Simple meaning of Jared’s stockpile sentence, it’s ours not the states’ = it is ours to hand out as we like, not theirs to claim as if they have a right to it. They don’t. WE decide how and when to use it, to whom to give what, and when. States must go thru us /1

There is some truth to that if we think of important Fed role in coordinating distribution. The Federal government is in charge of distribution and prioritization... /2

People are criticizing the Feds for not doing that job. Letting / forcing the states into competition against each other and even against FEMA! It makes no sense! Says the governors. Why not coordinate? /3

But it is NOT their misguided belief in the free market that is the problem. It is a different ideology (or 2) getting in the way of good governance /4

They ARE coordinating,
planning, and prioritizing. The institutional responsibility to coordinate opens the door to possible quid pro quo calculation. You want a ventilator? You have to go through me. Be nice. Or you may not get it /5

If we mock Jared for being ignorant -- tempting, i know — we miss the real message of that “our” in his sentence: It is our stockpile = Do our bidding /6

Even in a public health emergency? Especially then! Distribution of scarce life saving equipment is OURS not the states’. So “be nice.” /7

Quotes from Trump that likely inform mini-Trump: “be rougher and you’ll see a different relationship,” he said in a 1994 interview counseling husbands who prefer more deference from their wives /8

Also relevant: “what i’m doing is about as close as you’re going to get in the 20th century to the quality of Versailles.” This is in the Art of the Deal, referring to the fancy gilded decor he likes /9

But Versailles is not just about decor: it is a “tell.” Versailles is a Court where courtiers flatter and plot, and nobles compete for the favors of a King. It is where everything is “ours” to hand out as they please /10

Profiteering if not free market ideology, per se, is in there too. There is money to be made and scores to settle if they can harness the power of that “ours” after all /11

So what is the word for this again???? Where everything has to go through you, at your discretion, and you’re going to skim a little - or a lot - off the top? It’s on the tip of my tongue ... /12