Helaine Olen in WaPo on the distractions masking more crime...
But while public attention was focused on the unfortunate Caputo, many missed this Politico scoop: HHS Secretary Alex Azar, frustrated with the high standards the Food and Drug Administration was insisting on before approving coronavirus diagnostic tests, loosened the standards for lab-developed tests.
Yet again, the Trump White House is taking full advantage of the fact that most people find the word “regulation” sleep-inducing, while almost everyone can thrill to the latest bit of presidential or administration craziness. As a result, this administration, a failure in so many areas, remains startlingly successful at imposing its conservative, pro-business agenda on the federal government regulatory structure.
A report published by the advocacy group Public Citizen found, since the country began to shut down in mid-March, the Trump administration has done away with more than 30 government regulations and is in the process of unraveling 20 more. Those regulations have two things in common: First, they’ve almost absolutely nothing to do with the covid-19 pandemic. And, second, they are, in almost all cases, desired by business interests or otherwise sought out by Trump’s most conservative supporters.
As I’ve pointed out time and time again, Trump makes chaos work for him. While critics, the media and social media users highlight and mock his blunders, inaccuracies and failures, his administration continues to take apart regulations that keep the rest of us safe. They keep their focus on the main goal, to the detriment of the rest of us.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/09/16/trump-administration-keeps-using-chaos-cover/