The Commentariat -- March 2, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Reid Epstein & Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "Former Mayor Pete Buttigieg plans to endorse former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in the Democratic presidential race, according to a person informed of the decision, as the Democratic Party's moderate wing quickly began coalescing around Mr. Biden in an effort to stop Senator Bernie Sanders from winning the Democratic nomination. Mr. Buttigieg's endorsement ... is set to come at a Biden campaign event Monday night...." ~~~

~~~ Nick Corasaniti & Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who entered the Democratic presidential race with an appeal to moderate voters and offered herself as a candidate who could win in Midwestern swing states, has decided to quit the race and endorse ... Joseph R. Biden Jr., her campaign confirmed on Monday. Ms. Klobuchar will appear with Mr. Biden at his rally in Dallas Monday night." Politico's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Unless Warren can pull off a miracle, Trump just won four more years. If I were a bit younger, I'd buy a flat in Antibes & spend the last of my days staring out the window at the deep blue sea.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a third major case on the Affordable Care Act ... granting petitions from Democratic state officials and the House of Representatives in a case with the potential to wipe out the entire law. The court did not say when it would hear the case, but, under its ordinary practices, arguments would be held in the fall and a decision would land in the spring or summer of 2021. Democrats, who consider health care a winning issue and worry about possible changes in the composition of the Supreme Court, had urged the justices to act quickly even though lower courts had not issued definitive rulings. They wanted to keep the fate of the Affordable Care Act, sometimes called Obamacare, in the public eye during the presidential campaign and to ensure that the appeal was decided while justices who had rejected earlier challenges remain the court." The NBC News report is here.

Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "Shortly after health officials in Washington state confirmed the second U.S. death from the novel coronavirus in as many days, President Trump retweeted an animated video Sunday night in which he again bragged about his accomplishments, laughed at his political opponents and critics, and smiled as Mount Rushmore was reshaped to feature only his face.... The video, which had been viewed more than 1 million times as of early Monday, was retweeted late Sunday amid reports that the Trump administration has scrambled to gain control of an American response to the global crisis, a response that has been 'defined by bureaucratic infighting, confusion and misinformation,' The Washington Post reported."

Hiroko Tabuchi of the New York Times: "An official at the Interior Department embarked on a campaign that has inserted misleading language about climate change -- including debunked claims that increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is beneficial -- into the agency's scientific reports, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times. The misleading language appears in at least nine reports, including environmental studies and impact statements on major watersheds in the American West that could be used to justify allocating increasingly scarce water to farmers at the expense of wildlife conservation and fisheries. The effort was led by Indur M. Goklany, a longtime Interior Department employee who, in 2017 near the start of the Trump administration, was promoted to the office of the deputy secretary with responsibility for reviewing the agency's climate policies.... The wording, known internally as the 'Goks uncertainty language' based on Mr. Goklany's nickname, inaccurately claims that there is a lack of consensus among scientists that the earth is warming."

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Meg Cunningham of ABC News: "Fifteen [presidential primary] contests will be held across the nation on Tuesday. Polls close at various times beginning at 7 p.m. eastern and extending until 11 p.m., though it is unlikely a winner will be projected in every state before the close of the night.... Fourteen states and American Samoa will head to the polls to weigh in on the presidential election on Tuesday.... This is the first year that delegate-rich California will vote on Super Tuesday. Coupled with Texas, the two are by far the most delegate-heavy states." Mrs. McC: I heard on the teevee that 34% of Democratic delegates will be chosen in the super-Tuesday primaries.

** Reid Epstein & Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "Pete Buttigieg, the former small-city Indiana mayor and first openly gay major presidential candidate, has decided to quit the Democratic race, a person briefed on Mr. Buttigieg's plans said on Sunday, following a crushing loss in the South Carolina primary where his poor performance with black Democrats signaled an inability to build a broad coalition of voters. The decision comes just 48 hours before the biggest voting day of the primary, Super Tuesday, when 15 states and territories will allot a third of the delegates over all. The results were widely expected to show him far behind Mr. Biden and Mr. Sanders. Mr. Buttigieg canceled plans for a Sunday night rally in Dallas and a Monday morning fund-raiser in Austin, Tex., to return to South Bend, Ind., to make a speech." An updated AP story is here; a Guardian story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ New NYT Lede: "Pete Buttigieg, the former small-city Indiana mayor and first openly gay major presidential candidate, said Sunday night he was dropping out of the Democratic race, following a crushing loss in the South Carolina primary where his poor performance with black Democrats signaled an inability to build a broad coalition of voters."

Dan Balz of the Washington Post: Bernie "Sanders heads toward Super Tuesday's contests in an enviable position. But given growing resistance to his candidacy among establishment Democrats, he needs a strong performance Tuesday to put a lock on becoming the delegate leader heading to the national convention in Milwaukee in July."

Jeff Zeleny of CNN: "Former President Barack Obama ... call[ed] former Vice President Joe Biden and offer[ed] his congratulations.... But the words of praise for Biden's commanding finish in the contest did not change the fact that Obama still plans to stay on the sidelines and not insert himself into the primary fight as it intensifies. A person close to Obama told CNN that the former president's view has not changed: He has no immediate plans to offer an endorsement of Biden -- or anyone -- as the nominating contest heads into Super Tuesday."

Alexandra Jaffe & Kathleen Ronayne of the AP: "... after [Joe] Biden's commanding win in South Carolina, which was powered by support from African Americans, [Mike] Bloomberg is facing mounting pressure to justify his presence in the race. Some Democrats fear that Bloomberg will take votes on Super Tuesday that would otherwise go to Biden, making it harder for the party to unite behind a single moderate alternative to Bernie Sanders, who some in the party establishment think is too liberal to beat ... Donald Trump.... Even if Bloomberg has a poor showing on Tuesday, he's likely to press on. His campaign hasn't set clear expectations for victory on Tuesday, but adviser Tim O'Brien said there's no scenario in which he exits the race due to the results."

Torey Van Oot of the Minneapolis Star Tribune: "Sen. Amy Klobuchar returned to Minnesota on Sunday hoping to pivot to Super Tuesday after a distant sixth-place finish in the South Carolina primary. But while hundreds of supporters gathered for her homecoming in a St. Louis Park High School gymnasium, dozens of protesters streamed in, chanting for her to exit the race over her handling of the case against Myon Burrell, a black teenager convicted in a 2002 child slaying when Klobuchar was Hennepin County attorney. As protesters took over the stage shouting 'Myon!' Klobuchar supporters shouted 'Amy!' back. Klobuchar was not in the gymnasium as the protest unfolded, disrupting the start of a program of campaign speeches."

Astead Herndon of the New York Times: "Presidential candidates and prominent social justice activists descended on Alabama on Sunday to commemorate the anniversary of the brutal attack on civil rights marchers here in 1965, one of the most violent episodes in the struggle for black participation in democracy. A who's who of political figures, including five Democratic presidential candidates, were marking the occasion, nearly 55 years after the day that became known as 'Bloody Sunday.'... During an early afternoon service on Sunday, people gathered at Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church, the starting point for the 1965 march.... [Joe] Biden and former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York, addressed the congregation.... While Mr. Bloomberg spoke, a number of people stood and turned their backs.... Stacey Abrams, the Georgia Democrat and voting rights activist who has often been mentioned as a potential vice-presidential candidate, delivered a keynote speech.... Later, Mr. Bloomberg, Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., joined the march on the bridge." ~~~

~~~ "Speak Up. Speak Out. Get in the Way." Devan Cole of CNN: "Civil rights icon and US Democratic Rep. John Lewis of Georgia made a surprise appearance at this year's 'Bloody Sunday' commemorative march in Selma, Alabama, where he delivered an impassioned plea to voters to use the ballot box as 'a nonviolent instrument or tool to redeem the soul of America.' Lewis, who had his skull broken by white police officers during the 1965 march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer in December. At the time, Lewis said he would undergo treatment for the cancer...." Includes video.

