Why the End of the Flint Water Crisis Reminds Me of President Trump
A brief history of government incompetence.
Among the many headlines today involving some level of government dysfunction or corruption, this one brought a rush of bad memories: “Flint Finally Replaced Its Lead Pipes.”
Michigan government officials submitted a progress report Tuesday to a federal court in Detroit, confirming that nearly 11,000 lead pipes were replaced and that more than 28,000 properties were excavated and checked for lead pipes, the Washington Post reported.
In 2014, Flint officials switched the city’s water source as a cost-cutting measure but did not ensure there were corrosion-control chemicals in the new water supply. The oversight caused lead to leach from the pipes and contaminate the drinking water of thousands of homes. Residents in the majority-Black city, where a third of the population lives in poverty, quickly began complaining of foul-smelling and discolored water coming from their taps. But complaints were ignored for more than a year. Nearly 100,000 Flint residents were exposed to lead through their drinking water, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
Michigan is where I was born and raised. But I was still working in Washington during the Flint water crisis and followed it closely as a national political columnist for The Atlantic. In January 2016, I flew home to explore the many layers of governmental malpractice that exposed poor and working-class Michiganders to life-altering levels of poison.
I filed two pieces. The first catalogued my brief interview with then-Gov. Rick Snyder, a decent man but flawed Republican leader who agreed with my comparing the Flint water crisis to Hurricane Katrina, the August 2005 natural disaster made worse by incompetent government responses at the city, state, and federal levels. My point: Both parties blew it in New Orleans; both parties blew it in Flint.
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder conceded Monday that his administration’s handling of the Flint water crisis is a stain on his legacy, reflects poorly on his leadership, and is aptly compared to President Bush’s mishandling of Hurricane Katrina.
“It’s a disaster,” he said when asked about the comparison some critics have made to the 2005 natural disaster in New Orleans that became a symbol of government mismanagement—city, state, and federal. “It’s clearly a negative on what we’ve accomplished since I’ve been governor.”
The second story held both Democratic and Republican elected officials accountable for the Flint water crisis while linking the scandal to a broader theme of mine: The decades-long decline in public trust of government.
Who’s to blame? Let’s start at the bottom, where the Democratic-led city government in Flint is so fiscally mismanaged that Snyder appointed a string of emergency managers who mostly usurped the elected city council and mayor. (In Michigan, local governments are given power by the state, and that which can be given can also be taken away).
It was a Snyder-appointed emergency manager who made the fateful decision to switch the city source, one reason why Democratic critics want the governor to resign.
This paragraph enraged aides to President Obama, because they knew it was true and didn’t want the media reporting it:
Anybody angry enough to call for GOP Gov. Rick Snyder’s resignation should also want the scalp of an Obama appointee at the Environmental Protection Agency who sat on lead test results. “The EPA buried this,” said Virginia Tech researcher Marc Edwards, whose water analysis in 2015 helped expose Flint’s contamination.
Flint and Katrina resonate today, when Washington is controlled by a maliciously disruptive force led by President Trump, a celebrity populist who filled a vacuum created by out-of-touch Democratic Party leaders who brought little systemic reform to government when they had the power to do so.
Sharing space with the Flint story today are these headlines:
“At Least 17 Million Americans Would Lose Insurance Under Trump plan.” The GOP budget would undo much of Obamacare, a rare example of modern Democrats using government to improve and save lives.
“Trump Visits ‘Alligator Alcatraz,’ Sending a Political Message.” He wants to deport U.S. citizens accused of violent crimes, which would be illegal.
“CBS Owner Paramount Settles Trump lawsuit over Harris Interview for $16M” It’s a corporate bribe. While Paramount knows it would win a court fight over Trump’s frivolous lawsuit, the company needs governmental approval of a lucrative merger.
Trump’s Finances Were Shaky. Then He Began to Capitalize on His Comeback. He has monetized the Oval Office like no other president, creating a precedent that could forever put the chief executive’s personal interests above national interests.
Government corruption and incompetence did not originate with Trump. But he’s a force multiplier for a trend with roots as deep as the Vietnam War and Watergate, extending through New Orleans and Flint to the 45th and 47th American presidency.
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Admirable dot-connecting to illustrate the steady decline in public trust of government from lies during the Vietnam War era to the firehose flowing from the current administration. The arc of that history is long and it bends through Flint.
I also try to imagine what's behind your word choice of "enraged," rather than angered or irritated, to describe the reaction of Obama aides to your justified slap of his EPA appointee who hid test results.
Any bets on how soon Trump demands they be put back?