;)
The Commentariat -- April 17, 2020
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Anderson Cooper spoke with a couple of doctors to talk about Trump's death-to-Americans plan, and it's as bad as you already guessed. The administration is not just leaving it up to governors to decide when to authorize reopening various facilities in their states; he also is leaving it up to states to conduct & manage their own testing: a prerequisite to deciding what can be reopened. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said New York didn't have the money to do the testing (much less the expertise, I'd guess), and you can be sure most other states are in the same position. Besides the costs of the test kits themselves, testing will take a lot of personnel to conduct the tests & analyze them. States can't run deficits the way the feds can. In addition, testing uniformity throughout the nation is essential to make the results meaningful. As one of the doctors said on CNN, right now testing regimens vary not just from state-to-state but even from hospital-to-hospital within the same county. I'm not saying mike pence would have been a great president, but left to his own devices, it's not possible he would have done a worse job than Trump. Every GOP senator except Mitt Romney is responsible for this disaster. On the cusp of the pandemic, they had a chance to get rid of the worst president* in American history, and they blew it.
... the question of the 2020 election, as Trump and his party attempt to frame it: Are you manly enough to sneer at death, like real men do in the movies (which are fake, of course, but never mind that), or are you one of those pusillanimous patsies who quivers under the bed sheets like some avocado toast-eating intellectual, whining that we have to listen to the experts?... Donald Trump and the Republicans are going to turn the election into a red vs. blue culture war battle.... -- Michael Tomasky of the Daily Beast @ 6:28 am ET Friday
LIBERATE MICHIGAN! -- Donald Trump tweet @11:22 am ET Friday
LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege! -- Donald Trump tweet at 11:22 am ET
LIBERATE MINNESOTA! -- Donald Trump tweet @11:28 am ET Friday ~~~
~~~ Aaron Rupar of Vox: "... Donald Trump can't help but sow division, even at a time when Americans are largely united in supporting stay-at-home orders and social distancing to slow the spread of the coronavirus.... These posts -- which are among the most dangerous of Trump's tenure -- appear to have been inspired by a segment he saw on Fox News minutes earlier.... Asked on Thursday if he thinks protesters in Michigan should listen to local officials like Whitmer, Trump said that such people listen to him instead. 'I think they're listening. I think they listen to me. They seem to be protesters that like me,' Trump said." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: AND, as Chuck Todd (of all people) pointed out, none of the Democratic-led states Trump targeted, even within the context of the limited testing available to them, has reached the point in the arc of infections & recoveries that Trump himself said yesterday evening must be met before they can be "liberated."
The New York Times' live updates of U.S. coronavirus developments Friday are here. "Facing mounting economic damage and with encouragement from President Trump, governors of some states have started to announce plans for businesses to tiptoe back into operation on May 1, even as cases surge in some parts of the country.... Beaches in Duval County, Fla., where infections appear to be flattening, will reopen with restrictions at 5 p.m. on Friday.... Gov. Tony Evers of Wisconsin said on Thursday that golf courses could open with certain restrictions and that for-hire lawn care could be carried out if it was performed by one person. Stores selling materials to make face masks can open for curbside pickup, he said." ~~~
Rachel Seigel & Thomas Heath of the Washington Post: "Stocks flashed green around the world as investors clung to early reports that an antiviral medicine appeared to successfully treat severe symptoms for coronavirus patients. The Dow Jones industrial average initially surged 600 points at Friday's open but was up 350 points, or 1.5 percent, within the hour. The Standard & Poor's 500 jumped 1.5 percent and Nasdaq composite climbed 0.85 percent. U.S. markets appeared headed toward their second straight week of gains, bouncing back from March lows that ended the 10-year bull market. The rally came a day after dismal economic numbers showed the United States had erased all job gains of the past decade due to the pandemic, which continues to force tens of millions of Americans to stay home and disrupt entire industries.... On Thursday, STAT news reported that severely ill coronavirus patients were responding well to remdesivir, a Gilead Sciences drug, at a Chicago hospital. The trial involved only 125 people and the preliminary results were not peer reviewed, but it was welcome news for investors looking for light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, and the economic recovery that will come with it. Gilead shares spiked nearly 8 percent after the open." A CNBC story is here. ~~~
~~~ Update. Mrs. McCrabbie: Elizabeth Cohen, CNN's medical correspondent was pretty unenthusiastic about the Gilead trial of remdesivir. She said what was reported was some doctors who were paid by Gilead speaking enthusiastically about the results. While it's possible the product will work well to curb symptoms, it's just as possible it won't. Remdesivir was initially designed to work to mitigate Ebola symptoms, and it didn't work.