Mike Baker, et al., of the New York Times: "... there were troubling new signs that [the coronavirus] was spreading undetected in some American communities for weeks while the government resisted calls for more widespread testing. With testing now ramping up, the Seattle suburb of Kirkland has become an epicenter of both illness and fear, much of it focused on a nursing facility where six coronavirus cases have been confirmed and many more residents and employees have complained of illness. Health authorities in King County, Wash., announced on Sunday evening that one of the six, a resident of the nursing home, had died of the virus at the EvergreenHealth hospital in Kirkland, and that three more were in critical condition. The death was the second on U.S. soil from the virus; the first also occurred at that hospital."

Elizabeth Cohen of CNN: "As new cases of coronavirus arise daily in the United States..., the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has failed to release crucial information physicians say could help save the lives of Americans diagnosed with the novel coronavirus. Several US patients have recovered from coronavirus, but so far, the CDC has shared detailed clinical information about only one of those patients.... That means doctors who now unexpectedly find themselves treating new coronavirus patients aren't able to benefit from the findings of doctors who preceded them.... Not sharing such information ... 'is inexplicable and inappropriate,' ... said Dr. Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University."

Jonathan Swan & Caitlin Owens of Axios: "A top federal scientist sounded the alarm about what he feared was contamination in an Atlanta lab where the government made test kits for the coronavirus, according to sources familiar with the situation in Atlanta.... The Trump administration has ordered an independent investigation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lab, and manufacturing of the virus test kits has been moved, the sources said.... At the time the administration is under scrutiny for its early preparations for the virus, the potential problems at the lab became a top internal priority for some officials. But the Trump administration did not talk publicly about the Food and Drug Administration's specific concerns about the Atlanta lab."

The New York Times is liveblogging market developments. "Stocks rose in global markets on Monday as investors bet that the world's governments and central banks would step in to help a global economy slammed by the coronavirus outbreak. In Europe, stock markets started the day with gains, but those began to fade as trading continued. Most Asian indexes finished the trading session higher. Futures markets indicated that investors expect Wall Street to open slightly higher later on Monday."

News Flash! Gail Collins Hopes Millions Will Die & Make Trump Look Bad. Zack Budryk of the Hill: "NBC's Chuck Todd in an interview broadcast Sunday pressed Vice President Pence on his condemnation of 'irresponsible rhetoric' from Democrats on the coronavirus, asking him to cite specific examples. Todd played a series of clips from conservative commentators, including talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, who accused Democrats of having 'weaponized' the virus, and Donald Trump Jr., who said his father's opponents were trying to 'take a pandemic and seemingly hope that it comes here and kills millions of people so that they could end Donald Trump's streak of winning.' 'None of this seems to match the facts. What facts are there that Democrats are doing this?... ' Todd said. 'Well, I will tell you, there's been a lot of irresponsible rhetoric among Democrats and commentators on the left,' Pence ... said. 'Name some names, sir. Because it just feels like gaslighting...," Todd responded. Pence eventually cited a New York Times column by Gail Collins, whom he did not name, with the headline 'Let's Call It Trumpvirus,' demurring when Todd asked if that applies 'to all people.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mediaite has video here (begins at about 45 sec. in). Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: If pence had actually read Collins' column, he would find that nowhere in the column does she suggest that the coronavirus needs a new name. Rather, the column cites example after example -- all culled from the news/those nasty little things called facts -- of how Trump & the gang are downplaying the seriousness of the epidemic and mismanaging mitigation. Or are just plain clueless. But still. In her heart, I'll bet Gail -- whom Trump once criticized for having "The Face of a Dog!" -- wants to kill off a sizable chunk of the population so Donald Trump won't enjoy so much winning.

An Obvious Reason for Universal Health Coverage. Claire Miller, et al., of the New York Times: "Stay home from work if you get sick. See a doctor. Use a separate bathroom from the people you live with. Prepare for schools to close, and to work from home. These are measures the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended to slow a coronavirus outbreak in the United States. Yet these are much easier to do for certain people -- in particular, high-earning professionals. Service industry workers, like those in restaurants, retail, child care and the gig economy, are much less likely to have paid sick days, the ability to work remotely or employer-provided health insurance. The disparity could make the new coronavirus, which causes a respiratory illness known as Covid-19, harder to contain in the United States than in other rich countries that have universal benefits like health care and sick leave, experts say. A large segment of workers are not able to stay home, and many of them work in jobs that include high contact with other people. It could also mean that low-income workers are hit harder by the virus." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: If you know someone who resents having to help pay for health insurance for "lazy poor people" -- and you do -- you might want to explain to him why it's in his self-interest to do so.

The Method to His Madness. George Conway in a Washington Post op-ed: "In 2016, CBS '60 Minutes' correspondent Lesley Stahl asked Trump off camera why he persisted in going after journalists. In one of those sporadic moments in which he reveals the raw truth, Trump replied, according to Stahl, 'I do it to discredit you all and demean you all, so when you write negative stories about me, no one will believe you.' That's just what Trump ... has been doing for some time, with judges.... Now, even more ominously, Trump has turned his fire on the Supreme Court. In tweets and in a bizarre news conference in India, he demanded that two justices -- Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor -- refrain from ruling on all things Trump.... The demand was a sham. The right way to seek recusal is with a motion, filed by lawyers, in court, laying out precise legal arguments.... Any such motion would be meritless. Trump's charge against Sotomayor was based on an opinion that he clearly hadn't read and didn't understand.... It is a dangerous thing for the country to have a man whose office charges him with faithfully executing the law instead so brazenly seek to undermine respect for it." ~~~

~~~ George Packer of the Atlantic has a long piece on how Trump "is winning his war on American institutions." In one graf, Packer sums up how Trump did it: elite assumptions were wrong. "The [political class] were too sophisticated to see Trump's special political talents -- his instinct for every adversary's weakness, his fanatical devotion to himself, his knack for imposing his will, his sheer staying power. They also failed to appreciate the advanced decay of the Republican Party, which by 2016 was far gone in a nihilistic pursuit of power at all costs. They didn't grasp the readiness of large numbers of Americans to accept, even relish, Trump's contempt for democratic norms and basic decency. It took the arrival of such a leader to reveal how many things that had always seemed engraved in monumental stone turned out to depend on those flimsy norms, and how much the norms depended on public opinion. Their vanishing exposed the real power of the presidency. Legal precedent could be deleted with a keystroke; law enforcement's independence from the White House was optional; the separation of powers turned out to be a gentleman's agreement; transparent lies were more potent than solid facts."

Susannah George & Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post: "The Afghan government objected Sunday to parts of the historic peace deal[*] between the United States and the Taliban, showing the difficulties that lie ahead for the country as the 18-year conflict enters a new phase. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, speaking at a news conference less than 24 hours after the agreement was signed, questioned several elements of the deal, including the timeline for a controversial prisoner exchange and the conditions surrounding the start of talks between the Taliban and his government. The U.S.-Taliban deal, the result of talks from which the Afghan government was excluded, charts a path for the full withdrawal of all U.S. troops from the country it invaded after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It stipulates that talks between the Taliban and Ghani's government must begin by March 10 -- at which point the sides must have completed a prisoner exchange." ~~~

     ~~~ * Mrs. McCrabbie: "Historical peace deal" is likely more Trumpy than reality. ~~~

