The Commentariat -- June 27, 2020

Afternoon Update:

** Joshua Partlow & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "In the hours before his rally in Tulsa, President Trump's campaign directed the removal of thousands of 'Do Not Sit Here, Please!' stickers from seats in the arena that were intended to establish social distance between rallygoers, according to video and photos obtained by The Washington Post and a person familiar with the event. The removal contradicted instructions from the management of the BOK Center, the 19,000-seat arena in downtown Tulsa where Trump held his rally on June 20. At the time, coronavirus cases were rising sharply in Tulsa County, and Trump faced intense criticism for convening a large crowd for an indoor political rally, his first such event since the start of the pandemic.... The actions by Trump's campaign were first reported Friday by Billboard Magazine." Includes short video of campaign workers removing stickers.

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Saturday are here. "As the United States reached its third consecutive day with a record number of new reported coronavirus infections, officials were urgently rethinking their strategies to head off new infections. The U.S., which leads the world in total confirmed cases and deaths, reported more than 45,000 new infections on Friday, according to a Times database. Before this week, the country's largest daily total had been 36,738 on April 24."

~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Saturday are here. "Facing a surge of new coronavirus cases, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott expressed regret for allowing bars to reopen so early, saying Friday that he did not realize how fast the virus would spread." Mrs.McC: That's what happens, Greg, when you align yourself with a stupid, narcissist POTUS*. People get sick and die.

Protection for Trump But Not for You Chumps. Kevin Liptak & Kaitlan Collins of CNN: "... the measures meant to protect [Donald Trump] from catching the [corona]virus have scaled up dramatically. As he seeks to insert rival Joe Biden's health into the presidential campaign, Trump has voiced escalating concern about how it would appear if he contracted coronavirus and has insisted on steps to protect himself, even as he refuses to wear a mask in public and agitates for large campaign rallies where the virus could spread. When he travels to locations where the virus is surging, every venue the President enters is inspected for potential areas of contagion by advance security and medical teams, according to people familiar with the arrangements. Bathrooms designated for the President's use are scrubbed and sanitized before he arrives. Staff maintain a close accounting of who will come into contact with the President to ensure they receive tests. While the White House phases out steps such as temperature checks and required mask-wearing in the West Wing -- changes meant to signal the country is moving on -- those around the President still undergo regular testing."

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "The House tried and failed on Friday to invalidate stringent rules imposed by the Trump administration on student loan forgiveness, falling short of overriding a veto by President Trump. The override effort, which would have revived bipartisan legislation to overturn regulations put in place last year by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, failed by a vote of 238 to 173, lacking the two-thirds majority it would have needed to pass. Six Republicans joined every Democrat in voting to defy Mr. Trump's position."

Ed O'Loughlin of the New York Times: "Ireland's Parliament appointed Micheal Martin, a center-right politician, as prime minister on Saturday as the country deals with the coronavirus and fallout from a housing crisis. Mr. Martin replaces Leo Varadkar, a doctor who drew acclaim for his handling of the coronavirus outbreak but who had been a caretaker prime minister since a February general election delivered a loss of seats for his party but no clear winner. The new government, the result of more than four months of negotiations, will be the first to include the country's two rival center-right political movements -- Fianna Fail, led by Mr. Martin, and Fine Gael, led by Mr. Varadkar. The two parties have alternated in power since the foundation of the modern Irish state in 1922."

~~~~~~~~~~

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Friday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Friday are here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Gina Kolata of the New York Times: "At the beginning of the pandemic, the coronavirus looked to be another respiratory illness. But the virus has turned out to affect not just the lungs, but the kidneys, the heart and the circulatory system -- even, somehow, our senses of smell and taste. Now researchers have discovered yet another unpleasant surprise. In many patients hospitalized with the coronavirus, the immune system is threatened by a depletion of certain essential cells, suggesting eerie parallels with H.I.V.... In [one] study, the investigators identified three patterns of immune defects, and concluded that T cells and B cells, which help orchestrate the immune response, were inactive in roughly 30 percent of the 71 Covid-19 patients they examined. None of the papers have yet been published or peer reviewed."

Rwanda, Yes; U.S.A., No. Michael Birnbaum & Quentin Ariès of the Washington Post: "European diplomats are poised to approve an agreement on which foreign travelers they want to welcome starting on July 1, as the European Union reopens its external borders for the first time since March, but with the coronavirus still raging in the United States, the possibility of allowing American tourists hasn't even figured into the discussion, according to six diplomats familiar with the talks.... Expected to be approved: Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay.... Visitors from China would be allowed to enter Europe only if Beijing drops measures against E.U. travelers.... The list is subject to final approval on Saturday, but diplomats said it was unlikely to change." The New York Times story is here.

Anne Gearan & Yasmeen Abutaleb of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration on Friday claimed 'remarkable progress' in fighting the coronavirus pandemic, despite a surge of cases in the South and West.... Vice President Pence held the first public briefing of the coronavirus task force in nearly two months and sought to deliver an upbeat message that is at odds with warnings from public health experts. The vice president also dodged the question of whether people should wear masks in public, as his own administration recommends, and said campaign rallies that pack people together in violation of public health guidance will continue.... 'Well, the freedom of speech, the right to peaceably assemble, is enshrined in the Constitution of the United States and we have an election coming up this fall,' Pence said.... Pence offered no new strategies to combat the rapidly spreading virus and minimized record daily case counts in several states as 'outbreaks in specific counties.'... Anthony S. Fauci ... pleaded with Americans to take the virus seriously and continue taking precautions some four months into a national state of partial paralysis. 'We are all in it together and the only way we're going to end it, is by ending it together,' Fauci said." ~~~