Patrick Wintour of the Guardian: "Donald Trump found himself isolated among western leaders at a virtual G7 summit, as they expressed strong support for the World Health Organization after the US's suspension of its funding. Health officials around the world have condemned the US president's decision to stop his country's funding for the UN agency.... On Thursday, G7 leaders voiced their backing for the WHO and urged international co-operation. Immediately after the hour-long conference call, a spokesman for Angela Merkel said that the German chancellor had argued that 'the pandemic can only be overcome with a strong and co-ordinated international response'. The spokesman said Merkel 'expressed support for the WHO as well as a number of other partners'.... The White House insisted there was support for US criticism of the WHO in the G7 call, saying 'much of the conversation centred on the lack of transparency and chronic mismanagement of the pandemic by the WHO. The leaders called for a thorough review and reform process.'"
The Majority of Americans Are Not as Dumb as Donald. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "New polling from Pew Research Center suggests that Americans are more likely to side with the experts than with Trump. By a 2-to-1 margin, they are more concerned that distancing measures will be rescinded too quickly than too slowly. There's a partisan split on the question, but not as big as you might think. Among conservative Republicans, views are about split. Among moderate Republicans, a large majority is more worried about moving too quickly than too slowly.... Americans also generally give Trump low marks on his handling of the pandemic -- particularly in terms of his presentation of its risks. A majority think that Trump has made the coronavirus outbreak seem better than it is.... Two-thirds of Americans, according to Pew's polling, think that Trump was too slow to take major steps to address the pandemic." The Pew report is here.
Also Not as Dumb as Dr. Phil. Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: "After Anthony S. Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease expert, explained the White House's new guidelines for states to slowly reopen their economies in a three-phase process, Fox News host Laura Ingraham ... turned to Phil McGraw, better known as Dr. Phil, television psychologist to the masses. He acknowledged that the novel coronavirus is killing Americans -- more than 33,000 as of early Friday -- but also wondered why the economy would shut down over the pandemic but continues to function as people die from lung cancer, car crashes and pool drownings. (Unlike coronavirus, none of the causes of death listed by Dr. Phil are contagious.) The conflicting views, one from the most qualified source available on the topic and the other from a talk-show host with questionable credentials, highlighted again how expert advice on the novel coronavirus has frequently been undermined by celebrity doctors with little to no infectious disease experience." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: For those of you who thought Oprah Winfrey should run for president, let me remind you that she made Dr. Phil's career as a teevee personality.
Susan Demas of Michigan Advance writes an excellent column on the protest in Lansing, Michigan, against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
David Smiley of the Miami Herald: "When the Miami Herald sought information from the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner's Office last month about COVID-19 deaths in the epicenter of Florida's coronavirus outbreak, attorneys for the state health department moved to block the records from becoming public.... The Herald ... obtained the information Thursday after the county bucked Florida's Department of Health. But the episode is an example of how the administration of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis often has been unwilling or unable to provide crucial information about its coronavirus response -- and at times has actively tried to shield critical details about the depths of the crisis from becoming public.... In recent weeks, Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration has refused to name the nursing homes experiencing coronavirus outbreaks, even as the number of cases in longterm care facilities has passed 1,300. The Department of Corrections had until Wednesday declined to acknowledge two inmate COVID-19 deaths at a privately run prison. And the Department of Health has been unwilling to disclose the extent of an undefined backlog of unresolved coronavirus tests at private labs."