~~~ David Sanger of the New York Times takes a sober look at Trump's Afghan "peace deal": "President Trump has left no doubt that his first priority in Afghanistan is a peace treaty that would enable him to claim that he is fulfilling his vow to withdraw American troops. But a parade of his former national security aides say he is far less interested in an actual Afghan peace. And that creates an enormous risk for Mr. Trump and for Afghanistan: that, like President Richard M. Nixon's peace deal with North Vietnam in January 1973, the accord signed Saturday will speed an American exit and do little to stabilize an allied government.... The accord signed on Saturday -- with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo overseeing the moment but not actually signing it himself -- will initially bring down American troop levels to about 8,600 from about 12,000 now. That is almost exactly where they were three years ago, at the end of Mr. Obama';s term." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Cooch Cancelled. Stef Kight of Axios: "A federal district judge in D.C. ruled on Sunday that Ken Cuccinelli's placement as the acting top official at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) violated the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.... Policies that were put in place under Cuccinelli are now void, including a directive that gave asylum-seekers less time to consult with legal counsel before their initial 'credible fear' interview with a USCIS officer." Emphasis added. Update: An AP story is here.

Josh Gerstein of Politico pulls out "highlights" of a deposition of Roger Stone for Florida civil cases unrelated to the federal criminal case in which a jury convicted Stone: "Roger Stone looked like a man on edge, under extreme stress and struggling to contain pent-up fury. The GOP provocateur was just days away from finding out his fate from a criminal case that drew nationwide attention.... In five-and-a-half hours of video recorded over two days, Stone's hands shake, he bares his teeth, his lips twitch and he repeatedly loses his temper in the face of goading from conservative lawyer Larry Klayman, who has several libel suits pending against Stone and his associates." Mrs. McC: Bearing in mind that this barely-hinged lunatic is a sort of "presidential advisor." Thanks to safari for the link. ~~~

About That Latte. Jamie Doward of the Observer (Guardian): "High street coffee shop giant Starbucks has been caught up in a child labour row after an investigation revealed that children under 13 were working on farms in Guatemala that supply the chain with its beans. Channel 4's Dispatches filmed the children working 40-hour weeks in gruelling conditions, picking coffee for a daily wage little more than the price of a latte. The beans are also supplied to Nespresso, owned by Nestlé. Last week, actor George Clooney, the advertising face of Nespresso, praised the investigation and said he was saddened by its findings. The Dispatches team said some of the children, who worked around eight hours a day, six days a week, looked as young as eight. They, were paid depending on the weight of beans they picked, with sacks weighing up to 45kg. Typically, a child would earn less than £5 a day, although sometimes it could be as low as 31p an hour.... Starbucks also said it had a 'tolerance for child labour anywhere in our supply chain'. It told Dispatches: 'We've launched a full investigation into the claims brought by Channel 4, carried out in partnership with a leading third-party auditor.' Starbucks has since said that its investigation confirmed 'we have not purchased coffee from the farms in question during the most recent harvest season'."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Israel. Aron Heller of the AP: "Israelis were voting Monday in the country's unprecedented third election in less than a year to decide whether longtime Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stays in power despite his upcoming criminal trial on corruption charges. Netanyahu, the longest serving leader in Israeli history, has been the caretaker prime minister for more than a year as a divided Israel has weathered two inconclusive elections and a prolonged political paralysis. With opinion polls forecasting another deadlock, Netanyahu is seeking a late surge in support to score a parliamentary majority along with other nationalist parties that will deliver him a fourth consecutive term in office, and fifth overall." Mrs. McC: It would be hard to believe Israel couldn't come up with better candidates for PM if our own presidential choices weren't Butthead, Biden & Bernie.

Turkey, Etc. Liz Sly of the Washington Post: "Turkey shot down two warplanes and inflicted heavy losses on ground forces in northwestern Syria on Sunday as the two countries edged closer to an all-out war. The operation came in retaliation for an airstrike blamed on the Syrian government that killed 36 Turkish soldiers on Thursday, Turkey's Defense Ministry said. It followed weeks of Turkish threats to attack Syrian forces if they continued to advance toward the Turkish border, risking a new wave of refugees. Armed Turkish drones struck military airports and loyalist bases deep in Syrian government-held territory as Turkish troops and allied rebels pushed forward to drive Syrian troops out of towns and villages they had recaptured from opposition forces in recent weeks." An AP story is here.

News Ledes

New York Times: "James Lipton, who plumbed the dramatic arts through perceptive, mostly admiring interviews with celebrity actors as host of the Bravo television series 'Inside the Actors Studio,' died on Monday at his home in Manhattan. He was 93."

CNBC: "Jack Welch, a railroad conductor's son who became chairman and CEO of General Electric and led it for two decades, growing its market value from $12 billion to $410 billion, has died. He was 84." ~~~

~~~ Washington Post: "The hallmarks of Mr. Welch's tenure during the 1980s and 1990s have become part of the playbook for chief executives everywhere: unflinching layoffs, ambitious expansion around the world, lucrative stock options for high-performing executives and a relentless drive to reward shareholders with stellar earnings quarter after quarter. His methods were divisive. Nicknamed 'Neutron Jack' for his massive firings of GE employees, he was hailed in 1999 as 'manager of the century' by Fortune magazine."

The New York Times' live updates of developments in the coronavirus epidemic are here. Guardian live updates are here. ~~~

~~~ Washington Post live updates: "Washington state announced four more coronavirus deaths on Monday, bringing the total death toll in the United States to six, officials said, as the virus continues to spread despite travel restrictions aimed at curtailing it. As the global death toll passed 3,000, South Korea on Monday confirmed 599 new cases, far higher than the daily tally reported in China. With 4,335 confirmed infections and at least 22 deaths, South Korea has the second-largest national caseload. However, it has tested more than 100,000 people, far more than most nations. In the United States, tests have taken place at a far slower pace. A genetic analysis suggested that the coronavirus, which causes a highly infectious respiratory disease called covid-19, has been spreading undetected for about six weeks in Washington state. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Saturday took steps to sharply expand testing. Italy has more than 1,600 confirmed cases, while Iran surpassed 1,500, with 66 deaths. Travelers from both countries appear to have spread the virus to other nations in the Middle East and Europe."

The Commentariat -- March 1, 2020

Afternoon Update:

News Flash! Gail Collins Hopes Millions Will Die & Make Trump Look Bad. Zack Budryk of the Hill: "NBC's Chuck Todd in an interview broadcast Sunday pressed Vice President Pence on his condemnation of 'irresponsible rhetoric' from Democrats on the coronavirus, asking him to cite specific examples. Todd played a series of clips from conservative commentators, including talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, who accused Democrats of having 'weaponized' the virus, and Donald Trump Jr., who said his father's opponents were trying to 'take a pandemic and seemingly hope that it comes here and kills millions of people so that they could end Donald Trump's streak of winning.' 'None of this seems to match the facts. What facts are there that Democrats are doing this?... ' Todd said. 'Well, I will tell you, there's been a lot of irresponsible rhetoric among Democrats and commentators on the left,' Pence ... said. 'Name some names, sir. Because it just feels like gaslighting...,' Todd responded. Pence eventually cited a New York Times column by Gail Collins, whom he did not name, with the headline 'Let's Call It Trumpvirus,' demurring when Todd asked if that applies 'to all people.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mediaite has video here (begins at about 45 sec. in). Mrs. McCrabbie: If pence had actually read Collins' column, he would find that nowhere in the column does she suggest that the coronavirus needs a new name. Rather, the column cites example after example -- all culled from the news/those nasty little things called facts -- of how Trump & the gang are downplaying the seriousness of the epidemic and mismanaging mitigation. Or are just plain clueless. But still. In her heart, I'll bet Gail -- whom Trump once criticized for having "The Face of a Dog!" -- wants to kill off a sizable chunk of the population so Donald Trump won't enjoy so much winning.

