One straw-man that Trump keeps hawking that I have really become tired of (well, I'm tired of all of them, but this one is going to get people killed) is this notion that people who want the federal government to take the lead role, they're saying they expect the government to be out administering tests in Walmart parking lots...
Dear President Moron,
Nobody expects or wants the federal government to send out federal employees to administer the tests. What's being called for here, (and what is required if one wants to help hasten the day when more and more businesses can resume something resembling normal, which you claim to be your top priority) is a Manhattan Project level crash program to
PRODUCE testing kits; for testing of all types; testing non-symptomatic members of the general population, so we can base decisions on good science about the extent of the what we are dealing with (right now for the most part, we are only testing healthcare and first responders, and those ill and symptomatic enough to qualify for the limited amount of testing resources available.) testing for a rigorous contact trace program for newly infected, and of course serological testing, to identify those who have been coronavirus positive but could now presumably safely re-enter the work place environment.
And these tests have to be reliable with low false negative results...
If achieving this is left solely to the states (or even the regional state coalitions that are emerging across the country to fill the void of national leadership) it will be a
very long process to achieve the goals you claim to want to achieve, and the economy will be further damaged.
If you genuinely care about the things you claim to care about, then your whole focus should be on massive testing kit production; to achieve this end you need to
immediately fully invoke The Defense Production Act and issue the order to every manufacturing company with the capacity to do so retool for the manufacture of these test kits (conservatively, tens of millions will e needed; the best scientific analysis avail estimates 3-7 million tests per week will be needed to meet the desired knowledge base to really move forward with significant reopening of the economy; though of course even with all these measures we will never fully get back to that level until there is a vaccine)
The
only role you need to play in distribution is to provide the test kits to the states based on the needs, completely absent political considerations. As you suggested, it is the states and localities who are best positioned to handle the "on the ground" distribution
I know you don't give a damn about how many Americans die, but somehow you have apparently taken it into your head that showing the leadership required on testing would somehow be politically damaging to you. On the contrary, your failure to do this is revealing to the whole electorate what a weak and fearful leader you are, despite all your empty bluster.
cute... 