~~~~~~~~~~~
Stupid Trump Tricks, Ctd. -- Generalissimo Trumpo Retreats
Peter Baker & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Trump told the nation's governors on Thursday that they could begin reopening businesses, restaurants and other elements of daily life by May 1 or earlier if they wanted to, but abandoned his threat to use what he had claimed was his absolute authority to impose his will on them. On a day when the nation's death toll from the coronavirus increased by more than 2,000 for a total over 30,000, the president released a set of nonbinding guidelines that envisioned a slow return to work and school over weeks or months. Based on each state's conditions, the guidelines in effect guarantee that any restoration of American society will take place on a patchwork basis rather than on a one-size-fits-all prescription from Washington that some of the governors had feared in recent days.... The 18-page document released by the White House provided mostly general guidance and did not confront some difficult questions, including how to finance the billions of dollars necessary for expanded testing; whether travel should be restricted between states; when the ban on international travel from Europe and elsewhere would be lifted; and how the states should deal with future shortages of protective equipment if the virus resurged in the fall. The guidelines assume the ability to quickly contain future outbreaks by quarantining sick people and their contacts, but they provide no specifics about how strained public health systems around the country will achieve that goal." ~~~
~~~ Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump released federal guidelines Thursday night for a slow and staggered return to normal in places with minimal cases of the novel coronavirus, moving to try to resume economic activity even amid an outcry from political and health leaders about the nation's testing capacity. Despite Trump's desire for a May 1 reopening, his plan does not contain a date for implementation and is a vague set of recommendations for a three-phased reopening of businesses, schools and other gathering places in jurisdictions that satisfy broad criteria on symptoms, cases and hospital loads. (This is an update of a story linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Gov. John Carney (D) of Delaware said on CNN that Delaware and other states do not have the capacity to do the "contact tracing" & other testing necessary to implement the guidance for reopening. As for the guidelines, they seem to be about as useful as your bidding an acquaintance goodbye with something like, "Be safe," or "Stay healthy."
The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Thursday are here. "President Trump told governors that some could begin reopening their states by May 1 or earlier if they wanted to, but backed down from his confrontation with them by making it clear that he would not seek to impose his will on when they reopen businesses, schools and everyday life.... 'The president will announce a plan in the works to drastically increase the capacity for state and local health departments to do core public health work like testing people, doing contact tracing,' said [a top government] official.... On a conference call Thursday morning, Mr. Trump repeatedly told House lawmakers that people around the country were raring to get the economy moving again. He drew attention to protests in some states, saying that Americans were angry. [Mrs. McC: You knew he would.] And he hinted that 29 states were ready to reopen, telling lawmakers he would have more to say later...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Thursday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Carol Lee, et al., of NBC News: "The White House is exploring ways of drastically increasing coronavirus testing in the U.S., as ... Donald Trump's aides scramble to put measures in place that might make it feasible for him to meet his goal of reopening the economy in parts of the country by May 1, according to four people familiar with the efforts.... The push to ramp up testing reflects an acknowledgment by some of the president's advisers that, despite his insistence that testing is working well, there are problems with access and that significantly increasing the number of tests per day will be critical if the economy is going to reopen." (Also linked yesterday.) Mrs. McC: Apparently the White House's "explorations" have not led to the motherlode.
The Littlest King. Paul LeBlanc of CNN: "Sen. Mitt Romney is the only GOP senator who was not asked to be on ... Donald Trump's new bipartisan task force focused on reopening the country amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. Nearly 100 lawmakers from both parties -- including all of Romney's Senate Republican colleagues -- were tapped to join 'the Opening Up America Again Congressional Group,' according to a list released by the White House Thursday. The President reviewed the list of which lawmakers would be on the task force before it was finalized, an official told CNN. Romney was not included and was not asked to be on the call with other senators Thursday, another official confirmed." Mrs. McC: Romney, of course, has had a long & successful career of running complex operations, like the Winter Olympics, and unlike some other senators and President* Trump, probably could make an actual useful contribution to any effort to reactivate sectors of the economy. ~~~
~~~ Jonathan Chait sees the irony in a president* abusing his power for petty political reasons against a Senator who voted to impeach him for his abusing his power for petty political reasons.