David Sanger of the New York Times takes a sober look at Trump's Afghan "peace deal": "President Trump has left no doubt that his first priority in Afghanistan is a peace treaty that would enable him to claim that he is fulfilling his vow to withdraw American troops. But a parade of his former national security aides say he is far less interested in an actual Afghan peace. And that creates an enormous risk for Mr. Trump and for Afghanistan: that, like President Richard M. Nixon's peace deal with North Vietnam in January 1973, the accord signed Saturday will speed an American exit and do little to stabilize an allied government.... The accord signed on Saturday -- with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo overseeing the moment but not actually signing it himself -- will initially bring down American troop levels to about 8,600 from about 12,000 now. That is almost exactly where they were three years ago, at the end of Mr. Obama's term."

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Biden Blowout

Jonathan Martin & Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Joseph R. Biden Jr. scored a decisive victory in the South Carolina primary on Saturday, reviving his listing campaign and establishing himself as the leading candidate to slow Senator Bernie Sanders as the turbulent Democratic race turns to a slew of coast-to-coast contests on Tuesday. Propelled by an outpouring of support from South Carolina's African-American voters, Mr. Biden easily overcame a late effort by Mr. Sanders to upset the former vice-president in a state he has long seen as his firewall. His victory will vault Mr. Biden into Super Tuesday, where polls open in just over 48 hours, as the clear alternative to Mr. Sanders for establishment-aligned Democrats." ~~~

~~~ The New York Times' South Carolina primary vote count is here. Networks called the win for Biden as soon as the polls closed. Both the NYT & WashPo are currently posting some results on their front pages. A related Guardian story is here. Mrs. McC: Biden won an astounding 48.4 percent of the vote, with 100 percent reporting, and Sanders -- his next closest rival -- got nearly 20 percent. Only Biden & Sanders will get convention delegates from South Carolina.

Cleve Wootson & Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "Former vice president Joe Biden decisively won the South Carolina primary Saturday, as the first Southern primary contest reshaped the race and dealt a blow to the surging candidacy of Sen. Bernie Sanders. The win pumped new life into Biden's struggling campaign, as he became the first candidate to score a clear-cut victory against Sanders this year, boosting his efforts to become the major alternative to the liberal senator. Still, Sanders (I-Vt.) is polling strongly in several of the Super Tuesday states that vote this week, and it could yet prove difficult for any of his competitors to catch up."

Jonathan Chait argues that Joe Biden is now the only plausible candidate who can best Bernie Sanders.

Adam Edelman, et al., of NBC News: "Tom Steyer, the California activist billionaire who has largely been a nonfactor in the Democratic primary campaign, dropped out of the race on Saturday night. Steyer's departure came after a disappointing finish in the South Carolina Democratic primary. With 70 percent of the vote in, Steyer had just 11.5 percent of the vote -- despite spending millions of dollars on campaigning there.... His exit came after he'd spent a total of $158 million on television and radio ads, according to Advertising Analytics. In South Carolina alone, Steyer had spent nearly $21 million as of Tuesday, the firm said." Mrs. McC: The only people sad about this are owners of local TV franchises in upcoming primary states.

Justin Wise of the Hill: "Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) raised more than $46 million from approximately 2.2 million donations in February, his 2020 presidential campaign announced Sunday."

Olivia Rubin of ABC: "For nearly 20 years as an up and coming politician,Bernie Sanders supported ideas on what causes cancer outside of the mainstream, such as sexual inactivity as a cause of breast cancer.... [In an] essay published in The Vermont Freeman and previously reported, [Sanders] extensively and approvingly cites studies suggesting a relationship between 'inhibited sexuality' and cancer risks.... One study he cited in the 1969 piece found that women who achieve orgasm less frequently during intercourse were more likely to contract cervical cancer. Another found that women who achieve fewer orgasms were 'biologically weakened' and are therefore 'highly susceptible to cancer producing stimuli' more generally." --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I'm not so sure how nutty these ideas are. I recall reading, in that same time frame, a study whose results were republished in some mainstream news outlet, that nuns -- so presumbly virgins -- were statistically less likely to get cervical cancer than were women in the general population. That's at odds with Sanders' suggestions, of course, but the point is that it wasn't insane to examine links between sexual activity & some kinds of cancer.

"The Pied Pipers of the Dirtbag Left Want to Lead Everyone to Bernie Sanders." Nellie Bowles of the New York Times: "As Mr. Sanders rises in the polls and claims strong showings in early states, a new set of media stars is on the rise, too.... They are on their way to becoming the socialist's answer to right-wing shock jock radio. Their primary targets, in evidence at that show in Iowa, are not the Republican Party or even Mr. Trump but rather centrist liberals, whom they see as the major obstacle to a workers' revolution. In blurring occasionally violent humor, jovial community meetups and radical politics, they are the Tea Party reborn for progressives, and for their fans the appeal is in a bawdy offensive balance to cautious mainstream liberal politics." (Also linked yesterday.)

Coming to a Neighborhood Near You. Benjamin Siegel & Armando Garcia of ABC News: "... Mike Bloomberg's campaign on Saturday will begin a massive voter outreach push, with plans to hold more than 2,400 events across 30 states ahead of Super Tuesday, ABC News has learned. The mobilization drive, beginning as the rest of the Democratic field remained focused on the South Carolina primary, is a show of force meant to highlight the scale of Bloomberg's nationwide operation." Mrs. McC: I see this as less of a "show of force" than of a project that will be a boon to all Democratic candidates. This is where Bloomberg's utility to Democrats always has been. His candidacy per se is, at best, superfluous, and at worst, harmful to candidates who could oust Trump. (Also linked yesterday.)

Justin Baragona of the Daily Beast (Feb. 28): "Days after MSNBC host Chris Matthews came under fire for his sexist run-in with Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), columnist Laura Bassett claimed in a piece for GQ that the veteran MSNBC personality sexually harassed her in 2016 -- something she had previously written about in 2017 without revealing Matthews' name. According to Bassett, the married MSNBC host approached her when she was in a make-up chair prior to appearing on his show to talk about -- ironically enough -- the sexual-assault allegations made against then-nominee Donald Trump.... It was reported in late 2017 that NBC had paid separation compensation to a producer who accused Matthews of sexually harassing her. The network claimed at the time that the host had been 'formally reprimanded' over the incident. Besides that incident, Matthews has a history of both objectifying women on-air ... or expressing contempt for women he thinks are acting 'witchy' or 'anti-male.'" Bassett's GQ story is here. A Daily Beast account of his exchange with Warren is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Maxwell Tani of the Daily Beast: "A day after he was accused of sexual harassment by a journalist, MSNBC decided to keep host Chris Matthews off its airwaves during coverage of the South Carolina primary results. Matthews is normally a fixture of election night coverage, which made his absence on Saturday all the more notable." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: If you want to know how seriously NBC suits take repeated incidents of (alleged) sexual harassment, there's this. A person who co-anchored last night's MSNBC coverage of the South Carolina primary was Brian Williams. In 2015, NBC News suspended Williams -- then the managing editor & anchor of "Nightly News" -- for six months without pay for exaggerating an Iraq war story which he witnessed. The network then sent him down to the minors: an 11 pm daily show on MSNBC, no doubt at exponentially less pay than his former top news job garnered. Matthews? MSNBC gave him Saturday night off. ~~~

     ~~~ AND, uh, all black men look alike? ~~~

