Trump Launched a Coronavirus Economic Council Without Telling Members They Were on It If an economic recovery task force is composed of members who didn’t know they’d been placed on it, does it really exist? Trump proudly touted his “Great American Economic Revival Industry Groups” during a White House press briefing in the Rose Garden on Tuesday night. And yet, many of the listed names and companies did not learn of their new, supposed advisory roles until the president read their names on live TV, or until after the White House published the full list. Others said they hadn’t even committed to working with the Trump administration on this, and only agreed to take a phone call from the White House to see if the effort was worthwhile or just for show. It turns out it was the latter. Kind of. Less than 24 hours later, it had become clear that industry groups were mainly being used as a sounding board, with some leaders even encouraging the president to not abandon public safety policy for the sake of an economic activity sugar rush. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that Trump was abandoning the idea of creating an in-house council of White House aides and advisers, though officials cautioned that such a proposal had never been formally announced. The chaos had all the hallmarks of a half-baked Trump administration idea: A flashy rollout, with almost no, even rudimentary, pre-planning or execution. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump...uncil-without-telling-members-they-were-on-it