Cities to Trump: Save Lives, Pay Your Bills. Dave Levinthal of the Center for Public Integrity, republished by NBC News: "Here's how some city leaders say ... Donald Trump could immediately help them grapple with the coronavirus crisis: Pay bills they already sent his campaign committee months or years ago. Fourteen municipal governments -- from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Wildwood, New Jersey -- want Trump's campaign committee to clear a combined $1.82 million worth of public safety-related debt connected to Trump's 'Make America Great Again' campaign rallies, according to interviews with local officials and municipal records obtained by the Center for Public Integrity.... Many cities that hosted Trump rallies chose not to bill his campaign for police and public safety costs, explaining they have policies against doing so or didn't bother because of Trump's history of nonpayment.... Trump frequently touts his support for law enforcement.... But in a statement to Public Integrity, the Trump campaign indicated it's not responsible for reimbursing cities for police and public safety costs...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Steve Benen of MSNBC on Trump's threat to adjourn Congress: "Let's ... not forget that many of Trump's nominees are ridiculous and are currently stuck in committee because Senate Republicans aren't sure they can advance the president's picks in good conscience. It's probably why Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) demurred yesterday in response to Trump's misguided threat.... Part of the problem is that Donald Trump has never fully familiarized himself with how the federal government works, and his civic blind-spots lead him to blurt out ideas he doesn't recognize as foolish. But the other part of the equation is nearly as important: Trump wants to appear strong and powerful, unaware of the extent to which these efforts backfire when he discovers that he doesn't have the authority he wishes he had." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE. Jordain Carney of the Hill: "The Senate scheduled another two weeks of pro forma sessions Thursday, just a day after President Trump demanded senators either return to town or adjourn. The Senate is now slated to meet roughly every three days until May 4, when senators are expected to return to Washington.... Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced Wednesday that he was extending the recess in consultation with medical professionals and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.)." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: That is, Trump is out of luck. He can't make his horrible recess appointments because there's no recess. And tho the Hill story doesn't say so, he can't just adjourn the Congress, either. Under the Constitution, "in case of disagreement between the [two chambers of Congress], with respect to the time of adjournment, he [the president*] may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper." But the House & Senate agreed a long time ago to adjourn January 3, 2021. There's no disagreement between the House & Senate. So Trump has no Constitutional option to adjourn Congress.
Ryan Lizza of Politico describes attending a couple of Trump 5 p.m. shows. Note to White House reporters on how to get Trump to pick you to ask a question: give him a thumbs-up.
** Frank Rich of New York: "Nothing will stop Trump's attempts to grab power. His novel theory of presidential governance, as he himself has defined it, is to seize 'total' authority while bearing no responsibility. He will throw any power move against the wall to see if it sticks. When the coastal coalitions of governors chose to flatly ignore or, in Andrew Cuomo's case, mock his bid to set himself up as a king, he pivoted in a blink to his dead-on-arrival push to adjourn Congress so he could staff governmental vacancies with a new round of C-list hacks who wouldn't be subject to Senate approval. Every day a new tantrum, a new search for scapegoats for his catastrophic mismanagement of America's public-health catastrophe, and a new attempted end run around the rule of law."
How Not to Run a Rodeo. Isaac Stanley-Becker, et al., of the Washington Post (April 15): "The Trump administration has awarded bulk contracts to third-party vendors in recent weeks in a scramble to obtain N95 respirator masks, and the government has paid the companies more than $5 per unit, nearly eight times what it would have spent in January and February when U.S. intelligence agencies warned of a looming global pandemic, procurement records show.... Large U.S. companies such as Honeywell and 3M have received the biggest orders, but the Trump administration also has signed high-dollar deals with third-party vendors selling masks for many times the standard price. [FEMA] awarded a $55 million contract for N95s this month to Panthera Worldwide LLC, which is in the business of tactical training.... Panthera's parent company had not had any employees since May 2018.... It also has no history of manufacturing or procuring medical equipment.... Panthera Worldwide's parent company filed for bankruptcy last fall, and the LLC is no longer recognized in Virginia -- where it has its main office -- following nonpayment of fees...."