~~~ Cristina Cabrera of TPM: "MSNBC host Chris Matthews has really been on a roll lately. As he was interviewing Jaime Harrison, a Democratic candidate who seeks to unseat Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), on Friday night, Matthews saw live footage of Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) with Graham at President Donald Trump's campaign rally in South Carolina and somehow believed the man he was talking to in real time was the same person he was seeing at that rally. 'Jaime, I see you next to the guy you're going to beat right there, maybe, maybe, maybe, Lindsey Graham,' Matthews said to Harrison, who was being interviewed remotely..." --s

Darlene Superville & Zeke Miller of the AP: "The U.S. is banning travel to Iran in response to the outbreak of the new coronavirus and elevating travel warnings to regions of Italy and South Korea. Vice President Mike Pence announced the new restrictions and warnings as ... Donald Trump said 22 people in the U.S. have been stricken by the new coronavirus, of whom one has died and four are deemed 'very ill' and that additional cases are 'likely.'... Trump spoke a day after he denounced criticism of his response to the threat as a 'hoax' cooked up by his political enemies. Speaking at a rally in South Carolina he accused Democrats of 'politicizing' the coronavirus threat.... 'They tried the impeachment hoax. ... This is their new hoax,' Trump said of Democratic denunciations of his administration's coronavirus response. Trump said Saturday he was not trying to minimize the threat of the virus. 'Again, the hoax was used in respect to Democrats and what they were saying,' he said'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ William Wan, et al., of the Washington Post: "At the hastily convened news conference, Trump described the patient who died as a 'wonderful woman' in her late 50s. CDC later issued a statement saying it had mistakenly described the patient's gender in a briefing to Trump and Vice President Pence, and local health officials clarified the deceased patient was a man." ~~~

It's complete chaos. Everyone is just trying to get a handle on what the [fuck] is going on. -- Senior Administration Official, on Trump admin's response to coronavirus crisis ~~~

~~~ Yasmeen Abutaleb, et al., of the Washington Post: "Minutes before President Trump was preparing Wednesday to reassure a skittish nation about the coronavirus threat, he received a piece of crucial information: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had identified in California the first U.S. case of the illness not tied to foreign travel, a sign that the virus's spread in the United States was likely to explode. But when Trump took to the lectern for a news conference intended to bring transparency to the spiraling global crisis, he made no explicit mention of the California case and its implications -- and falsely suggested the virus might soon be eradicated in the United States. Trump's playing down of the California patient at his news conference underscores the administration's slapdash and often misleading attempts to contain not just the virus, but also potential political damage from the outbreak.... By the time he landed at Joint Base Andrews [after his visit to India], Trump was already over what he considered an alarmist response by his administration and also thought he was being treated unfairly by the media."

Time Out for CPAC. Rachel Chason & Colby Itkowitz of the Washington Post: "President Trump sought to assure his supporters Saturday that the coronavirus is under control after earlier confirming the first U.S. death attributed to the infection and boasted of the country's great economic comeback after Wall Street's worst week since the 2008 financial crisis. Rallying conservatives eights months before the election, Trump mocked the height of Democratic candidate and former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg, crouching at the lectern for dramatic effect, called Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) a 'lowlife' for his vote to convict the president on an article of impeachment and described Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) as a 'crazy professor.' Against the backdrop of a growing global virus and the South Carolina Democratic primary, Trump delivered a 90-minute speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in which he crowed about his political success in 2016, lashed out at his preferred targets -- Democrats and the news media -- and polled the audience on which of his rivals would be easier to beat in November." ~~~

     ~~~ Tina Nguyen of Politico: "But Trump's remarks [at CPAC] were ... more subdued than his appearance the night before at a campaign event in South Carolina, where he whipped up the crowd by suggesting his political opponents were weaponizing the virus as a 'new hoax' against his presidency. Trump reassured supporters that those who had been infected were doing well, and that everything would turn out for the best, though he did not acknowledge the first death from the fast-spreading virus.... Trump didn't linger on the coronavirus, and he soon deployed a familiar arsenal against his enemies, hitting on several topics that he often mentions in campaign speeches."

American Oversight: "Senior members of the Trump administration, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and then-National Security Adviser John Bolton had agreed that U.S. security assistance funding to Ukraine should 'continue as planned,' according to a new email from August released by the Department of Defense on Friday to American Oversight. The August 26, 2019, email from a senior career Pentagon official states that there was 'no ongoing interagency review process with respect to USAI [Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative],' and states clearly: 'Final decision rests with POTUS.'... Critically, the email appears to contradict the White House budget office's stated rationale for withholding the aid. In emails and formal apportionment 'footnotes' beginning on July 25, 2019, Office of Management and Budget officials repeatedly told the Defense Department that the Ukraine aid freeze was necessary to allow for an 'interagency process to determine the best use of such funds.' Administration officials had also been instructed to tell Congress that this was the reason for the delay of funding." (Also linked yesterday.)

Justin Wingerter of The Denver Post: "Three weeks after becoming the first U.S. senator in history to vote to convict a president of his own party, Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah stopped in Denver on Friday night to discuss the state of democracies around the world. Romney was joined by Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former prime minister of Denmark.... 'I am so honored to be on stage with what I would say is a true profile in courage,' Rasmussen said of Romney during his opening remarks, prompting a standing ovation from the crowd of about 300 people in a packed university auditorium." --s

Way Beyond the Beltway

BBC News: "Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his partner Carrie Symonds are engaged and are expecting a baby in early summer, the couple have announced.... Mr Johnson, 55, and Ms Symonds, 31, became the first unmarried couple to occupy Downing Street when they moved in last year. Ms Symonds is also the youngest partner of a prime minister in 174 years. In a post on her private Instagram account, she wrote: 'Many of you already know but for my friends that still don't, we got engaged at the end of last year... and we've got a baby hatching early summer. Feel incredibly blessed.'" Mrs. McC: I hope you're all ever-so-happy for the lucky couple.

News Ledes

New York Times: "Researchers who have examined the genomes of two coronavirus infections in Washington State say the similarities between the cases suggest that the virus may have been spreading in the state for weeks. Washington had the United States' first confirmed case of coronavirus, announced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Jan. 20. Based on an analysis of the virus's genetic sequence, another case that surfaced in the state and was announced on Friday probably was descended from that first case. The two people live in the same county, but are not known to have had contact with one another, and the second case occurred well after the first would no longer be expected to be contagious. So the genetic findings suggest that the virus has been spreading through other people in the community for close to six weeks, according to one of the scientists who compared the sequences, Trevor Bedford, an associate professor at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center...."

The New York Times' live updates of developments in the coronavirus epidemic are here.

Leap Day 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Darlene Superville & Zeke Miller of the AP: "The U.S. is banning travel to Iran in response to the outbreak of the new coronavirus and elevating travel warnings to regions of Italy and South Korea. Vice President Mike Pence announced the new restrictions and warnings as ... Donald Trump said 22 people in the U.S. have been stricken by the new coronavirus, of whom one has died and four are deemed 'very ill' and that additional cases are 'likely.'... Trump spoke a day after he denounced criticism of his response to the threat as a 'hoax' cooked up by his political enemies. Speaking at a rally in South Carolina he accused Democrats of 'politicizing' the coronavirus threat.... 'They tried the impeachment hoax. ... This is their new hoax,' Trump said of Democratic denunciations of his administration's coronavirus response. Trump said Saturday he was not trying to minimize the threat of the virus. 'Again, the hoax was used in respect to Democrats and what they were saying,' he said'" ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: @1:45 pm ET, Trump is to speak momentarily, after the death of a coronoavirus victim in Washington state. Let's see if he can get serious now & quit spouting insane conspiracy theories.

American Oversight: "Senior members of the Trump administration, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and then-National Security Adviser John Bolton had agreed that U.S. security assistance funding to Ukraine should 'continue as planned,' according to a new email from August released by the Department of Defense on Friday to American Oversight. The August 26, 2019, email from a senior career Pentagon official states that there was 'no ongoing interagency review process with respect to USAI [Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative],' and states clearly: 'Final decision rests with POTUS.'... Critically, the email appears to contradict the White House budget office's stated rationale for withholding the aid. In emails and formal apportionment 'footnotes' beginning on July 25, 2019, Office of Management and Budget officials repeatedly told the Defense Department that the Ukraine aid freeze was necessary to allow for an 'interagency process to determine the best use of such funds.' Administration officials had also been instructed to tell Congress that this was the reason for the delay of funding."

"The Pied Pipers of the Dirtbag Left Want to Lead Everyone to Bernie Sanders." Nellie Bowles of the New York Times: "As Mr. Sanders rises in the polls and claims strong showings in early states, a new set of media stars is on the rise, too.... They are on their way to becoming the socialist's answer to right-wing shock jock radio. Their primary targets, in evidence at that show in Iowa, are not the Republican Party or even Mr. Trump but rather centrist liberals, whom they see as the major obstacle to a workers' revolution. In blurring occasionally violent humor, jovial community meetups and radical politics, they are the Tea Party reborn for progressives, and for their fans the appeal is in a bawdy offensive balance to cautious mainstream liberal politics."

Coming to a Neighborhood Near You. Benjamin Siegel & Armando Garcia of ABC News: "... Mike Bloomberg's campaign on Saturday will begin a massive voter outreach push, with plans to hold more than 2,400 events across 30 states ahead of Super Tuesday, ABC News has learned. The mobilization drive, beginning as the rest of the Democratic field remained focused on the South Carolina primary, is a show of force meant to highlight the scale of Bloomberg's nationwide operation." Mrs. McC: I see this as less of a "show of force" than of a project that will be a boon to all Democratic candidates. This is where Bloomberg's utility to Democrats always has been. His candidacy per se is, at best, superfluous, and at worst, harmful to candidates who could oust Trump.

