, according to a report of the call by the Associated Press.
Anyone familiar with Inslee’s public speechifying knows he loves a good sports metaphor — and sometimes swings at a weak one — so the COVID-19 shutdown of all imaginable leagues is probably felt acutely by his speechwriters.
Inslee did not repeat the criticism of Trump or the federal response at a press conference later that day when given the opportunity. Instead, he merely said if the federal government would start ordering companies to make needed machines and supplies, rather than relying on volunteers, things might go faster, and if the feds took over the ordering, it might have “better buying power.”
The regional spokeswoman for the Trump re-election campaign apparently took umbrage at Inslee’s jab, but from a somewhat unusual angle.
“Leave it to Gov. Jay Inslee to wish for a washed-up quarterback like Tom Brady when a superstar like Russell Wilson is literally in his own backyard,” Samantha Zager said in a news release.
Leaving aside the fact that Wilson is not literally in the area behind the governor’s mansion — at best Seattle might figuratively be considered the front yard of the north-facing executive residence — it’s unthinkable Inslee or any other Seahawks fan would wish away Wilson.
Plus at 31, Wilson isn’t eligible to be president, while Brady, at 42, is.
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