The Turbo-Tax Glitch. Heather Long & Michelle Singletary of the Washington Post: "Many Americans woke up Wednesday expecting to find a payment of $1,200 or more from the U.S. government in their bank account, but instead they realized nothing had arrived yet -- or the wrong amount was deposited. Parents of young children complained they did not receive the promised $500 check for their dependent children.... Several million people who filed their taxes via H&R Block, TurboTax and other popular services were unable to get their payments because the IRS did not have their direct deposit information on file, according to the Treasury, companies and experts." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
The CARES Act Glitch. David Dayen in the American Prospect: "A charged-off account with overdraft fees or other debts attached to it [can] receive the IRS payments [distributed under the CARES Act], and then use them to offset those debts. Treasury officials told bank compliance officers in a webinar last week that 'there is nothing in the law that precludes that action,' seen as a green light to enable banks to take the CARES Act payments. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin knew about this for two weeks, after being directly informed by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH). The Treasury Department has the authority under the CARES Act to write a rule exempting the direct payments from private debt collection by financial actors, including banks like USAA. Treasury has so far chosen not to do so.... [So, for instance,] USAA, the veteran-serving financial institution, took $3,400 in CARES Act payments from the family of a disabled veteran to offset an existing debt, denying the family emergency funds during a time of personal economic stress.... According to the wife of the veteran, a USAA representative told her in a phone conversation that they 'shouldn't have gotten into debt in the first place,' and refused to give back the $3,400 CARES Act payment." --s ~~~
~~~ Not a Glitch But a Feature. Josh Marshall of TPM: "We have some new data on which states are getting the biggest share of the forgivable loan funds (the biggest percentage of a state's payrolls covered) from the Payroll Protection Program, which is part of the CARES Act, the federal rescue bill. It turns out generally red and/or rural states are doing quite well while big blue states, which are among the hardest hit in the country, are doing much less well." Mrs. McC P.S. Thanks to Akhilleus for reminding us about that old Jim Nabors meme.
So Much Intelligence; So Few Brains to Use It. Times of Israel: “US intelligence agencies alerted Israel to the coronavirus outbreak in China already in November, Israeli television reported Thursday. According to Channel 12 news, the US intelligence community became aware of the emerging disease in Wuhan in the second week of that month and drew up a classified document.... US intelligence informed the Trump administration, 'which did not deem it of interest,' but the report said the Americans also decided to update two allies with the classified document: NATO and Israel specifically the IDF.... The intelligence also reached Israel's decision makers and the Health Ministry, where 'nothing was done,' according to the report. Last week, ABC News reported that US intelligence officials were warning about the coronavirus in a report prepared in December by the American military's National Center for Medical Intelligence."
Greg Hinz of Crain's Chicago: "A coalition of seven Midwestern governors today announced they are working together to judge when best to start easing stay-at-home restrictions and reopen their states' economies. The move mirrors similar efforts on the West Coast and in the Northeast Corridor.... Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has been reaching out to his Midwest counterparts to coordinate efforts. Today, the coalition becomes official, with Michigan's Gretchen Whitmer, Mike DeWine of Ohio, Wisconsin's Tony Evers, Tim Walz of Minnesota, Eric Holcomb of Indiana and Kentucky's Andy Beshear signing on to a multistate pact."