~~~~~~~~~~

New York Times: ";Stocks tumbled for a seventh consecutive day on Friday, with the S&P 500 index falling about 0.8 percent, bringing its loss for the week to more than 11 percent. It was the worst weekly decline for stocks since the 2008 financial crisis. In early October that year, the S&P 500 fell about 18 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 1 percent on Friday. The sell-off was fueled mostly by worry that measures to contain the virus would hamper corporate profits and economic growth, and fears that the outbreak could get worse. The selling has in a matter of days dragged stock benchmarks around the world into a correction -- a drop of 10 percent or more that is taken as a measure of extreme pessimism.... The Federal Reserve chair, Jerome H. Powell, moved to soothe investors on Friday, issuing a statement reaffirming that the central bank will use its tools and 'act as appropriate to support the economy.'" An updated CNBC report, an earlier version of which was linked yesterday afternoon, is here. ~~~

~~~ "The Party of Ideas" (TM Lemieux). Jeff Stein & Ashley Parker of the Washington Post: "Trump administration officials are holding preliminary conversations about economic responses to the coronavirus, as the stock market fell sharply again on Friday amid international fears about the outbreak, according to five people with knowledge of the planning. Among the options being considered are pursuing a targeted tax cut package, these people said. They have also discussed whether the White House should lean even harder on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, though the central bank on Friday afternoon said it would step in if necessary. No decisions at the White House have been reached on these options, and officials stressed conversations remained preliminary and extremely fluid." Mrs. McC: Huh. Not much about maybe fighting the virus itself. ~~~

     ~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "... people getting sick and dying is something that can't be easily propagandized away, and markets are not going to be reassured unless the Trump administration demonstrates some actual ability to address the pandemic. Needless to say, this is impossible because the administration is not merely devoid of but actively opposed to administrative competence and expertise, so here we are."

Nancy Cook & Matthew Choi of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Friday night tried to cast the global outbreak of the coronavirus as a liberal conspiracy intended to undermine his first term, lumping it alongside impeachment and the Mueller investigation. He blamed the press for acting hysterically about the virus, which has now spread to China, Japan, South Korea, Iran, Italy and the U.S, and he downplayed its dangers, saying against expert opinion it was on par with the flu. 'The Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. They're politicizing it,' he said. 'They don't have any clue. They can't even count their votes in Iowa. No, they can't. They can't count their votes. One of my people came up to me and said, "Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia." That did not work out too well. They could not do it. They tried the impeachment hoax.' Then Trump called the coronavirus 'their new hoax.'... By undermining the news reporting on the virus and by trying to hold liberals responsible for a potential public health crisis that has little to do with politics, Trump did what he often does best: He sought to deflect blame at a time when many Americans sought leadership and scientific facts. After Trump had downplayed the risks of coronavirus, he reassured supporters that the White House was 'magnificently organized' in fighting it. In fact, Trump's administration spent the week jockeying among themselves to lead the response, while the stock market tumbled with losses not seen since the global financial crisis in 2008." ~~~

~~~ Will Steakin of ABC News: "... Donald Trump attacked Democrats at a rally in North Charleston, South Carolina, on the eve of the state's crucial primary -- all while his administration works to tackle the growing fear surrounding the novel coronavirus. The president defended his administration's response to the coronavirus threat, blasting Democrats for 'politicizing' the issue and calling it 'their new hoax' -- adding that 'they can't even count the votes in Iowa.' The president also compared annual flu deaths to the coronavirus, saying 'the press is in hysteria mode.'" Mrs. McC: This would be just another round of Trump lies if it weren't for the fact that his disinformation campaign poses an epic health hazard. Some of those people laughing at the "hoax" will die. And they might kill you and me, too.

Annie Karni of the New York Times: Speaking at CPAC, "Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, on Friday blamed the media for exaggerating the seriousness of coronavirus because 'they think this will bring down the president, that's what this is all about.'... The news media has [have!] been covering the global spread of coronavirus for months. But Mr. Mulvaney claimed that the news media was too preoccupied covering impeachment, he said, 'because they thought it would bring down the president.'" Mulvaney also complained that the press wasn't covering Trump's great relationship with his youngest son, even those Melania Trump has jealously guarded the child's privacy. Here's a Hill story. (Also linked yesterday.)