~~~ Alana Wise of NPR: "The White House Coronavirus Task Force renewed calls for vigilance on Friday, acknowledging rising cases across Southern states in parts of California.... Vice President Pence insisted 'this moment is different' than what the United States was grappling with two months ago, noting that the percentage of people requiring hospitalization from the virus was considerably lower than it was early on during the pandemic and the number of fatalities are declining. 'We're in a much better place,' Pence said. But he urged young people to take precautions to avoid spreading the disease to more vulnerable people. The group's first briefing in weeks [was] held at the Department of Health and Human Services rather than at the White House...." (Also linked yesterday.) Politico's story is here. ~~~

~~~ Deny and Dismiss. Michael Shear & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The return of the televised task force news conference -- at which reporters were limited to only a handful of questions -- revived the deep disconnect between Washington and the states where local officials spent Friday sounding the alarm and, in some cases, halting the reopening that Mr. Trump has so often encouraged.... An hour after [the task force session] was over, the president addressed a panel of industry officials, political allies and White House economic advisers for a self-congratulatory session about how successful the economic recovery has been.... [Trump] showed some concern when his personal valet, who serves his food, was diagnosed with the coronavirus and Mr. Pence's press secretary tested positive. But since then, Mr. Trump has maintained a posture of denial and dismissiveness."

Pelosi Calls Out the Cowardly Liar. Alana Wise of NPR: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday told NPR she agreed with ... Joe Biden's assessment that mask usage should be mandated on the federal level amid a surge of coronavirus cases across the United States. She blamed the Trump administration for failing to accept the seriousness of the pandemic.... 'In fact, the reason the CDC hasn't made it mandatory is because they don't want to embarrass the president, or insult the president, whatever it is,' Pelosi said, calling Trump 'cowardly' for not wearing a face mask."

Caitlin Oprysko & Quint Forgey of Politico: "A pair of GOP governors on Friday moved to impose new mitigation measures in their states amid record numbers of new coronavirus infections, with both Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ordering bars closed and Texas placing new restrictions on other businesses the governor said were linked to the virus's resurgence. Texas and Florida are among around a dozen other states that have hit the brakes on reopening their economies amid a resurgence of the virus across the South and West affecting more than half of the states in the country. That both governors -- who are close allies of ... Donald Trump and were criticized for resisting calls to lock down their states in the pandemic's early days -- have not only pressed pause on reopening but reimposed some restrictions, speaks to the severity of the outbreaks in two of the most populous states in the country." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ David Lim of Politico: "The Trump administration is reversing its decision to cut federal support for five drive-thru coronavirus testing sites in Texas this month after a formal request from Gov. Greg Abbott and criticism from Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz.... But there's a catch: Federal coronavirus testing czar Brett Giroir said HHS will continue funding the Texas sites for two weeks past the previously announced June 30 cutoff. What happens after that point isn't clear.... The federal government is still set to end funding in late June for six sites spread across four other states: Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey and Pennsylvania."

Jake Johnson of Common Dreams: "The Trump administration in April quietly issued a sweeping waiver exempting members of Congress and other federal officials from ethics rules in order to allow them and their families to apply for small business coronavirus relief loans without facing conflict of interest reviews. The existence of the ethics waiver was reported Friday by the Washington Post and met with alarm by good government advocates who warned the 'blanket approval' from the Small Business Administration (SBA) opens the door to abuse of Paycheck Protection Program funds designed to help struggling small businesses stay afloat." --safari: Seen in the aggregate, there are no "ethics" to this administration. At all. ~~~

     ~~~ ** Jonathan O'Connell & Aaron Gregg of the Washington Post: "Because the administration has not yet released any information about the individual borrowers, it is unknown how many members of Congress or SBA officials have benefited from the nearly $700 billion program, but several representatives did, according to media reports and financial records." Rep. Susie Lee (D-Nev.) was among Nevada legislators who lobbied the Trump administration not to exclude casinos from the SBA loans, "as the SBA had long done'" She never did mention that her husband Daniel Lee owned a casino company, a company that then applied for & received $5.6 million in loans. However, that $5.6 million was not exactly a "loan": "As long as the loans are used appropriately, they are turned into grants and forgiven.... One of the wealthiest, Rep. Roger Williams (R-Tex.), said in a May 5 blog post that his auto dealerships had received loans. Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.) said that businesses owned by her family had received PPP loans, after they were disclosed in the Columbia Tribune."

Miriam Jordan of the New York Times: "Citing the severity of the coronavirus pandemic, a federal judge in Los Angeles on Friday ordered the release of migrant children held in the country's three family detention centers. The order to release the children by July 17 came after plaintiffs in a long-running case reported that some of them have tested positive for the virus. It applies to children who have been held for more than 20 days in the detention centers run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, two in Texas and one in Pennsylvania. There were 124 children living in those facilities on June 8, according to the ruling." A CNN story is here.

Maryland. Ovetta Wiggins of the Washington Post: "A Maryland man who organized rallies to pressure Gov. Larry Hogan (R) to lift the state's stay-home order says he has tested positive for the novel coronavirus and does not plan to provide names of people with whom he had contact to public health officials for contact tracing. Tim Walters, a co-founder of ReOpen Maryland, said on social media this week that he has had a dry cough for months but it recently worsened. He then began to experience an excruciating headache, a fever and the inability to focus with one of his eyes, which led to vertigo.... Walters said he had long suspected he might have the virus but was surprised by the toll it was taking on him this week." Mrs. McC: Yeah, the side effects of stupid are often surprising.

Oklahoma. AP: "A journalist who attended ... Donald Trump's rally in Tulsa last week said Friday he has tested positive for COVID-19. Oklahoma Watch reporter Paul Monies said he was notified Friday of his positive diagnosis. 'I'm pretty surprised,' Monies wrote on Twitter. 'I have zero symptoms (so far) and I feel fine....' Monies said he was inside the rally for about 6 hours on Saturday at the BOK Center and that he wore a mask and mostly practiced social distancing, except for when he went to the concourse to get a snack.... An epidemiologist at the Oklahoma City-County Health Department who notified Monies of his positive result said it's difficult to determine if he contracted the coronavirus at the rally."

Teo Armus of the Washington Post: "With coronavirus infections rapidly spreading across the American South and West and more states making masks a requirement, dozens of sheriffs ... are staging a rebellion against state governments. An adherence to their interpretation of Constitution, they say, comes before any kind of public health advice." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. Mrs. McC: I have a comment on the sheriffs in yesterday's thread. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ha Ha Ha. Max Cohen of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Friday morning canceled his scheduled weekend trip to his private golf club in Bedminster, N.J. The trip had drawn criticism as Trump said he would not follow New Jersey guidelines and would ignore a mandatory 14-day quarantine for travelers coming from states with coronavirus spikes. Trump visited Arizona on Tuesday amid a rapid rise in cases there. White House spokesman Judd Deere had justified the decision by claiming 'the president of the United States is not a civilian.' New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy [D] told CNN that Trump did not have to follow the quarantine guidelines because he is considered an essential worker." Mrs. McC: Trump is neither "essential" nor a "worker." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Edward Moreno of the Hill: "President Trump said in a Twitter post Friday that he's staying in Washington, D.C., instead of going to his golf club in New Jersey over the weekend 'to make sure LAW & ORDER is enforced' in the nation's capital.... 'I was going to go to Bedminster, New Jersey, this weekend, but wanted to stay in Washington, D.C. to make sure LAW & ORDER is enforced,' he said in a tweet. 'The arsonists, anarchists, looters, and agitators have been largely stopped. I am doing what is necessary to keep our communities safe -- and these people will be brought to Justice!'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Right. We did not see Donald Trump Friday (as far as I know*). He did not show up for the coronavirus task force meeting. He did not star in a melodramatic public display of scrawling his name on an executive order "protecting monuments," (story linked below) the purpose of which was to energize his base. And he's not going to New Jersey because he has to stay in Washington, D.C., to protect the District from looters and anarchists. Translation: "I have Covid-19, and I'm not going to admit it." *As Shear & Haberman of the NYT report (linked above), Trump did meet with "industry leaders" & others Friday afternoon.

Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Trump said Friday [afternoon in a tweet] that he has signed a 'very strong' executive order aimed at protecting federal monuments and statues from vandalism amid the ongoing protests against racial inequality and police brutality.... The White House has not released details on the executive order."

Family Matters. Lachlan Cartwright & William Bredderman of the Daily Beast: "Lawyers acting on behalf of ... Donald Trump's brother, Robert -- who was in an intensive-care unit just days ago -- refiled for a temporary restraining order against ... [publication of a tell-all book by Mary Trump] in Dutchess County, New York. The new legal maneuver comes a day after a judge in Queens Surrogate Court tossed an attempt by Robert Trump's celebrity attorney, Charles Harder, to stop explosive family secrets being printed, citing 'several improprieties' in the filing that rendered it 'fatally defective.'"

** Charlie Savage, et al., of the New York Times: "American intelligence officials have concluded that a Russian military intelligence unit secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing coalition forces in Afghanistan -- including targeting American troops -- amid the peace talks to end the long-running war there, according to officials briefed on the matter. The United States concluded months ago that the Russian unit, which has been linked to assassination attempts and other covert operations in Europe intended to destabilize the West or take revenge on turncoats, had covertly offered rewards for successful attacks last year. Islamist militants, or armed criminal elements closely associated with them, are believed to have collected some bounty money, the officials said.... The intelligence finding was briefed to President Trump, and the White House's National Security Council discussed the problem at an interagency meeting in late March, the officials said.... The White House has yet to authorize any step, the officials said." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: As the NYT reporters remind us, Trump has already taken Putin's side against U.S. intelligence agencies' conclusions. In addition, Trump has invited Putin back into the G-7(8) & has removed troops from Germany as a favor to Russia. And just this week, Trump said Congressional Democrats were "far more unreasonable and actually they're a little crazy," when compared to Putin & other dictators like Kim Jun-un. He said this, of course, knowing that Russia had put bounties on U.S. soldiers in acts of war. There's a reason that Trump accused Barack Obama of treason this week: it's called "projection." Trump is notorious for accusing his rivals of crimes & misdemeanors of which he knows he himself is guilty. ~~~

     ~~~ Bob Brigham of Raw Story has a brief summary of the NYT report & tweeted commentary. Dan Nexon of LG&$ has more of the text of the NYT report here. Mrs. McC: Nexon calls the Russia-financed attacks "one-sided Cold War." Sounds like a hot war to me.

     ~~~ Adam Silverman of Balloon Juice: Russia has "been waging a form of low intensity, irregular, and unconventional war against the US and our partners and allies in Afghanistan.... Until Putin faces some real consequences for his actions and those of his subordinates who are successfully freelancing, he will continue to wage his 21st century form of war against the US, our allies, and our partners. The longer we wait to provide him with real consequences, the more likely it becomes that when we do, we will have limited ourselves to options that are very, very costly."

Dareh Gregorian of NBC News: "The Trump administration does not have the authority to use military funding to pay for construction of a border wall, a federal appeals court panel ruled on Friday. In a 2-1 ruling, a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel found that diverting $2.5 billion Congress had appropriated for the military violated the Constitution and is unlawful. The executive branch 'lacked independent constitutional authority to authorize the transfer of funds,' the ruling said. 'These funds were appropriated for other purposes, and the transfer amounted to "drawing funds from the Treasury without authorization by statute and thus violating the Appropriations Clause." Therefore, the transfer of funds here was unlawful."' The decision upheld a ruling by a federal judge in California who last year found that the Trump administration's funding scheme was against the law. A coalition of states led by California had filed suit to block the move." The dissenting judge was a Trump nominee. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Here's what I don't get. Trump went to Arizona this week to stand in front of his wall & boast about how much of it he's built. If the money for the build is coming from funds unlawfully diverted from other sources, how is Trump to pay it back? From his office supply fund? Or what? BTW, as Trump refuses to wear masks because they're so cumbersome & unnecessary, he was happy to go stand out in 109-degree heat wearing a conventional suit & tie. What's the greater burden? A mask or a suit in temps hot enough to fry the fat off his ample bacon?

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A federal judge has ordered Roger Stone to report to prison July 14, granting him a two-week delay because of the coronavirus pandemic, but not the two months that President Trump's confidant had requested with prosecutors' assent.... 'This affords the defendant seventy-five days beyond his original report date,' [Judge Amy Berman] Jackson said in the notice, pointing out that she had originally ordered Stone to surrender to prison within two weeks after she denied his motion for a new trial in mid-April. Jackson also allowed Stone to remain under home confinement until July 14, in accordance with Justice Department policy and 'the strong medical recommendation submitted' by Stone's defense. Jackson's notice indicated that the delay would allow Stone time to quarantine himself so as not to take the novel coronavirus from his home in South Florida to the prison." A Politico story is here.

Brandi Buchman of Courthouse News Service: "Once an informal adviser to President Donald Trump and later a witness for the Mueller probe, George Nader was sentenced to 10 years in prison Friday for possession of child pornography and transporting a minor into the United States for sex.... Nader pleaded guilty in March,less than a year after federal prosecutors charged him over graphic images found on multiple devices belonging to Nader, including videos of toddler-age boys engaging in sex acts with young goats and other farm animals.... Nader awaits sentencing for separate federal charges in Washington related to his coordination of illegal foreign contributions to President Trump's inaugural fund as well as Hil[l]ary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign." --s A Washington Post story is here.

Theodoric Meyer of Politico: "The Justice Department is prosecuting the legendary lobbyist Jack Abramoff on felony conspiracy charges. Again. More than 14 years after he pleaded guilty in the biggest Washington lobbying scandal in a generation, Abramoff has agreed to enter guilty pleas on charges of conspiracy and failing to register as a lobbyist for his role in two separate schemes, according to the Justice Department.... An undercover FBI agent separately later hired Abramoff to lobby ... a member of Congress but [he] didn't register to do so.... [Abramoff] served three and a half years after pleading guilty in 2006 to felony counts of conspiracy, fraud and tax evasion as part of a wide-ranging lobbying scandal.... Abramoff's prosecution is a watershed moment in the enforcement of federal lobbying law: It appears to be the first time the Justice Department has filed criminal charges under the Lobbying Disclosure Act, which requires lobbyists representing domestic clients to register with Congress but is thought to be widely flouted." Emphasis added. ~~~

~~~ As Rachel Maddow pointed out Friday night, Congress passed the Lobbying Disclosure Act specifically in response to the original Abramoff scandal. Jack has been hoist on his own petard.