Florida. Carol Miller of the Miami Herald: "The decades-long quest of Florida elder-care facilities to secure greater protections against negligence lawsuits may get a boost from the unlikeliest of events: a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic.... A trade group for Florida's nearly 700 nursing homes is asking Gov. Ron DeSantis to extend the state's sovereign immunity provisions to the industry and other healthcare sectors during the course of the coronavirus pandemic. If the request is granted, hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living facilities and other providers would be protected against negligence suits. DeSantis is already doing the industry a favor by refusing to name nursing homes and ALFs where positive tests have occurred." --s
New York. Noah Higgins-Dunn, et al., of CNBC: "New York and other East Coast states are extending their shutdown of nonessential businesses to May 15 as officials grapple with how to reopen parts of the economy without leading to a resurgence in coronavirus cases, New York Gov. strong> Andrew Cuomo said Thursday. Cuomo announced the move at his daily briefing in Albany and via Twitter, saying 'New York on PAUSE' will be extended in coordination with other states." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
~~~ Jarrett Renshaw of Reuters: "New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has tapped high-powered consultants to develop a science-based plan for the safe economic reopening of the region that can thwart pressure from ... Donald Trump to move more rapidly, state government sources told Reuters.... McKinsey & Company is producing models on coronavirus testing, infections and other key data points that along with other research and expert opinions will help underpin decisions on how and when to reopen the region's economy." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Michigan. Just as I Suspected. Anna Nichols & Susan Demas of Michigan Advance: "More than 3,000 people -- including some brandishing Confederate and militia flags, as well as guns -- piled into downtown Lansing for hours on a snowy Wednesday. They were supposed to be there to protest Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's stay home order during the COVID-19 pandemic, but much of the event effectively turned into a pro-... Donald Trump rally.... Many had anti-Whitmer signs likening her to Adolf Hitler and calling for her removal from office. Nazi Germany was referenced in several signs. One sign used a swastika to claim Whitmer and Democrats as dictators taking away liberty from citizens, while some protestors had swastika tattoos.... Michigan has been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus, with the fourth-most cases in the country, per Johns Hopkins University tracking." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~
This @joshuabickel photo is worthy of a Pulitzer. It absolutely and perfectly captures the wackjobbery of Trumpism and the grievance of people who have surrendered any vestige of common sense or normalcy to the altar of freak show politics and the dogmas of political cultism. https://t.co/kxE7STOH4J
— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) April 15, 2020
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Bickel took the photo April 13 during a press conference by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) at the Ohio Statehouse. According to the Columbus Dispatch, the protesters, "crowded together and yelling," are demanding an end to Ohio's stay-at-home order.
Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "Uncertainty and fear over the economic impact of stay-at-home orders is fueling a sort of culture war between conservatives, whose political strength now comes from rural America, right now less affected by the virus, and liberals, whose urban strongholds have been most affected by it.... Like the tea party protests of 2009, the 'reopen' protests were heavily touted on conservative radio and Fox News, which helped fuel turnout, which then became part of the story." ~~~
~~~ Juan Cole: "Trumpism is a form of fascism, of course, but at its core is a whiny rebellion against the achievements of human and civil rights since the 1960s.... The puerile rebellion syndrome of Trumpism was on full display on Wednesday in Lansing, Michigan.... The two organizations backing the gridlock are allegedly funded in part by Trump's secretary of education Betsy DeVos, sister of mercenary warlord Erik Prince of former Blackwater fame (a buddy of Trump's).... They are behaving like vaxxers, whose reluctance to inoculate their children against deadly diseases puts everyone's children at risk.... This juvenile contrarianism aims to be a counter-revolution, de facto rolling back the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act and the National Environment Policy Act of 1969." --s ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Cole is quite right. I would go further and say so-called conservatism, whether advocated by David Brooks of the NYT or practiced by Bart O'Kavanaugh of the Supreme Court, is the same damned thing: a "whiny rebellion" against the country's greatest achievements in the last half of the 20th century.
~~~ Peter Kafka of Vox: "Americans don't trust the government, and they don't trust the media. That trend has been evident for years, but the Trump era has accelerated it. Don't expect it to get better, says journalism critic Jay Rosen.... 'The fight to keep Americans from understanding what happened from December to March is going to be one of the biggest propaganda battles in American history,' he told me recently. 'The Republican Party and the Trump campaign and the MAGA coalition are going to have to produce confusion and doubt on a scale that is unlike anything you've ever seen before.'"--s ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: A story about the dystopian nation of Trump's America is kind of perfect for someone named Kafka to write.
If the Virus Don't Kill You, the Mercury Will. Lisa Friedman & Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The Trump administration on Thursday weakened regulations on the release of mercury and other toxic metals from oil and coal-fired power plants, another step toward rolling back health protections in the middle of a pandemic. The new Environmental Protection Agency rule does not eliminate restrictions on the release of mercury, a heavy metal linked to brain damage. Instead, it creates a new method of calculating the costs and benefits of curbing mercury pollution that environmental lawyers said would fundamentally undermine the legal underpinnings of controls on mercury and many other pollutants. By reducing the positive health effects of regulations on paper and raising their economic costs, the new method could be used to justify loosening restrictions on any pollutant that the fossil fuel industry has deemed too costly to control."
Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Mark Meadows has officially been President Trump's fourth White House chief of staff for less than three weeks. In that time, he has shaken up the communications office, angering supporters of the press secretary he chose to replace. He has tried to put in place other speedy changes, hoping to succeed where his three predecessors failed. He has hunted aggressively for leaks. But administration officials say he has been overwhelmed at times by a permanent culture at the White House that revolves around the president's moods, his desire to present a veneer of strength and his need for a sense of control. It is why, no matter who serves as chief of staff, the lack of formal processes and the constant infighting are unavoidable facts of life for those working for Mr. Trump. In the case of Mr. Meadows, it has not helped him with his White House colleagues that the former North Carolina congressman, who has a reputation for showing his emotions, cried while meeting with members of the White House staff on at least two occasions." Via safari. An ABC News story is here.
Kara Scannell of CNN: "The federal Bureau of Prisons has notified Michael Cohen..., Donald Trump's former personal attorney, that he will be released early from prison due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to people familiar with the matter and his lawyer. Cohen is serving a three-year sentence at the federal prison camp in Otisville, NY, where 14 inmates and seven staff members at the complex have tested positive for the virus. Cohen was scheduled for release in November 2021, but he will be allowed to serve the remainder of his sentence from home confinement, the people said. He will have to undergo a 14-day quarantine at the prison camp before he is released. Cohen was notified on Thursday of his pending release, and his lawyer, Roger Adler, confirmed it to CNN." Mrs. McC: Sure hope this irritates Trump.
Pete Williams of NBC News: "The federal judge overseeing the trial of longtime Trump associate Roger Stone on Thursday denied his motion for a new trial, which was based on a claim of juror bias. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said Stone's lawyers failed to demonstrate that a woman selected as a juror was biased against ... Donald Trump, that she failed to disclose those views during jury selection and that she should not have been allowed to serve.... During a hearing in late February, two jurors testified that the woman -- later selected as the jury foreperson -- never tried to pressure them during deliberations to reach any particular conclusion or told them about news articles or internet postings she saw. To the contrary, one of the jurors said, the forewoman insisted that the jurors be more careful about one of the counts against Stone and that they make sure the government had met its burden of proof.... [Stone's] lawyers will almost certainly appeal his conviction and ask that he be allowed to remain out while the case is on appeal." Mrs. McC: Sure hope this irritates Trump.
Jake Sherman & John Bresnahan of Politico: "Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz has spent nearly $200,000 in taxpayer funds renting an office from a longtime friend, adviser, campaign donor and legal client. Both men said in separate interviews Gaetz paid below market rent for the space -- although Gaetz later shifted, saying the rent was 'at or below market rate.' House rules explicitly state such arrangements are not allowed.... House rules state that all leases for district offices must be 'at fair market value as the result of a bona fide, arms-length, marketplace transaction. The Lessor and Lessee certify that the parties are not relatives nor have had, or continue to have, a professional or legal relationship (except as a landlord and tenant).'" Mrs. McC: But not as bad as keeping bribe money in the freezer!
Way Beyond the Beltway
Steve Hendrix & Ruth Eglash of the Washington Post: "Israel ran into another wall -- actually, the same wall -- in its quest to break a year-long political impasse early Thursday when another deadline passed without the country's main rival factions able to strike a deal and form a government. The two sides, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former army chief Benny Gantz, were still talking when midnight came and went, marking the end of Gantz's official window to assemble a ruling coalition. The rivals, spurred by the coronavirus crisis, have been struggling for weeks to agree on a power-sharing arrangement in which they would take turns in the prime minister's office." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
News Ledes
New York Times: "John Horton Conway, the English-born Princeton mathematician whose body of work ranged from the rigorously highbrow to the frivolously fun, earning him prizes and a reputation as a creative, iconoclastic and even magical genius, died on Saturday in New Brunswick, N.J. He was 82. His wife, Diana Conway, said his death, at a nursing home, was caused by Covid-19."
New York Times: "Brian Dennehy, a versatile stage and screen actor known for action movies, comedies and classics, but especially for his Tony Award-winning performances in 'Death of a Salesman' in 1999 and 'Long Day's Journey Into Night' in 2003, died on Wednesday in New Haven, Conn. He was 81."
