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At last Thursday’s “briefing”, Donald Trump said that scientists should look into using disinfectant to treat Covid-19. Since disinfectants kill the virus on surfaces, there must be a way, he riffed in his inimitable way, to administer them by injection. He also suggested they should find a way to get ultraviolet light inside human bodies because he’s heard that UV also kills the virus.

Before you laugh, remember that this is the man who suggested using a nuclear weapon against a hurricane.

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The Federal bureaucracy is not known for administrative or financial efficiency but, under the chaotic Trump administration, the scramble to obtain equipment and supplies vital to battling the pandemic has raised more questions about its management practices. As the Washington Post reported last week:

The Federal Emergency Management Agency awarded a $55 million contract for N95s [respirator masks] this month to Panthera Worldwide LLC, which is in the business of tactical training. One of its owners said last year that Panthera’s parent company had not had any employees since May 2018, according to sworn testimony.

It also has no history of manufacturing or procuring medical equipment, according to a review of records produced as a result of legal disputes involving the company and its affiliates.

Panthera Worldwide’s parent company filed for bankruptcy last fall, and the LLC is no longer recognized in Virginia — where it has its main office — following nonpayment of fees, which according to Virginia code results in “the existence of a limited liability company” being “automatically canceled.”

James V. Punelli, one of the company’s executives, said he is working his military contacts to obtain the masks.

“We’ve done DoD medical training over the years and through those contacts with that community were brought sources of supply in order to assist in the COVID-19 response,” Punelli said in a text message to The Washington Post, referring to the Defense Department. “We made the connection with FEMA and offered these supplies to them.”

The price that FEMA is paying Panthera per mask, about $5.50, is significantly higher than what the government pays companies such as 3M, which charges as little as 63 cents per N95 mask, with an average cost of about $1.50 for more advanced models, according to a price index. Prestige Ameritech, the largest domestic mask manufacturer, is charging FEMA about 80 cents per mask for the government’s order of 12 million N95 respirators, part of a $9.5 million contract that started April 7.

One can only assume that Panthera’s negotiators read The Art of the Deal.

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Reports surfaced last week in several media outlets that, in January, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar had appointed his chief of staff, Brian Harrison, to head the HHS response to the coronavirus. Harrison, who held several different administrative positions during the Bush administration, has no background in either public health or medicine. Prior to being Azar’s aide, Harrison spent the previous six years owning and operating a Labradoodle dog breeding business in Texas.

Is this the smoking-gun proof that the Trump administration is going to the dogs?

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In a surprise announcement early last week, the Department of Health and Human Services removed Dr. Rick Bright as head of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) after he reportedly contradicted Trump’s pushing of the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19. Bright, an expert in vaccines, was in charge of the government’s effort to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus. After being reassigned, Bright’s lawyer claimed he was filing a whistleblower complaint.

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As a new week begins, the nation heads for 1 million cases of Covid-19 and 60,000 deaths. The absence of national leadership is shocking. No one expected Donald Trump to be a Lincoln or FDR, but he cannot even measure up to the temporary unity that Bush Sr. attained during the first Gulf War, or his son W managed after 911. These men were not great Presidents, but they understood their role in crisis moments. We are not seeing “the buck stops here” attitude of Truman or the communication skills of Reagan. So we can add to the circumstance of a life-threatening pandemic and its resulting impact on the global economy, the failure of our President to craft a national strategy and show us what needs to be done. If we are to get through the next year or so as a stable society, we can thank the compassion of a majority of Americans, and the sacrifice of the minorities working to deal with the virus.

Believe it or don’t.