Haley Byrd of CNN: "House Democrats approved a bill to admit Washington, DC, as a state on Friday, marking the first time either chamber of Congress has advanced a DC statehood measure. The bill, introduced by DC's nonvoting House member, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, would shrink the federal capital to a small area encompassing the White House, Capitol building, Supreme Court, and other federal buildings along the National Mall. The rest of the city would become the 51st state, named the Washington, Douglass Commonwealth after abolitionist Frederick Douglass. The bill passed with a vote of 232-180. Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota was the only Democrat to join Republicans in voting against it. Independent Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan also voted no.... Democrats in recent weeks have argued the necessity for statehood has never been clearer, after the Trump administration mobilized federal law enforcement to respond to protests about systemic racism in policing.... Proponents of making DC a state also point to the area's large population, which surpasses the populations of Wyoming and Vermont." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Some Democrats also have noted that D.C. residents, in the aggregate, pay more in federal taxes than do residents of many other states. And of course, as the District's license plates declare, residents are subject to "Taxation without Representation." The bill will never even come up for a vote in Mitch McConnell's Senate, and Trump has promised to veto it, if it did. ~~~

~~~ Oh, Them Darkies. Tim Murphy of Mother Jones: "Opponents of DC statehood have, quite often over the years, rolled out a set of by-the-book arguments to make the case for why the federal district ought to remain as it is. They suggest a constitutional amendment is needed to change its status, for instance, or that the Founders wanted the city to be its own thing. But on Thursday, Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton cut through the euphemism and simply laid out the nature of his opposition directly. Cotton hit some of the familiar notes.... The core of Cotton's argument, though, was about the people who live there.... He argued that its economy and political leanings disqualified it from full representation. Its citizens, he suggested, were incapable of governing themselves responsibly and, in any case, did not deserve a voice in Congress because they hold jobs he considered illegitimate.... It was a startlingly blunt assertion -- that Washingtonians should be entitled to fewer rights because they are simply the wrong kind of people." Read on. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This is to say that Cotton-Pickin' Tom used the Senate floor (where, BTW, he is protected by the Constitution's Speech or Debate clause) to announce that he is a white supremacist. At least he did so without wearing his hood.

Elections 2020

"TikTok Grandma" Mary Jo Laupp Joins Biden Coalition. Kellen Browning of the New York Times: Mary Jo Laupp, who made "a TikTok video she had made urging people to reserve tickets to President Trump's June 20 rally in Tulsa, Okla. — and then not show up -- ... has been recruited by the Biden Digital Coalition, a grass-roots organization, to put her TikTok skills to work supporting the presidential campaign of Joseph R. Biden Jr. The coalition, made up of about 100 people -- many of whom are alumni of other Democratic presidential campaigns -- works to amplify pro-Biden messages and build engagement on social media. While it is not part of Mr. Biden's campaign, it is in contact with Biden staff members."

Aamer Madhani & Jonathan Lemire of the AP: "... Donald Trump is sharpening his focus on his most ardent base of supporters as concern grows inside his campaign that his standing in the battleground states that will decide the 2020 election is slipping. Trump turned his attention this week to 'left wing mobs' toppling Confederate monuments and visited the nation's southern border to spotlight progress on his 2016 campaign promise to build a U.S.-Mexico border wall. He ignored public health experts warning Americans to avoid large gatherings by holding two large campaign events in Oklahoma and Arizona, parts of the country where coronavirus infections are surging. With his rhetorical turn, Trump is feeding red meat issues to a base that helped spur his upset victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016. But he risks appearing to ignore larger issues that are jolting the country, like the pandemic and racial injustice, while underplaying economic issues, even though polling shows that to be an area where Trump performs relatively well." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court said on Friday that it would not require Texas to let all eligible voters vote by mail. The Texas Democratic Party and several voters had urged the court to reinstate a federal trial judge's injunction requiring state officials to allow all voters, and not just those who are 65 or older, to submit their ballots by mail. They relied on the 26th Amendment, which lowered the voting age to 18 and said the right to vote 'shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of age.' The court's brief order gave no reasons, which is typical when the justices rule on emergency applications, and there were no noted dissents. Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a statement saying that the question in the case raised 'weighty but seemingly novel questions regarding the 26th Amendment.' But she said the court was right not to address those questions in the context of an emergency application. 'I hope,' she wrote, 'that the court of appeals will consider the merits of the legal issues in this case well in advance of the November election.'" A Law & Crime story is here.

Common Dreams via RawStory: "After 10 months, the Federal Elections Commission in May regained a quorum with the confirmation of Republican appointee Trey Trainor -- and promptly lost it just over five weeks later on Friday when commissioner Caroline Hunter resigned to join the Koch-funded group Stand Together, leaving the regulatory body again essentially powerless as the November general election draws closer.... The White House announced in response to Hunter's departure that President Donald Trump will appoint Allen Dickerson, legal director at the Institute for Free Speech, a right-wing think tank devoted to removing barriers to unlimited campaign spending by outside groups and dark money organizations." --s

Lorenzo Franceschi-Biccierai of Vice News: "A data broker that tracked Black Lives Matter protesters also tracked the locations of Evangelical Christians on election day 2016 using their cell phones and used that data to help push get-out-the-vote messaging, according to the company's own CEO. Mobilewalla, a data broker headquartered in New York City, purchases and collects location and other personal data about cellphone users, and then sells it to companies for marketing purposes. On Thursday, BuzzFeed News reported that Mobilewalla had tracked the almost 17,000 protesters who went to the streets to join Black Lives Matter demonstrations in the last month. In 2017, the company's CEO Anindya Datta revealed another controversial project. During an overlooked podcast interview, Datta said Mobilewalla 'played a key role in the U.S. presidential election' in 2016. 'We were a very key data arm for one of the major parties,' Datta said, refusing to specify which one of the two parties." --s

Marie Fazio of the New York Times: "A Mississippi man was charged in connection with a phone call threatening to kill a United States representative and his staffers, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday. The man, Newton Wade Townsend, 52, of Brandon, Miss., was charged on Tuesday with threatening a public official. Court records, which only identify the congressman by the initials B.T., said that the threat was made on June 1. Congressman Bennie Thompson, a Democrat, said that he received a threat from Mr. Townsend on his office phone, and that the Capitol Police investigated the matter.... Mr. Thompson is the only black legislator, and the only Democrat, representing Mississippi in Congress." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Barbara Ortutay of the AP: "Facebook said Friday that it will flag all 'newsworthy' posts from politicians that break its rules, including those from ... Donald Trump. Separately, Facebook's stock dropped more than 8%, erasing roughly $50 billion from its market valuation, after the European company behind brands such as Ben & Jerry's and Dove announced it would boycott Facebook ads through the end of the year over the amount of hate speech and divisive rhetoric on its platform. Later in the day, Coca-Cola also announced it joined the boycott for at least 30 days. CEO Mark Zuckerberg had previously refused to take action against Trump posts suggesting that mail-in ballots will lead to voter fraud, saying that people deserved to hear unfiltered statements from political leaders. Twitter, by contrast, slapped a 'get the facts' label on them.... Zuckerberg said the social network is taking additional steps to counter election-related misinformation. In particular, the social network will begin adding new labels to all posts about voting that will direct users to authoritative information from state and local election officials." ~~~

~~~ But Not Climate Change! Judd Legum of Popular Information: "Last year, Facebook partnered with an organization, Science Feedback, that would bring in teams of Ph.D. climate scientists to evaluate the accuracy of viral content.... But now Facebook has reportedly decided to allow its staffers to overrule the climate scientists and make any climate disinformation ineligible for fact-checking by deeming it 'opinion.' The organization that requested the change, the CO2 Coalition..., has close ties to the fossil fuel industry, says its views on climate change are increasingly ignored by the mainstream media. Now it plans to use Facebook to aggressively push climate misinformation on the public -- without having to worry about fact checks from climate scientists." --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Facebook's position is nonsensical. If climate science is opinion, then so is everything, including my opinion that it don't rain in Indianapolis in the summertime.

Beyond the Beltway

Alabama. Carol Robinson of al.com: "The last surviving Ku Klux Klan member convicted in the 1963 bombing of the Sixteenth Baptist Church in Birmingham that killed four little girls has died. Thomas E. Blanton, 82, died of natural causes Friday morning at William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility in Jefferson County. He was found at 5 a.m. having cardiac issues and taken to the infirmary at Donaldson. He went into full arrest and was pronounced dead at 6:10 a.m., according to Jefferson County Chief Deputy Coroner Bill Yates. An autopsy performed found no evidence of trauma or foul play...."

The Commentariat -- June 26, 2020

Afternoon Update:

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Friday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Friday are here.

Alana Wise of NPR: "The White House Coronavirus Task Force renewed calls for vigilance on Friday, acknowledging rising cases across Southern states and in parts of California....Vice President Pence insisted 'this moment is different' than what the United States was grappling with two months ago, noting that the percentage of people requiring hospitalization from the virus was considerably lower than it was early on during the pandemic and the number of fatalities are declining. 'We're in a much better place,' Pence said. But he urged young people to take precautions to avoid spreading the disease to more vulnerable people. The group's first briefing in weeks [was.] held at the Department of Health and Human Services rather than at the White House...." Mrs. McC: Not clear from this report if any medical experts were invited to speak or if it was all political people; I'll try to find out more later.

Teo Armus of the Washington Post: "With coronavirus infections rapidly spreading across the American South and West and more states making masks a requirement, dozens of sheriffs ... are staging a rebellion against state governments. An adherence to their interpretation of Constitution, they say, comes before any kind of public health advice." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. Mrs. McC: I have a comment on the sheriffs in today's thread.

