Come on, man. No one seriously thought the White House would disband this way-too-politically-useful team in the middle of the shutdown, right? Donald Trump answered the rumors and leaks this morning, setting up another political Rorschach test, or maybe a chicken-egg question:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1258020211883638786

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1258020241063510018

USA Today paints this as a “reversal”:

Less than a day after signaling the White House task force on coronavirus would be disbanded, President Donald Trump said Wednesday the group will “continue on indefinitely” and shift focus to reopening and manufacturing vaccines.

Trump’s latest thinking on the task force, created in January to coordinate the response to the virus, came a day after Vice President Mike Pence and other officials said the group’s work would be transferred to federal agencies as soon as this month. The idea drew fire from some critics who said it was too soon to disband the group.

But the president left both the composition of the task force and its focus murky. Trump said he may remove some members of the group and add others, though he did not indicate specifically who he had in mind. He said the group would focus more on “safety” and reopening the nation’s economy, as well as vaccine production.

Was this a reversal at all, or simply an explanation of how the mission is changing? Here’s the Rorschach test: People passionately invested in opposing Trump would likely argue that the outrage yesterday after reports that Trump would disband the COVID-19 changed his mind.  Those passionately invested in supporting Trump will argue that the media got it wrong again and tried to smear Trump by reporting rumors that fit their narrative. For those who don’t fall into either category, YMMV.

This rumor never made sense, though, for a few reasons. In the first place, the task force is comprised by people who would be doing this job anyway and coordinating on some level while doing so. The “transfer” of tasks to federal agencies is nothing more than noting that federal agencies are the ones doing these tasks now, under the leadership of the executive branch. Every member of the task force except Dr. Deborah Birx runs a federal agency with responsibilities in the public-health sphere, and Dr. Birx has taken a job in the White House as an advisor to facilitate that work.

Even without a “task force” construct, the members of this team would still be doing exactly what they’re doing now in coordinating efforts, while federal agencies perform the work under their leadership. They’d probably even still have their regular meetings, with only the letterhead changing — if that. The members might even have welcomed that change, which would free up some of their time to work on the task at hand rather than hold continual press briefings.

Second, the mission is changing, logistically and strategically. It makes sense to adjust the lineup as it does, as well as to shift focus to the critical tasks at each stage. The first phase was mitigation and critical-resource production for health care providers; the next stage’s critical task will be to focus on reopening, effective therapies, and vaccines. Why wouldn’t the task force change and expand or contract based on its mission? This isn’t a standing agency, after all, but simply a coordinative effort of federal agencies in a crisis.

Finally, the political cover Trump gets from his “task force” is enormous, and it has the added benefit of boosting Mike Pence’s profile at the same time. Pence has been the ultimate team player for Trump but lends his own air of competence and calm to the crisis. While Pence runs this group, Trump can point to it as his expert team when outsiders criticize the administration’s COVID-19 response. Trump’s participation in it raises his own profile as a crisis-managing president, allowing him to take personal credit for every win the team produces. Even assuming Trump could “disband” this group of agency heads, why would he want to do it? What possible benefit would Trump gain from it?

This looks like a case of the rumor/speculation mill going into overdrive more than a “reversal.” Regardless of who’s meeting with whom and how often at the White House, the “task force” still would exist no matter what. As long as it provides political benefit to make them as public as possible, expect that to continue.

Update: The first tweets didn’t directly rebut the reporting. This one seems … related, though:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1258053124893347841

Given a lack of any other context, this seems to be referring to yesterday’s media percolation of the “task force disbanding” story.