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Reader Comments (14)
A note from Florida ... The Orlando Sentinel states Florida has processed only 4% of the 850,000 unemployment claims filed since the shut down began.
@Bobby Lee: That's okay because most Florida Republicans are too old to work.
Always found Condolezza Rice's psychology hard to plumb. One of those head-shaking occasions where one says, how could she? She's so much smarter than that. Now I see she's settled into her angle of repose at the Hoover Institution (a burr under my personal saddle I admit), a place that happily and comfortably houses a bunch of smart people who prove time and again they don't and don't wish to understand much.
In this interview, though, Rice does seem to understand authoritarian impulses and behavior. She ought to.
Oh, the things some Republicans can say without tumbling to to the irony of what they are saying and that it is they who are saying it.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2020/04/16/condoleezza_rice_china_wants_to_shift_the_narrative_on_covid-19_dont_let_them.html
Maybe that's the answer. The political litmus test's reagent is irony. If you get it, you turn blue.
@Ken Winkes wrote: "The political litmus test's reagent is irony. If you get it, you turn blue."
Brilliant!
The fun begins: Jacksonville, Florida will open its beaches, parks, and a municipal golf course for "designated activities" This will start out as mornings and evenings only but I doubt that will last or be enforced.
Here's "How One Wisconsin Town Figured Out How to Conduct an Election in a Pandemic". The town pre-mailed absentee ballot applications to all ~10K registered voters. It is located in a Blue county surrounded by Red. I grew up nearby and recall it being referred to as Whitepeople's Bay. The high school did have a nice indoor pool.
We're going to have to go back to calling Moscow Mitch "the Turtle." Returning from my trip to the recycling center this morning, I heard the local NPR station feature one of those science-y segments, wherein I learned that turtles can hibernate underwater all winter because they can breathe through their asses.
On the Pretender's pretend plan to reopen the country:
The only bucks that stop at his ironically-(there's that word again) named Resolute Desk are those he has stuffed in his pockets.
BTW, had to look it up. I now know what most likely already knew. For those who didn't, the desk, a gift from Queen Victoria to President Hayes, was made from timbers of HMS "Resolute."
People! Don't ever say that Fatty hasn't taught you something that you never knew before. During yesterday's "Happy Hour" he told us this:
"A swab is more sophisticated than a Q tip."
Tuck that gem into your list of "Things I never knew."
The days after these Rose Garden delights he feels the gods at his back like a breeze; nothing penetrates–-he's impervious to criticism; if otherwise his tantrums would be much more deadly than they are and reveal how poorly he has reigned––and that he cannot face.
Is it true that at Florida's miniature golf courses the social distance measure is just one foot instead of six? Makes sense, no? Florida!
At Thursday's 5 Follies (at 6), DiJiT answered a question and said "There’s death and there’s problems in staying at home too."
Looked Death straight in the eye and Death blinked. Whatta guy!
Staying home? Not so easy. Ask Melania.
The Pretender must have at least one asture political advisor, yet he still tweets dumb things like his "liberate" Michigan, Virginia and Minnesota messages posted above.
I say dumb not just because they are patently dumb in themselves but because he managed to get elected in 2016 only because the degree of his self-dealing, idiocy and mental imbalance was not as evident then as it has become over the last three years.
In the face of a clear majority of citizens who support some kind of gun control, who are tired of his self-promotion and his cozy relationship with the wealthy (remember, he was going to do something about those Wall Street fat cats), and are increasingly skeptical of his random responses to Covid-19, his bullheadedness and hunger for praise leads him to praise publicly his crazy supporters, who by themselves did not supply the very thin margin of his 2016 victory. Under 100,000 votes in the right states and the Electoral College did that.
As I said, someone in his entourage must know that, and that someone must have told him. But the Pretender is not listening.
Probably thinks that brave advisor belongs somewhere in the bowels of the Deep State.
@Ken - National Treasure (the movie) would have taught you about the Resolute Desk ;)
Guess we now have the Trump economy now that he's erased Obama's recovery. Stay safe, be well.
@Gonzo
Thanks.
Saw the movie but like too much of my life didn't remember that either.
Posted a short comment to the NYTimes a couple of hours ago in which I called it the (Ir)resolute desk.
Seemed appropriate.