Caitlin Oprysko & Quint Forgey of Politico: "A pair of GOP governors on Friday moved to impose new mitigation measures in their states amid record numbers of new coronavirus infections, with both Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ordering bars closed and Texas placing new restrictions on other businesses the governor said were linked to the virus's resurgence. Texas and Florida are among around a dozen other states that have hit the brakes on reopening their economies amid a resurgence of the virus across the South and West affecting more than half of the states in the country. That both governors -- who are close allies of ... Donald Trump and were criticized for resisting calls to lock down their states in the pandemic's early days -- have not only pressed pause on reopening but reimposed some restrictions, speaks to the severity of the outbreaks in two of the most populous states in the country."

Ha Ha Ha. Max Cohen of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Friday morning canceled his scheduled weekend trip to his private golf club in Bedminster, N.J. The trip had drawn criticism as Trump said he would not follow New Jersey guidelines and would ignore a mandatory 14-day quarantine for travelers coming from states with coronavirus spikes. Trump visited Arizona on Tuesday amid a rapid rise in cases there. White House spokesman Judd Deere had justified the decision by claiming 'the president of the United States is not a civilian.' New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy [D] told CNN that Trump did not have to follow the quarantine guidelines because he is considered an essential worker." Mrs. McC: Trump is neither "essential" nor a "worker."

... Aamer Madhani & Jonathan Lemire of the AP: "... Donald Trump a href="https://apnews.com/cb405a4a771fad613e6e29d69a237052" target="_blank">is sharpening his focus on his most ardent base of supporters as concern grows inside his campaign that his standing in the battleground states that will decide the 2020 election is slipping. Trump turned his attention this week to 'left wing mobs' toppling Confederate monuments and visited the nation's southern border to spotlight progress on his 2016 campaign promise to build a U.S.-Mexico border wall. He ignored public health experts warning Americans to avoid large gatherings by holding two large campaign events in Oklahoma and Arizona, parts of the country where coronavirus infections are surging. With his rhetorical turn, Trump is feeding red meat issues to a base that helped spur his upset victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016. But he risks appearing to ignore larger issues that are jolting the country, like the pandemic and racial injustice, while underplaying economic issues, even though polling shows that to be an area where Trump performs relatively well."

Marie Fazio of the New York Times: "A Mississippi man was charged in connection with a phone call threatening to kill a United States representative and his staffers, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday. The man, Newton Wade Townsend, 52, of Brandon, Miss., was charged on Tuesday with threatening a public official. Court records, which only identify the congressman by the initials B.T., said that the threat was made on June 1. Congressman Bennie Thompson, a Democrat, said that he received a threat from Mr. Townsend on his office phone, and that the Capitol Police investigated the matter.... Mr. Thompson is the only black legislator, and the only Democrat, representing Mississippi in Congress."

~~~~~~~~~~

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates for coronavirus developments Thursday are here. "The United States on Thursday reported more than 41,000 new coronavirus cases, a record total for the second straight day, as a nationwide sense of urgency grew and caseloads soared in Southern and Western states that were far removed from the worst early outbreaks. In an apparent sign of that urgency, the White House said that its coronavirus task force planned to reconvene on Friday for its first briefing in nearly two months. Thursday's grim record came as at least four states -- Alabama, Alaska, Montana and Utah -- reported their largest daily totals. Emphasis added. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Thursday are here. The 38,173 new infections reported by state health departments Wednesday underscored the changing geography of the U.S. outbreak. The bulk of the cases were posted in Texas, Florida and California, while Oklahoma also set a new statewide record in infections." (Also linked yesterday.)

CDC: 23 Million Americans Have Contracted Coronavirus. Lena Sun & Joel Achenbach of the Washington Post: “The number of Americans who have been infected with the novel coronavirus is likely 10 times higher than the 2.3 million confirmed cases, according to the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 'Our best estimate right now is that for every case that's reported, there actually are 10 other infections,' CDC Director Robert Redfield said Thursday on a call with reporters. Using that methodology pushes the tally of U.S. cases to at least 23 million. Redfield said the larger estimate is based on blood samples collected from across the country that look for the presence of antibodies to the virus. For every confirmed case of covid-19, 10 more people had antibodies, he said.... The CDC also update its guidance Thursday to help people understand their risk for severe illness from covid-19...." A Hill report is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Paul Krugman: "What went wrong? The immediate answer is that many U.S. states ignored warnings from health experts and rushed to reopen their economies, and far too many people failed to follow basic precautions like wearing face masks and avoiding large groups.... I keep seeing statements to the effect that Americans were too impatient to stay the course, too unwilling to act responsibly. But this is deeply misleading, because it avoids confronting the essence of the problem. Americans didn't fail the Covid-19 test; Republicans did. After all, the Northeast, with its largely Democratic governors, has been appropriately cautious about reopening, and its numbers look like Europe's."

Sahil Kapur of NBC News: "The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to wipe out Obamacare, arguing that the individual mandate is unconstitutional and that the rest of the law must be struck down with it. The late-night brief, filed Thursday in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, carries major implications for the presidential election. If the justices agree, it would cost an estimated 20 million Americans their insurance coverage and nullify protections for pre-existing conditions.... For the roughly 25 million people out of work and collecting jobless benefits, the ACA's marketplaces and Medicaid expansion provide avenues to gain subsidized health insurance with consumer protections." ~~~

     ~~~ Tim Elfrink & Meagan Flynn of the Washington Post: "The filing came the same day that a government report showed nearly half a million Americans turned to the ACA in April and May amid covid-19′s economic devastation.... "... survivors [of the coronavirus], having struggled and won the fight of their lives, would have their peace of mind stolen away at the moment they need it most,' [Joe] Biden said. 'They would live their lives caught in a vise between Donald Trump's twin legacies: his failure to protect the American people from the coronavirus, and his heartless crusade to take health-care protections away from American families.'... 'President Trump and the Republicans' campaign to rip away the protections and benefits of the Affordable Care Act in the middle of the coronavirus crisis is an act of unfathomable cruelty,' [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi, who on Wednesday filed a bill to expand the ACA, said in a statement."

Sam Stein & Lachlan Markay of the Daily Beast: "Donald Trump's reelection campaign manager, Brad Parscale, is one of a group of campaign staffers in quasi-quarantine after he attended a rally in Oklahoma last weekend where eight campaign aides tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh announced on a conference call Thursday that, 'as a precaution,' staff who made the trip to Tulsa were 'working remotely' and would be tested for COVID before returning to work.... Parscale returned to his home in Florida after the rally in Tulsa, and Murtaugh told The Daily Beast that he flew commercial." Mrs. McC: Too bad, fellow travelers & crew. You breathed Brad's air. And of course the same could be said for those unknowingly traveling with all the other Trump campaign staff who decamped from Tulsa to their homes hither & yon. Donald Trump may make you sick.

Wherein Trump Once Again Demonstrates He Doesn't Know What "Sarcasm" Is. Jordan Muller of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Thursday said he had 'sarcastically' claimed that a decrease in coronavirus testing would lower U.S. infection rates, adding a new twist to the weeklong scramble by the White House to clarify the president's comments on virus testing. 'Sometimes I jokingly say, or sarcastically say, if we didn't do tests we would look great,' Trump said in an interview and Fox News town hall with Sean Hannity. 'But you know what? It's not the right thing to do.' The president's comments come nearly a week after he claimed at a campaign rally in Tulsa, Okla., that he'd ordered a slowdown in coronavirus testing. Trump on Tuesday insisted he was serious in slowing down testing, even after senior White House officials said the president made the comment in jest. 'I don't kid,' Trump said when pressed by reporters on Tuesday. 'Let me make it clear.' The president's comments at the Tulsa rally sparked days of jockeying by officials and White House aides to defend the president's statements." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: What you have here is one of those rare brief moments when a campaign advisor was able to persuade Trump to try to say something reasonable & responsible. But it won't be long before the real Donald Trump gets back to whining about testing without caveats.

Accentuate the Positive, Eliminate the Negative. Amber Phillips of the Washington Post: "Key members of the Trump administration, including the president and vice president, are holding up data [on the coronavirus] in a way that allows them to publicly argue it's not all that bad. Other Republicans are threading hopeful news with more realistic assessments and cautions. We saw that Wednesday after Vice President Pence's lunch with Republican senators.... Here's what Pence and Republicans who talked to reporters said after his lunch on Capitol Hill about the coronavirus. 1. Infections are rising, Pence told senators, but the mortality rate is not.... 2. Only 12 states are experiencing increased cases.... 3. 'I think compared to where we were, we're in a much better situation, but everybody knows it's very fragile and we've got to stay after it,' Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) told reporters.... 4. Increased testing is what's increasing the number of coronavirus infections.... 5. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) urged taking precautions for the virus, and cited potentially encouraging stats alongside his warnings."

Arizona. Jeremy Duda, et al., of the Washington Post: "Arizona is facing more per capita cases than recorded by any country in Europe or even by hard-hit Brazil.... Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, is recording as many as 2,000 cases a day, 'eclipsing the New York City boroughs even on their worst days,' warned a Wednesday brief by disease trackers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, which observed, 'Arizona has lost control of the epidemic.'... Physicians, public health experts, advocates and local officials say the crisis was predictable in Arizona, where local ordinances requiring masks were verboten until Gov. Doug Ducey (R) reversed course last week. State leaders did not take the necessary precautions or model safe behavior, these observers maintain, even in the face of compelling evidence and repeated pleas from authoritative voices.... At critical junctures, blunders by top officials undermined faith in the data purportedly driving decision-making.... And ... as the state began to reopen despite continued community transmission, an abrupt and uniform approach -- without transparent benchmarks or latitude for stricken areas to hold back -- led large parts of the public to believe the pandemic was over." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: And that's why Donald Trump went to Phoenix this week & spoke -- sans mask, of course -- at a megachurch packed with non-masked young people.

Texas, et al. Manny Fernandez & Sarah Mervosh of the New York Times: "Just 55 days after reopening Texas restaurants and other businesses, Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday hit the pause button, stopping additional phases of the state's reopening as new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations soared and as the governor struggled to pull off the seemingly impossible task of keeping both the state open and the virus under control. The announcement by Mr. Abbott -- which allows the many shopping malls, restaurants, bars, gyms and other businesses already open to continue operating -- was an abrupt turnaround and came as a growing number of states paused reopenings amid rising case counts. The latest developments call into question any suggestion that the worst of the pandemic has passed in the United States, as rising outbreaks in the South and the West threaten to upend months of social distancing meant to help keep the virus at bay."

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Hannity Kills. No, Really. Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post: "In recent weeks, three studies have focused on conservative media's role in fostering confusion about the seriousness of the coronavirus. Taken together, they paint a picture of a media ecosystem that amplifies misinformation, entertains conspiracy theories and discourages audiences from taking concrete steps to protect themselves and others. The end result, according to one of the studies, is that infection and mortality rates are higher in places where one pundit who initially downplayed the severity of the pandemic -- Fox News' Sean Hannity -- reaches the largest audiences.... [An Annenberg/U. of Illinois peer-reviewed study] found that people who got most of their information from mainstream print and broadcast outlets tended to have an accurate assessment of the severity of the pandemic and their risks of infection. But those who relied on conservative sources, such as Fox News and Rush Limbaugh, were more likely to believe in conspiracy theories or unfounded rumors, such as the belief that taking vitamin C could prevent infection, that the Chinese government had created the virus, and that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was exaggerating the pandemic's threat 'to damage the Trump presidency.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Nelson Schwartz of the New York Times: "Nearly 1.5 million workers filed new claims for state unemployment insurance last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday, the 14th week in a row that the figure has topped one million. An additional 728,000 filed for benefits from Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a federally funded emergency program aimed at covering the self-employed, independent contractors and other workers who don't qualify for traditional unemployment insurance." (Also linked yesterday.)

** Paying the Dead. Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "The federal government sent coronavirus stimulus payments to almost 1.1 million dead people totaling nearly $1.4 billion, Congress' independent watchdog reported Thursday.... The U.S. Government Accountability Office, an independent investigative agency that reports to Congress, issued the finding as part of a comprehensive report on the nearly $3 trillion in coronavirus relief spending approved by Congress in March and April. It said it had received the information from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration in an accounting as of April 30." An NBC News story is here. Thanks to Ken W. for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)

Mrs. McCrabbie: Joe Scarborough, of all people, made a fine little speech on his show this morning: "Donald Trump has been busy this week. He praised 'stop and frisk' during national protests over police brutality. He filed a brief in support of killing the Affordable Care Act, including the provision that allows Americans to obtain insurance for pre-existing conditions during a pandemic [stories linked below]. And he said 'crazy' Democrats were harder to deal with than autocratic leaders, like those of North Korea, Russia & China." Paraphrase.

Family Matters. Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A revealing book set to be published next month by Mary Trump, niece of ... Donald Trump, moved closer to publication on Thursday after a probate court judge in New York turned down a bid to block release of the unflattering account. President Trump's brother Robert asked for a restraining order against publication, citing a nondisclosure agreement contained in a settlement involving the estate of their father Fred, who died in 1999.... Judge Peter Kelly of Queens County Surrogate Court said his court was not the proper venue for the dispute over the book, which he found to be far afield from matters involving the distribution of Fred Trump's estate. Kelly dismissed the legal application, calling it 'fatally defective.'... The lawyer who filed the application, Charles Harder, said he would take the request to another New York court." (Also linked yesterday.) A New York Times story is here. ~~~

