Here's what being a "back-up" means:
Donnie said the federal government is "just a back-up" as he sits back and watches the people of new york suffer and die. His only contribution seems to be pointing fingers at New York Democrats.
A real back-up is a reliable failsafe. Ideally it's so seemless no one even notices.
Airplanes have redundant systems. At a minimum, a primary and a back-up. If the primary fails, the back-up kicks in and the plane continues on its merry way and the passengers might not even notice.
Some houses have automatic power backups. The city electricity goes out, and a few seconds later, the generator kicks on automatically and you're back to your regularly scheduled program.
We have a portable generator, as many homeowners around here. Lots of trees means lots of power outages when the wind comes. It's not as seamless, but it's there. Small interruption, a little bit of work, and we're back in business.
*even if* the federal government is "just a back-up," Donnie's failing miserably. In what way is he stepping in and helping out? Where is the seamless cutover to the back-up? Or even the short interruption followed by resumption of service?
Of course, the federal government isn't just a back-up, and this is clearly an emergency that requires a nationally coordinated response. Donnie's just making up an excuse to sit back and do nothing.
That's not a back-up. If the he was a back-up the people of New York would have had a second layer of protection.
Instead they are dying.
And Donnie is doing nothing but pointing fingers.