But for [Democrats] to try to take a pandemic and seemingly hope that it comes here, and kills millions of people so that they could end Donald Trump's streak of winning, is a new level of sickness. You know, I don't know if this is coronavirus or Trump derangement syndrome, but these people are infected badly. -- Donald Trump, Jr., on "Fox & Friends," Friday

I don't have to tell you that there is no Democratic official anywhere who has expressed the hope that a pandemic kills millions of people. Junior should be held to account. -- Mrs. Bea McCrabbie

Peter Sullivan of the Hill: "Democratic lawmakers expressed frustration Friday with the Trump administration's response to the coronavirus, saying they left a closed-door briefing by top health officials with many unanswered questions." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Adam Cancryn & David Liu of Politico: "Several House Republicans walked out of a closed-door coronavirus briefing Friday with Trump health officials in protest after a senior Democrat blasted the Trump administration's handling of the response effort. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) kicked off the briefing sharply criticizing the administration as disorganized and lacking urgency in combating the coronavirus, lawmakers said. Her speech frustrated Republicans and some Democrats assembled to hear from the slate of officials from the CDC, NIH and State Department.... [Dr. Tony] Fauci emphatically denied reports that the White House is preventing him from speaking publicly about the virus. Vice President Mike Pence's office had asked him to delay pre-scheduled television hits and seek renewed clearance to do the appearances in the wake of Pence's appointment as response leader, he said." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ A Muzzle by Any Other Name.... Joe Concha of the Hill: "Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) on Friday said the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases was told to 'stand down' and not appear on five Sunday morning talk shows to discuss the coronavirus. Garamendi told MSNBC's Hallie Jackson that Anthony Fauci was scheduled to do all five major Sunday talk shows, but says Fauci canceled the appearances after Vice President Pence took over the administration's response to the disease. Trump on Wednesday named Pence as the official overseeing the government's response. 'I can repeat what he said, he said, "I was not muzzled. However, I was to go on the Sunday talk shows five of them. The vice president's office then took over the control of this situation, and told me to stand down, not to do those shows,'" Garamendi said, quoting Fauci. 'Now, you can draw your own conclusions whether he was muzzled or not, but clearly he was scheduled to do Sunday talk shows and he was not to proceed with that,' the congressman added." ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Rep. Ted Lieu, speaking on CNN, said he asked mike pence if pence thought the virus was a "hoax," and pence refused to answer. pence is so afraid of angering his lord & master that every federal professional must get pence's approval before saying "coronavirus," yet pence also is so petrified that he can't say one definitive thing about the virus. There's your government's "response." ~~~

~~~ In case you're wondering what-all mike has been doing since he took a break from overseeing the coronavirus crisis to headline a Florida Republican fundraiser: ~~~

~~~ Eric Kleefeld of Media Matters: "Vice President Mike Pence, who ... Donald Trump has placed in charge of overseeing the government's response to the coronavirus outbreak, appeared Friday afternoon on The Rush Limbaugh Show -- which has been the source of a mixture of conspiracy theories, denialism, and other misinformation about the virus.... Kicking off the week on Monday, Limbaugh falsely claimed that the novel coronavirus strain known as COVID-19 is actually just' the common cold,' but added that it 'probably is a [Chinese Communist] laboratory experiment that is in the process of being weaponized' as part of 'an effort to bring down Trump' through negative media coverage. Limbaugh then only dug in further on Tuesday, downplaying the potential impact of coronavirus in the U.S.... He later went on to claim that the ... media was only hoping for [the virus] to sufficiently evolve to become [a major threat]: '... They would love for the coronavirus to be this deadly strain that wipes everybody out, so they could blame Trump for it.' Limbaugh did not repeat or even acknowledge any of these conspiracy theories during the interview with Pence -- nor did Pence mention that Limbaugh had been spreading them." ~~~

~~~ But Wait! mike has a great new helper: ~~~

~~~ Travis Gettys of the Raw Story: "Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary Katie Miller was placed in charge of all government communications regarding coronavirus. Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney sent out a government-wide email ordering all official communications to go through Miller, who recently married White House senior adviser Stephen Miller, reported CNN.... Jessica Ditto, [Pence's] deputy director of communications, had initially been handling government messaging." Mrs. McC: Waldman Miller is 28 years old; her professional experience is as a flack. In her new job, she will be telling experts on the virus what they can share with the public (maybe her undergrad degree in ag econ will help, I don't know). I'm sure when mike appointed her to scrub their public reports & statements, he was being true to his prom'se "to let the health care experts lead" uppermost in his mind, as he told Rushbo.

AND Corona beer takes a hit.

Michael Crowley of the New York Times: "President Trump announced on Friday that he intended to nominate Representative John Ratcliffe, Republican of Texas, as his director of national intelligence, choosing someone he considered last summer before senior Republicans in Congress deemed him unqualified for the job. Mr. Ratcliffe is a vocal supporter of the president who serves on the House Intelligence Committee. If confirmed, he would replace Richard Grenell, whom Mr. Trump put in charge of American intelligence agencies this month on an acting basis. The job has been vacant since Dan Coats stepped down on Aug. 15.... It is unclear whether Mr. Ratcliffe could be confirmed by the Senate. When Mr. Trump floated his name last summer, some Republicans, including Senator Richard M. Burr of North Carolina, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told White House officials that Mr. Ratcliffe was too partisan for the position, according to people familiar with the discussions." em> Politico's story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: So maybe Trump tapped Grenell -- a totally inappropriate choice -- to inoculate Ratcliffe, a completely inappropriate choice. What's the difference between "totally" and "completely"? Nothing.

** Maria Sachetti & Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "A federal appeals court in California halted the Trump administration's 'Remain in Mexico' immigration policy on Friday, a blow to the president's restrictive immigration agenda that cripples one of the government's approaches to curbing migration across the U.S. southern border. The program -- officially known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, or MPP -- called for pushing asylum seekers back into Mexico to await their U.S. asylum hearings, part of an effort to limit migrant access to U.S. soil and to lessen a record migration surge among Central American families. More than 470,000 parents and children crossed into the United States last fiscal year, and most were quickly freed into the country to await U.S. immigration court hearings after they claimed asylum.... The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 to uphold a lower-court's injunction on MPP, saying that the policy 'is invalid in its entirety due to its inconsistency with' federal law, and 'should be enjoined in its entirety.'" An NBC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A federal appeals court has turned down a lawsuit claiming that ... Donald Trump's luxury hotel in Washington, D.C., is unfairly undermining the business of other venues in the city. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday against a lawsuit a D.C. wine bar filed in 2017, claiming it was losing business to the Trump International Hotel because some were seeking to use their dollars to win favor with the president." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ CREW: "President Trump's unprecedented decision to retain his business interests while serving in the White House set the stage for a deluge of conflicts of interests between the government and the Trump Organization. From the beginning of President Trump's administration, CREW has endeavored to track these conflicts, which pit President Trump's personal and financial interests against those of the nation as a whole, and this week, President Trump reached a new, disgraceful milestone: He has racked up 3,000 conflicts of interest during his time in office." --s