~~~ Michael Kranish of the Washington Post, who has not been able to either read the book or interview Mary Trump, still manages to write an interesting background piece. "A description of the book from publisher Simon & Schuster suggests it will draw heavily on her studies of family dysfunction, with Mary using her clinical background to dissect 'a nightmare of traumas, destructive relationships and a tragic combination of neglect and abuse,' including 'the strange and harmful relationship between' her late father and Donald Trump."

** Barr, a Corrupt Toady from the Git-go. Benjamin Weiser, et al., of the New York Times: "Shortly after he became attorney general last year, William P. Barr set out to challenge a signature criminal case that touched President Trump's inner circle directly, and even the president's own actions: the prosecution of Michael D. Cohen, Mr. Trump's longtime fixer.... At one point during the discussions, Mr. Barr instructed Justice Department officials in Washington to draft a memo outlining legal arguments that could have raised questions about Mr. Cohen's conviction and undercut similar prosecutions in the future.... Mr. Cohen was convicted and sentenced in December 2018, before Mr. Barr was sworn in, so there was little he could do to change the outcome of the case.... The debate between Mr. Barr and the federal prosecutors who brought the case against Mr. Cohen was one of the first signs of a tense relationship that culminated last weekend in the abrupt ouster of Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States attorney in Manhattan. It also foreshadowed Mr. Barr's intervention in the prosecutions of other associates of Mr. Trump.... More than any other federal prosecutor's office, the Manhattan office had pursued investigations that angered Mr. Trump.... After Mr. Barr was sworn in, one of his first actions was to seek briefings on politically sensitive investigations in the office and elsewhere, people briefed on the discussions said." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: As Lawrence O'Donnell pointed out, at noon on January 20, 2021, it's likely Donald Trump, a/k/a Individual 1, will make himself available for indictment for the same charges for which Michael Cohen went to jail.

~~~ That Would Be a "No." Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "President Trump's nominee to take over the Manhattan federal prosecutors office after the abrupt dismissal of U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman refused on Thursday to say whether he would recuse himself from pending investigations involving Trump's interests and associates if confirmed for the post. Appearing before a House Financial Services subcommittee, Securities and Exchange Committee Chairman Jay Clayton sought to deflect Democrats' questions about his selection for the job and the circumstances under which Berman was removed over the weekend, characterizing the Senate confirmation process as 'way down the road.' But when pressed by Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.) to 'commit, right here, to recusing yourself' from matters in which the president has a personal stake, Clayton demurred." Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Trumped-up Charges: Trump Creates a Pentagon Crisis. Helene Cooper & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "The Pentagon is facing a hemorrhage of talent as senior officials resign amid continued efforts by the White House to purge those perceived as political foes, including the Army lieutenant colonel [Alexander Vindman] who testified in the House impeachment hearings. The challenge of managing White House pressures and concerns about morale inside the Pentagon confronts Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper, who is already in a precarious position with President Trump. The White House had made clear [to Pentagon officials] ... that Mr. Trump did not want to see Colonel Vindman promoted, the officials said. In fact, when they saw an earlier draft version of the list two weeks ago, National Security Council staff members even told their Defense Department counterparts they had evidence of misconduct by Colonel Vindman. No such evidence materialized.... The Army kept [Vindman's] name on the list, and sent it back to Mr. Esper, putting the defense secretary exactly where he did not want to be: in the cross hairs of the commander in chief." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Politicizing the Pentagon. Missy Ryan, et al., of the Washington Post: "The White House is intensifying an effort to hire Pentagon personnel with an undisputed allegiance to President Trump at a moment when his relationship with Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper has become strained, current and former officials said. The changes in mid-level leadership are poised to create a more avowedly political Defense Department and could erode the influence of Esper, who spoke out against Trump's proposed deployment of active-duty troops to quell unrest in U.S. cities after the killing of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ It isn't only the Pentagon: ~~~

~~~ Nathaniel Weixel of the Hill: "A whistleblower says the Trump administration continues to retaliate against him, stating in an updated complaint on Thursday that top officials are actively trying to discredit him and prevent him from being successful in a new role. Rick Bright, who led the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) until he was demoted in late April, said in an amended complaint he has been 'deliberately impeded' in his role at the National Institutes of Health, which 'does not remotely utilize his expertise or experience.' According to the updated complaint, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar told HHS employees to refrain from doing anything that would help Bright be successful in his new role, and HHS employees were warned that Azar was 'on the warpath' in response to Bright's allegations."

Dahlia Lithwick of Slate writes of John Bolton's "original sin," which she characterizes as nihilism. "The maddening thing about Bolton’s book is his definition of the 'axis of adults' who ostensibly populate this mythical room where it happened. It now seems that they are sufficiently adult to profit off that service but not grown up enough to safeguard a desperately faltering democracy." Mrs. McC: It's fair to say that the entire Republican party -- and what they call "conservatism" -- is nihilistic. Their only purpose is to gain & maintain the power to do nothing.

Mihir Zaveri of the New York Times: New York City "Mayor Bill de Blasio has ignited a new feud with President Trump by ordering the words 'Black Lives Matter' to be painted in large yellow letters on the street outside of Trump Tower. The words are expected to be painted in the coming week on Fifth Avenue, between 56th and 57th Streets, according to the city.... In a tweet in response, Mr. Trump referenced Mr. de Blasio's plan to paint 'the fabled & beautiful Fifth Avenue, right in front of Trump Tower/Tiffany' and sought to play up animosity between the Black Lives Matter movement and the police in New York City. Mr. Trump falsely said in the tweet that Black Lives Matter protesters in the city had shouted chants encouraging the killing of police officers.... Mr. Trump, who has a history of denigrating black people, said in another tweet on Thursday that a leader of Black Lives Matter in the New York area had committed treason in statements he made about burning down 'the system' if meaningful change did not materialize." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: It's notable that Trump thinks it's horrible to remind wealthy Tiffany shoppers that black lives matter. The suggestion is that Tiffany's is reserved for white people who are disgusted by the very notion that black lives matter. This is fundamentally sicko. ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE. Felicia Sonmez, et al., of the Washington Post: "The House on Thursday passed an expansive Democratic-led measure that would revamp law enforcement practices following the public clamor for change after the death of George Floyd. The largely party-line vote of 236 to 181 epitomized the polarized debate in recent weeks, despite public polling showing broad support for some restrictions on law enforcement after the high-profile deaths of Floyd and other African Americans at the hands of police. With the Trump administration threatening a veto, most House Republicans lined up against the Democratic proposal and instead indicated support for a narrower proposal offered by Senate Republicans. Only three Republicans -- Reps. Will Hurd (Tex.), the lone black GOP House member; Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), and Fred Upton (Mich.) -- broke ranks and joined Democrats in backing the House bill."

