States and hospitals face severe ventilator shortages, and yet Trump has still refused to use the full force of the government to get Americans the help they need, despite claiming otherwise. 

Trump has still not used the Defense Production Act to order ventilators from GM, despite saying otherwise last week.

USA Today: “Nearly a week after invoking his powers under a Korean War-era law to compel General Motors to manufacture ventilators for coronavirus, President Donald Trump’s administration has not formally ordered any of the machines, USA TODAY has learned.”

Politico: “President Donald Trump invoked sweeping war powers last week to demand that General Motors start producing ventilators, but so far his administration has done little to enforce the order.”

Despite what Trump claims, the Trump administration has still not utilized the full powers of the federal government to produce ventilators.

Politico: “The president’s top trade official, Peter Navarro, told POLITICO the administration has not been able to verify whether GM has made any progress since the Defense Production Act was invoked, raising questions about whether the full powers of the federal government are being used to urgently produce ventilators.” 

USA Today: “In fact, Trump actually took a less significant step: He signed a memorandum delegating ‘available’ authorities under the act to Azar.”

Peter Navarro said that we can’t afford to lose hours in the production of ventilators and yet now, after a week without any update on whether GM  has made progress, says he’ll check back in after another day or two.

NAVARRO: “We cannot afford to lose hours in this crisis, much less days, in the production of ventilators.”

NAVARRO: “If updates do not come ‘for another day or two,’ Navarro said, ‘then we’re going to have to look more closely at that.’”

Before we faced severe shortages, Trump was shipping ventilators and other medical supplies to China as he downplayed the threat of coronavirus to the U.S.

CNN: “Trump administration sent protective medical gear to China while he minimized the virus threat to US”

USA Today: “U.S. exports of surgical masks, ventilators and other personal protective gear to China skyrocketed in January and February, when the coronavirus was wreaking havoc in the country where it began and as U.S. intelligence agencies warned it would soon spread.”