Jessica Gresko & Eric Tucker of the AP: "In a setback for Democrats in Congress, a federal appeals court ruled Friday that judges have no role to play in the subpoena fight between the House and ... Donald Trump over the testimony of high-ranking administration officials. The decision undoes a lower court ruling that would have forced former White House counsel Don McGahn to appear before Congress. It is likely to doom efforts to get other high-ranking officials to testify in House investigations of Trump. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued the 2-1 decision. Lawmakers could ask the full appeals court to weigh in or appeal to the Supreme Court." ~~~

~~~ Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: "If that ruling is allowed to stand, it will mean that going forward, disputes between Congress and the White House are to be resolved in favor of the White House.... Under the guise of staying out of it, the appeals court just blessed the White House's claim that it is beyond the reach of Congress -- not just for McGahn's subpoena, but for any future such attempts at oversight.... It bears mentioning that throughout the impeachment trial the president's attorneys insisted that subpoenas for executive branch witnesses should have been handled in court. And the court now claims the disputes are non-justiciable.

Mafia Don Gets His Biden "Investigation". Bermet Talant of the Kyiv Post: "U.S. President Donald Trump failed to make Ukraine investigate his Democratic rival, former U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden. Now, a former Ukrainian prosecutor general [and usual idiot Viktor Shokin], whose allegations underpinned Trump's efforts, has succeeded: He managed to get two criminal probes opened against Biden. He did it through multiple appeals to a Ukrainian court. However, his victory is largely a legal technicality and is unlikely to lead to any serious investigation.... If that wasn't enough, the former prosecutor general claims that Biden could be linked to his alleged poisoning with mercury last year. In an interview with [Rudy] Giuliani, broadcast on the conservative One America News network, Shokin claimed he died twice from the poisoning and was resuscitated." --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Bear in mind that a guy who says Joe Biden may have tried to poison him is Rudy's main source for "evidence" that Joe was engaged in corrupt acts in Ukraine.

Mujib Mashal of the New York Times: "The United States is expected to sign a peace deal with the Taliban insurgency on Saturday that for the first time after two decades of grinding warfare would lay out the prospect of a final withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. The signing in Doha, Qatar, is seen as a vital step toward negotiating a more sweeping peace deal that could end the insurgency altogether, after years of unrelenting violence that took the lives of more than 3,500 Americans and coalition troops and tens of thousands of Afghans since the U.S. invasion in 2001." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. New Lede: "The United States signed a deal with the Taliban on Saturday that sets the stage to end America's longest war -- the nearly two-decade-old conflict in Afghanistan that began after the Sept. 11 attacks, killed tens of thousands of people, vexed three White House administrations and left mistrust and uncertainty on all sides." CNN's story is here.

John Hudson of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo repeatedly clashed Friday with Democratic lawmakers who criticized him for taking weeks to appear before Congress following the killing of Iran's top military commander and then truncating his time on Capitol Hill to speak to a conservative political conference.... 'It is shameful' that 'you are going to talk to a special interest group,' while only giving two hours to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.).... Pompeo conceded Iran has 'enriched [uranium] to a higher level than they did when we took office.' But on the killing of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, Pompeo insisted the decision has made Americans more safe, despite State Department warnings about traveling to Iraq, the addition of thousands of more troops in the Middle East and beefed up security for U.S. diplomats around the world."

AP: "The House judiciary committee is launching a wide-ranging inquiry into the attorney general, William Barr, and the justice department, demanding briefings, documents and interviews with 15 officials as it tries to determine whether there has been improper political interference in federal law enforcement. The committee chairman, Jerry Nadler, on Friday sent Barr a letter listing a series of matters that the committee finds 'deeply troubling', including Barr's involvement in the case of ... Roger Stone.... Nadler is also questioning Barr about his involvement in other cases related to friends and associates of Trump and about internal investigations into department employees who investigated Trump after the 2016 election."

Presidential Race

Reid Epstein & Adriana Ramic of the New York Times: "The fourth state on the Democratic presidential nominating calendar, South Carolina is the first opportunity for a critical mass of black voters to weigh in. For months, as he's struggled elsewhere, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. has been pointing to South Carolina as the place his fortunes would turn around."

The New York Times live-updated developments in the Democratic presidential race Friday. The Washington Post's live updates for Friday are here.

Sally Goldenberg & Erin Durkin of Politico: "Mike Bloomberg espoused a bit of revisionist history over his role in extending city term limits Friday morning. The former New York City mayor blamed the municipal rule-change, which he conceived in 2008 so he could run for a third term, on the City Council during a wide-ranging MSNBC interview.... It was a questionable description for those familiar with the term limits fight in New York. Instead, they recall a pitched battle in which Bloomberg lobbied fiercely for a chance to serve a third term, getting City Council members to back his plan to reverse the well-established two-term ceiling for elected officials, and wooing business and media leaders in the effort. 'It was one of the most profoundly undemocratic things I have ever seen in my many years involved in New York City government,' said Randy Mastro, who represented plaintiffs in a lawsuit that unsuccessfully tried to block the term limits change.... Bloomberg's immense wealth aided the effort, and he enlisted nonprofit groups that received his money to lend their support. One nonprofit had about 20 of its employees testify in favor of letting the mayor run again."

Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "Former Vice President Joe Biden admitted Friday that his recent claims of being arrested during a congressional delegation trip to South Africa in the 1970s were false. Biden has faced scrutiny over the claims, made repeatedly over the past few weeks, that he was arrested with former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young 'on the streets of Soweto,' a township in Johannesburg, attempting to see imprisoned anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela." In the new version of the story, Biden says officials at a South African airport tried to force him to go through a door marked "whites only," and they detained him when he tried to pass through a different door with black members of the delegation.

Zach Montellaro & Holly Otterbein of Politico: "The Iowa state Democratic Party has completed its partial recount of the Feb. 3 presidential caucuses, and the result hasn't changed: Pete Buttigieg still has a very narrow advantage over Bernie Sanders in state delegate equivalents. The state party announced Thursday evening that it recounted results in 23 precincts that were requested by both campaigns, and Buttigieg leads Sanders by roughly one state delegate equivalent, a difference of about four hundredths of a percentage point." (Also linked yesterday.)

Svea Herbst-Bayliss of Reuters: "Hedge fund Elliott Management Corp has amassed a stake in Twitter Inc ... and is pushing for changes, including removal of the social media company's chief executive, Jack Dorsey, two people familiar with the matter said on Friday.... Elliott, founded by billionaire [rightwing GOP mega donor] Paul Singer, will be seeking to install its own nominees to Twitter's eight-member board when three of the company's directors stand for election at its upcoming annual shareholder meeting, the sources said." --safari: I'm guessing conservatives want Dorsey out because he recently banned political ads from the platform.

Donie O'Sullivan of CNN: "Andrew Walz calls himself a 'proven business leader' and a 'passionate advocate for students.' Walz, a Republican from Rhode Island, is running for Congress with the tagline, 'Let's make change in Washington together,' or so his Twitter account claimed. Earlier this month, Walz's account received a coveted blue checkmark from Twitter as part of the company's broader push to verify the authenticity of many Senate, House and gubernatorial candidates currently running for office. Twitter has framed this effort as key to helping Americans find reliable information about politicians in the leadup to the 2020 election. But there's just one problem: Walz does not exist. The candidate is the creation of a 17-year-old high school student from upstate New York...." --s

Beyond the Beltway

Oregon. Matthew Chapman of RawStory: "On Thursday, Democrats in the Oregon House of Representatives voted to subpoena 11 Senate Republican members who walked off their jobs and fled the state capitol in order to block consideration of a carbon pricing bill.... Republicans' absence is due to a quirk in the rules of the legislature. Democrats command majorities in both chambers, but Republicans have enough members that if they walk out, the legislature has no quorum and cannot move forward with debate on anything. Incredibly, this is the second straight term in which Oregon Republicans have employed this tactic to stop climate legislation." --s

News Ledes

Washington Post: "California reported its second case of community transmission of the coronavirus Friday, and Oregon and Washington announced others just hours later, providing fresh evidence that the deadly virus is circulating in the United States." ~~~

~~~ The New York Times' latest live updates on developments in the coronavirus epidemic are here.