Dan Lamothe & Souad Mekhennet of the Washington Post: "As Ohio National Guard soldiers were dispatched to help quell unrest in Washington, D.C., one was keeping a secret from his commanders: He had frequently espoused neo-Nazi views among like-minded friends. Pfc. Shandon Simpson had participated in a white supremacist channel on the Telegram messaging app called RapeWaffen Division.... On Twitter, Simpson tried to recruit fascists to join him in a new group, used an image of Nazi Party leader Richard Walther Darré as his profile picture and marked the 75th anniversary of Adolf Hitler's death on April 30.... Simpson is one of several service members whose actions have come under scrutiny in recent months as the U.S. military grapples with white extremism in its ranks. The military has wrestled with the problem for decades, but the issue is receiving new attention amid a broader conversation about race and discrimination prompted in part by the death of George Floyd...."

Leah Asmelash of CNN: "NASA is renaming its headquarters [in Washington, D.C.,] after Mary W. Jackson, the agency's first African American female engineer who helped inspire the story behind the book and film 'Hidden Figures.'... Jackson began her career with NASA at the segregated West Area Computing Unit of the agency's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, NASA said. A mathematician and an aerospace engineer, Jackson led programs aimed at uplifting women within NASA. She retired from NASA in 1985 and passed away in 2005, at the age of 83." (Also linked yesterday.)

Arizona. Simon Romero, et al., of the New York Times: "It was another gruesome video of policing in America -- a naked Latino man, his face covered by a mesh spit guard, his hands cuffed behind him as he lay dying face down on the ground at his grandmother's house. He pleaded for water more than a dozen times, saying he could not breathe as police officers restrained his legs and torso. This time, the scene was [Tucson,] a southern Arizona city with a politically moderate image, a large Latino population and a Police Department said to be relatively progressive.... Still unanswered is why it took the police two months to release the video taken by officers' body cameras when Mr. Lopez's family had almost immediately asked to see it.... Three officers involved in Mr. Lopez's death resigned before the public release of the video, and Chris Magnus, Tucson's police chief, offered to resign. But [Mayor Regina] Romero said on Thursday that Chief Magnus should remain in the job...."

North Carolina. Tom Foreman, Jr., of the AP: "Three members of a North Carolina police department have been fired after a department audit of a video recording captured one of the officers saying a civil war was necessary to wipe Black people off the map and that he was ready. The Wilmington Police Department took the action on Tuesday against Cpl. Jessie Moore, and officers Kevin Piner and Brian Gilmore. Each was accused of violating standards of conduct, criticism and use of inappropriate jokes and slurs." (Also linked yesterday.)

Presidential Race

Nate Cohn of the New York Times: "President Trump has lost significant ground in the six battleground states that clinched his Electoral College victory in 2016, according to New York Times/Siena College surveys, with Joseph R. Biden Jr. opening double-digit leads in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Mr. Trump's once-commanding advantage among white voters has nearly vanished, a development that would all but preclude the president's re-election if it persisted. Mr. Biden now has a 21-point lead among white college graduates...." ~~~

~~~ Reality Chek. Geoffrey Skelley of 538: "... both Biden's average support and margin over Trump are historically large -- the largest of any contender since Bill Clinton in 1996.... But before you declare Biden the winner, remember his lead is not insurmountable.... At this point in the 1988 cycle, Michael Dukakis led nationally by almost 5 points.... So Trump still has plenty of time to recover enough ground to win in the Electoral College even if he loses the national popular vote -- after all, he did it in 2016."

Max Cohen of Politico: "... Former Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday ripped ... Donald Trump's response to the coronavirus pandemic and put forward his vision for expanding health care access by building on Obamacare. '[Trump's] like a child who can't believe this has happened to him -- all his whining and self-pity,' Biden said at a speech in Lancaster, Pa. 'Well, this pandemic didn't happen to him. It happened to all of us. And his job isn't to whine about it. His job is to do something about it, to lead.' During the speech in a recreation center gym, Biden called on the Trump administration to stop its ongoing lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act, warning that it could lead to millions of Americans losing coverage." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Thursday laced into President Trump, condemning him for saying he had ordered a slowdown of coronavirus testing and comparing the sitting president to a whiny child. 'He admitted telling people, and I quote, "You have to slow the testing down -- slow it down, please,"' said Mr. Biden.... 'He thinks that finding out that more Americans are sick will make him look bad. That's what he's worried about -- he's worried about looking bad.'... Mr. Biden called on Americans to wear masks in public to protect themselves and others. He began his remarks wearing what has become his signature black face mask, which hung from his left ear for the opening minutes of his speech. As he finished and walked off stage, Mr. Biden reattached the mask."

Jim Acosta, et al., of CNN: "... Donald Trump appears at one of the weakest points of his presidency, with few signs the mounting health and civic crises he currently faces will subside and a spate of national polls indicating if the election were held today, he would lose badly. Trump still enjoys the sizable advantages afforded an incumbent president and, particularly in his own era, five months can feel like several lifetimes. Yet people who have spoken to the President recently say he seems aimless as coronavirus cases surge and as a national racial reckoning reaches entities from NASCAR to Disney. Instead of engaging on those matters, Trump has retrenched into the very conduct many believe is the root of his current political predicament.... He has rejected public surveys showing him trailing former Vice President Joe Biden by double digits, claiming they are flawed attempts to suppress the vote.... He has shown almost no willingness to change course."

John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Carly Fiorina, the former chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard who sought the Republican presidential nomination four years ago, said in a new podcast that she plans to vote for Democrat Joe Biden in the fall. Fiorina said she continues to be a registered Republican but considers the election a 'binary choice' and has made clear she cannot support President Trump.... Fiorina has said she voted for Trump four years ago, despite disparaging comments he made about her looks. 'Look at that face!' Trump said to Rolling Stone. 'Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?'" A CNN story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court sided on Thursday with the Trump administration’s efforts to speed the deportation of asylum seekers, ruling that a law limiting the role of federal courts in reviewing those decisions was constitutional.... Thursday's decision ... barred immigrants whose asylum claims were rejected in bare-bones proceedings from filing petitions for habeas corpus.... Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., writing for the five more conservative justices in the 7-to-2 decision, said asylum claims threatened to overwhelm the immigration system." (Also linked yesterday.)

Ben Sisario of the New York Times: "The Dixie Chicks are now the Chicks. The platinum-selling country trio, which in 2003 became pariahs in Nashville for criticizing President George W. Bush on the eve of the American-led invasion of Iraq, has changed its name, apparently in tacit acknowledgment of criticism over its use of the word 'Dixie,' a nostalgic nickname for the Civil War-era South. The group made the change stealthily on Thursday, releasing a new video as the Chicks and adjusting its social media presence. Representatives for the band confirmed the new name. But the three women of the group -- Natalie Maines, Emily Strayer and Martie Maguire, who have been among the most outspoken figures in the conservative world of country music -- made little immediate comment. In a brief statement on its new website, the band states simply: 'We want to meet this moment.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

The Commentariat -- June 25, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

CDC: 23 Million Americans Have Contracted Coronavirus. Lena Sun & Joel Achenbach of the Washington Post: "The number of Americans who have been infected with the novel coronavirus is likely 10 times higher than the 2.3 million confirmed cases, according to the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 'Our best estimate right now is that for every case that's reported, there actually are 10 other infections,' CDC Director Robert Redfield said Thursday on a call with reporters. Using that methodology pushes the tally of U.S. cases to at least 23 million. Redfield said the larger estimate is based on blood samples collected from across the country that look for the presence of antibodies to the virus. For every confirmed case of covid-19, 10 more people had antibodies, he said.... The CDC also updated its guidance Thursday to help people understand their risk for severe illness from covid-19...." A Hill report is here.

Max Cohen of Politico: "... Former Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday ripped ... Donald Trump's response to the coronavirus pandemic and put forward his vision for expanding health care access by building on Obamacare. '[Trump's] like a child who can't believe this has happened to him -- all his whining and self-pity,' Biden said at a speech in Lancaster, Pa. 'Well, this pandemic didn't happen to him. It happened to all of us. And his job isn't to whine about it. His job is to do something about it, to lead.' During the speech in a recreation center gym, Biden called on the Trump administration to stop its ongoing lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act, warning that it could lead to millions of Americans losing coverage."

Trumped-up Charges: Trump Creates a Pentagon Crisis. Helene Cooper & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "The Pentagon is facing a hemorrhage of talent as senior officials resign amid continued efforts by the White House to purge those perceived as political foes, including the Army lieutenant colonel [Alexander Vindman] who testified in the House impeachment hearings. The challenge of managing White House pressures and concerns about morale inside the Pentagon confronts Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper, who is already in a precarious position with President Trump. The White House had made clear [to Pentagon officials] ... that Mr. Trump did not want to see Colonel Vindman promoted, the officials said. In fact, when they saw an earlier draft version of the list two weeks ago, National Security Council staff members even told their Defense Department counterparts they had evidence of misconduct by Colonel Vindman. No such evidence materialized.... The Army kept [Vindman's] name on the list, and sent it back to Mr. Esper, putting the defense secretary exactly where he did not want to be: in the cross hairs of the commander in chief." ~~~

~~~ Politicizing the Pentagon. Missy Ryan, et al., of the Washington Post: "The White House is intensifying an effort to hire Pentagon personnel with an undisputed allegiance to President Trump at a moment when his relationship with Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper has become strained, current and former officials said. The changes in mid-level leadership are poised to create a more avowedly political Defense Department and could erode the influence of Esper, who spoke out against Trump's proposed deployment of active-duty troops to quell unrest in U.S. cities after the killing of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police."

That Would Be a "No." Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "President Trump's nominee to take over the Manhattan federal prosecutors office after the abrupt dismissal of U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman refused on Thursday to say whether he would recuse himself from pending investigations involving Trump's interests and associates if confirmed for the post. Appearing before a House Financial Services subcommittee, Securities and Exchange Committee Chairman Jay Clayton sought to deflect Democrats' questions about his selection for the job and the circumstances under which Berman was removed over the weekend, characterizing the Senate confirmation process as 'way down the road.' But when pressed by Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.) to 'commit, right here, to recusing yourself' from matters in which the president has a personal stake, Clayton demurred." Politico's story is here.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court sided on Thursday with the Trump administration's efforts to speed the deportation of asylum seekers, ruling that a law limiting the role of federal courts in reviewing those decisions was constitutional.... Thursday's decision ... barred immigrants whose asylum claims were rejected in bare-bones proceedings from filing petitions for habeas corpus.... Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., writing for the five more conservative justices in the 7-to-2 decision, said asylum claims threatened to overwhelm the immigration system."

Family Matters. Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A revealing book set to be published next month by Mary Trump, niece of ... Donald Trump, moved closer to publication on Thursday after a probate court judge in New York turned down a bid to block release of the unflattering account. President Trump's brother Robert asked for a restraining order against publication, citing a nondisclosure agreement contained in a settlement involving the estate of their father Fred, who died in 1999.... Judge Peter Kelly of Queens County Surrogate Court said his court was not the proper venue for the dispute over the book, which he found to be far afield from matters involving the distribution of Fred Trump's estate. Kelly dismissed the legal application, calling it 'fatally defective.'... The lawyer who filed the application, Charles Harder, said he would take the request to another New York court."

Ben Sisario of the New York Times: "The Dixie Chicks are now the Chicks. The platinum-selling country trio, which in 2003 became pariahs in Nashville for criticizing President George W. Bush on the eve of the American-led invasion of Iraq, has changed its name, apparently in tacit acknowledgment of criticism over its use of the word 'Dixie,' a nostalgic nickname for the Civil War-era South. The group made the change stealthily on Thursday, releasing a new video as the Chicks and adjusting its social media presence. Representatives for the band confirmed the new name. But the three women of the group -- Natalie Maines, Emily Strayer and Martie Maguire, who have been among the most outspoken figures in the conservative world of country music -- made little immediate comment. In a brief statement on its new website, the band states simply: 'We want to meet this moment.'"

The New York Times' live updates for coronavirus developments Thursday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Thursday are here. "The 38,173 new infections reported by state health departments Wednesday underscored the changing geography of the U.S. outbreak. The bulk of the cases were posted in Texas, Florida and California, while Oklahoma also set a new statewide record in infections."

** Paying the Dead. Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "The federal government sent coronavirus stimulus payments to almost 1.1 million dead people totaling nearly $1.4 billion, Congress' independent watchdog reported Thursday.... The U.S. Government Accountability Office, an independent investigative agency that reports to Congress, issued the finding as part of a comprehensive report on the nearly $3 trillion in coronavirus relief spending approved by Congress in March and April. It said it had received the information from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration in an accounting as of April 30." An NBC News story is here. Thanks to Ken W. for the link.

Nelson Schwartz of the New York Times: "Nearly 1.5 million workers filed new claims for state unemployment insurance last week, the Labor Department reported Thursday, the 14th week in a row that the figure has topped one million. An additional 728,000 filed for benefits from Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, a federally funded emergency program aimed at covering the self-employed, independent contractors and other workers who don't qualify for traditional unemployment insurance."

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Hannity Kills. No, Really. Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post: "In recent weeks, three studies have focused on conservative media's role in fostering confusion about the seriousness of the coronavirus. Taken together, they paint a picture of a media ecosystem that amplifies misinformation, entertains conspiracy theories and discourages audiences from taking concrete steps to protect themselves and others. The end result, according to one of the studies, is that infection and mortality rates are higher in places where one pundit who initially downplayed the severity of the pandemic -- Fox News' Sean Hannity -- reaches the largest audiences.... [An Annenberg/U. of Illinois peer-reviewed study] found that people who got most of their information from mainstream print and broadcast outlets tended to have an accurate assessment of the severity of the pandemic and their risks of infection. But those who relied on conservative sources, such as Fox News and Rush Limbaugh, were more likely to believe in conspiracy theories or unfounded rumors, such as the belief that taking vitamin C could prevent infection, that the Chinese government had created the virus, and that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was exaggerating the pandemic's threat 'to damage the Trump presidency.'"

Leah Asmelash of CNN: "NASA is renaming its headquarters [in Washington, D.C.,] after Mary W. Jackson, the agency's first African American female engineer who helped inspire the story behind the book and film 'Hidden Figures.'... Jackson began her career with NASA at the segregated West Area Computing Unit of the agency's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, NASA said. A mathematician and an aerospace engineer, Jackson led programs aimed at uplifting women within NASA. She retired from NASA in 1985 and passed away in 2005, at the age of 83."

Tom Foreman, Jr., of the AP: "Three members of a North Carolina police department have been fired after a department audit of a video recording captured one of the officers saying a civil war was necessary to wipe Black people off the map and that he was ready. The Wilmington Police Department took the action on Tuesday against Cpl. Jessie Moore, and officers Kevin Piner and Brian Gilmore. Each was accused of violating standards of conduct, criticism and use of inappropriate jokes and slurs."

John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Carly Fiorina, the former chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard who sought the Republican presidential nomination four years ago, said in a new podcast that she plans to vote for Democrat Joe Biden in the fall. Fiorina said she continues to be a registered Republican but considers the election a 'binary choice' and has made clear she cannot support President Trump.... Fiorina has said she voted for Trump four years ago, despite disparaging comments he made about her looks. 'Look at that face!' Trump said to Rolling Stone. 'Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?'" A CNN story is here.

~~~~~~~~~~

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates for coronavirus developments Wednesday are here. "More than 35,000 new coronavirus cases were identified across the United States on Tuesday, according to a New York Times database, the highest single-day total since late April and the third-highest total of any day of the pandemic. As the United States continues to reopen its economy, case numbers are rising in more than 20 states, mostly in the South and West. Florida on Wednesday reported a new daily high of 5,508 cases. Texas reported more than 5,000 cases on Tuesday, its largest single-day total yet. Arizona added more than 3,600 cases, also a record. And in Washington State, where case numbers are again trending upward, the governor said residents would have to start wearing masks in public." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ The Washington Post's live updates for Wednesday are here. "Across the United States, more than 36,000 new infections were reported by state health departments on Wednesday -- surpassing the previous single-day record of 34,203 set on April 25. Texas, Florida and California led the way, with all three states reporting more than 5,000 new cases apiece. Three states -- California, Florida and Oklahoma -- reported record highs in new single-day coronavirus cases, while hospitalizations hit a new peak in Arizona, where intensive care units have quickly filled."

Nomaan Merchant & Juan Lozano of the AP: "Hospital administrators and health experts warned desperately Wednesday that parts of the U.S. are on the verge of becoming overwhelmed by a resurgence of the coronavirus, lamenting that politicians and a tired-of-being-cooped-up public are letting a disaster unfold. The U.S. recorded a one-day total of 34,700 new COVID-19 cases, the highest in two months, according to the count kept by Johns Hopkins University. The number of new cases per day is now running just short of the nation's late-April peak of 36,400." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ryan Grenoble of the Huffington Post: "COVID-19 testing centers across five states are set to lose federal funding next week after the Trump administration decided not to extend the program that established them. As a result, 13 testing sites across Colorado (1), Illinois (2), New Jersey (2), Pennsylvania (1) and Texas (7) will likely close if those states are unable to replace the necessary funding.... Donald Trump this week repeatedly called for a slowdown in COVID-19 testing, because the surge in new cases they help reveal is making his administration's response look bad.... 'It's pretty clear to me, and I think it's clear to all of us, that with the uptick of cases, now is not a time to retreat from our vigilance in testing,' Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said in a statement, distancing himself from the decision."

Texas. Caitlin O'Kane of CBS News: "Texas Governor Greg Abbott [R] said Wednesday the state is facing a 'massive outbreak' in the coronavirus pandemic and that greater restrictions may be necessary. Abbott made the comments during an interview with CBS affiliate KFDA-TV in Amarillo, Texas."

West Virginia. AP: "... Gov. Jim Justice forced out the commissioner of his public health bureau on Wednesday, hours after he publicly questioned the accuracy of the state's coronavirus data and detailed growing outbreaks in about a dozen counties. The abrupt resignation of Cathy Slemp, who was also a state health officer, came after the Republican governor vented during a news conference that West Virginia's active virus caseload may have been overstated.... Slemp, who was a regular feature of the governor's daily virus news conferences, has decades of public health experience.... Justice, a billionaire coal businessman without previous political experience, had showered Slemp with praise as he hosted press conferences about the virus during the outbreak...."

David Li of NBC News: "Visitors from coronavirus hot spots will have to quarantine for 14 days if they set foot in New York, New Jersey or Connecticut, the governors of those northeastern states said Wednesday. Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Washington, Utah and Texas have high, current infection rates to warrant this new quarantine advisory, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said." ~~~

~~~ Dan Mangan of CNBC: "The White House said Wednesday that ... Donald Trump will not change his plan to travel to New Jersey this weekend despite a new order by the governor requiring visitors who have been in states with high numbers of coronavirus cases to quarantine for 14 days. 'The president of the United States is not a civilian,' said White House spokesman Judd Deere, when asked about Trump's compliance with the quarantine order given his travel Tuesday to Arizona, which has seen a rise in the rate of its Covid-19 cases. 'Anyone who is in close proximity to him, including staff, guests, and press are tested for COVID-19 and confirmed to be negative,' Deere said in a statement.... 'Anyone traveling in support of the president this weekend will be closely monitored for symptoms and tested for COVID and therefore pose little to no risk to the local populations.'" Trump, as we know, went maskless in an Arizona mega-church full of maskless, screaming kids earlier this week. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Actually, the POTUS* is a civilian. That's the whole idea behind the Constitution's Article II (you do remember Article II, don't you, Donnie?), which makes the civilian president, rather than a military leader, the commander-in-chief. And those "traveling in support of the president"? Most of them are probably civilians, too. Deere's assertion that "With regard to Arizona, the White House followed it's COVID mitigation plan to ensure the President did not come into contact with anyone who was symptomatic or had not been tested," is nonsense. Trump came into contact with some 3,000 people who had not been tested.

Trump Thinks He Can Get an Electoral College Vote in Maine. Jeff Stein & Rachel Siegel of the Washington Post: "The White House ordered the Department of Agriculture on Wednesday to extend farm bailout aid to the U.S. lobster industry, which has suffered under strained trade relations with China and tit-for-tat tariffs that significantly reduced exports to one of its biggest foreign markets. The order, signed by President Trump on Wednesday, comes weeks after a group of lobster fishermen in Maine asked the president for help.... On Wednesday night, Trump blamed ... Barack Obama for the decline of the lobster and fishing industries, despite the fact that the U.S. lobster trade was hurting under the current administration's trade war with China.

Dan Diamond of Politico: "Former national security adviser John Bolton's memoir has renewed concerns that ... Donald Trump undermined his administration's early attempts to grapple with China's spreading coronavirus outbreak out of concern for his personal relationship with President Xi Jinping.... Trump publicly praised China's handling of its outbreak across January and February, even as his health and national security deputies concluded that China was concealing information.... [Trump's tweets praising Xi] were counterproductive, said two current and one former official, noting that China had yet to provide key information about the virus' origins or allow U.S. health officials into the country; negotiations would stretch on through February.... Despite being out of the White House at the time, Bolton asserts in his memoir that Trump took steps to restrict information in the United States about the virus 'for fear of adversely affecting the elusive definitive trade deal with China, or offending the ever-so-sensitive Xi.'"

Erica Werner of the Washington Post: "Vice President Pence urged GOP senators on Wednesday to focus on 'encouraging signs' despite a recent spike in coronavirus cases in numerous states as various localities move swiftly to reopen their economies, according to several people present. Pence made the remarks in a closed-door lunch with Republican senators on Capitol Hill as lawmakers have begun to express alarm because of rising infection rates in Florida, Arizona, Texas and several other states, some of which are likely to be critical to the outcome of the presidential race in the fall and control of the Senate." Mrs. McC: Here's a heretofore secret videotape of the closed-door session:

Another Rat Leaves the Sinking Ship. Robert Costa, et al., of the Washington Post: "One of President Trump's senior economic officials has abruptly left the White House in the middle of the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. He becomes the second senior White House economic official whose departure was announced this month. Tomas J. Philipson, acting chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, will leave his post by the end of June, White House spokesman Judd Deere said in an email. The announcement comes two days after Kevin Hassett, a senior White House economic official and Philipson's predecessor as chair of the CEA, announced he would also be stepping down." A Politico story is here.

Kellyanne Warms to Racist Term. Max Cohen of Politico: "White House counselor Kellyanne Conway reacted to ... Donald Trump's use of 'kung flu' first by explaining that Trump used the phrase to highlight the origins of the coronavirus in China -- and then by suggesting she disagreed with him. Weeks ago, Conway blasted the phrase as 'highly offensive."'But on Wednesday, she initially reacted to a reporter's question about the president's repeated use of 'kung flu' by criticizing the Chinese government. 'My reaction is that the president has made very clear he wants everybody to understand, and I think many Americans do understand, that the virus originated in China,' Conway said." Mrs. McC: As Conway herself pointed out in March, when she so strongly objected to the term, her children are one-quarter Asian-American. But to hell with kids, I guess.

Carol Leonnig & Joshua Partlow of the Washington Post: "Dozens of Secret Service officers and agents who were on site for President Trump's rally in Tulsa last week were ordered to self-quarantine after two of their colleagues tested positive for the novel coronavirus, part of the fallout from Trump's insistence on holding the mass gathering over the objections of public health officials. The Secret Service instructed employees who worked the Tulsa event to stay at home for 14 days when they returned from the weekend trip, according to two people familiar with the agency's decision. The order came in the wake of the discovery -- hours before the president's Saturday evening rally -- that at least six advance staffers who helped organize the trip had tested positive for the virus, including two Secret Service employees. Another two advance staffers tested positive after Trump returned to Washington on Sunday."

Alexander Mallin & Luke Barr of ABC News: "Two Justice Department whistleblowers appeared before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday to outline a series of allegations regarding what they described as political meddling in department affairs under ... Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr. Aaron Zelinsky, a department attorney who withdrew from the prosecution of Trump-ally Roger Stone after Barr intervened in the sentencing process, and John Elias, a former acting chief of staff in the antitrust division under Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim, both testified that they felt department leadership had wrongfully intervened in typically-sensitive law enforcement matters purely to benefit Trump's interests. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Zelinksy Names Names. Kyle Cheney of Politico: "A federal prosecutor offered lawmakers on Wednesday a roadmap to investigate alleged political interference in the sentencing of longtime Donald Trump confidant Roger Stone. Aaron Zelinsky, one of four lead prosecutors in the Stone case, told the House Judiciary Committee that senior officials -- including the head of the Justice Department's public corruption unit -- freely discussed concerns that they were being pressured to go easy on Stone during sentencing." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Nicholas Fandos, et al., of the New York Times: "Two Justice Department officials recounted to Congress in stinging detail on Wednesday how political appointees had intervened in criminal and antitrust cases to advance the personal interests of President Trump and Attorney General William P. Barr.... The two accounts painted a damning portrait of the Justice Department under Mr. Barr, made all the more remarkable given that the witnesses were both still department employees.... Democrats turned frequently to a third witness, Donald B. Ayer, who was deputy attorney general under President George Bush and warned that under Mr. Barr, the country was 'on the way to something far worse than Watergate.'... Not long after the hearing got underway, the Justice Department announced that Mr. Barr had agreed to appear himself before the panel on July 28. Democrats had been threatening to issue a subpoena for his appearance." ~~~

~~~ Matt Zapotosky & Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "A federal prosecutor's testimony Wednesday that he was pressed by supervisors to offer a more lenient sentencing recommendation for a friend of President Trump's capped a remarkable four-month stretch in which Attorney General William P. Barr has seemed to repeatedly bend the Justice Department to Trump's political interests -- generating significant controversy but no personal consequence, legal analysts said. Since February, Barr has intervened in two criminal cases to the benefit of those who once advised Trump; ousted a U.S. attorney who is investigating Trump's personal lawyer; and dutifully implemented Trumps vision for a forceful crack down on demonstrators in the District protesting police violence.... But lawmakers, who already held Barr in contempt last year for defying congressional subpoenas, seem to have little in the way of practical recourse." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: It isn't that Congress can do nothing; Congress has the power to impeach & remove Barr. It's that Congressional Republicans -- who of course control the Senate -- refuse to do anything. They are part of the vast right-wing conspiracy. ~~~

~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post cites major takeaways from the House hearing. ~~~

~~~ Colin Kalmbacher of Law & Crime: "A federal court issued a brief order on Wednesday afternoon in an apparent attempt to make sure that Attorney General Bill Barr's DOJ isn't exerting improper influence over prison stint of ... Donald Trump's longtime confidant and political advisor Roger Stone. The order just so happened to come down on the same day so-called whistleblowers testified about the DOJ's controversial intervention in Stone's sentencing recommendations. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson advised the Department of Justice (DOJ) to come prepared in a filing due Thursday with some sort of precedent in the district -- or by way of an agency internal policy -- that would support delaying the start of Stone's imprisonment any further."

MEANWHILE. Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "A divided federal appeals court panel ordered an immediate end on Wednesday to the case against Michael T. Flynn, President Trump's former national security adviser -- delivering a major victory to Mr. Flynn and to the Justice Department, which had sought to drop the case. In the ruling, two of three judges on a panel for the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ordered the trial judge overseeing the matter, Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, to immediately dismiss the case withoutfurther review. The third accused his colleagues of 'grievously' overstepping their powers, and the full appeals court has the option of reviewing the matter. The order -- a so-called writ of mandamus -- was rare and came as a surprise, taking its place as yet another twist in the extraordinary legal and political drama surrounding the prosecution of Mr. Flynn, who twice pleaded guilty to lying to F.B.I. agents in the Russia investigation about his conversations in December 2016 with the Russian ambassador to the United States." A Politico story is here. Mrs. McC: You don't have to be a genius to guess which judges were Republican appointees & which was an Obama appointee. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Aaron Keller of Law & Crime: "A federal grand jury on Wednesday returned yet a third charging document against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The new document, a second superseding indictment, 'broaden[s] the scope of the conspiracy surrounding alleged computer intrusions with which Assange was previously charged,' the U.S. Department of Justice said.... Assange is in the U.K. The U.S. government has asked that he be extradited here to face the charges."

John Avlon of CNN rails against Donald Trump for falsely accusing President Obama (and others) of treason.

You know all that stuff in John Bolton's book about how Trump was so accommodating to Xi Jinpeng at the same time he was pretending to be "tough on China"? You know how Trump said it was all lies? Well, now there's this: ~~~

~~~ Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "On June 2, Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) signed on as a co-sponsor of a bill to punish China for undermining Hong Kong's independence. Two weeks later, he turned around and blocked it -- at the request of the White House. As a result, the bipartisan bill, which imposes mandatory sanctions over China's continued incursions into Hong Kong's internal affairs, is stalled on Capitol Hill even as it has broad bipartisan support."

Devlin Barrett & Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: “U.S. marshals have been told they should prepare to help protect national monuments across the country, according to an email directive viewed by The Washington Post, as President Trump has vowed stern punishment for those who vandalize or destroy such structures as part of police violence protests.... Earlier Wednesday, defense officials said that the Army activated about 400 unarmed members of the Washington, D.C., National Guard to 'prevent any defacing or destruction' of monuments."

Seung Min Kim of the Washington Post: "Senate Democrats on Wednesday blocked a Republican-drafted bill aimed at overhauling the nation's policing practices ... spelling a potential death knell to efforts at revisions at the federal level in an election year. In a 55-to-45 vote, the legislation written primarily by Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) failed to advance in the Senate, where it needed 60 votes to proceed. Most Democratic senators said the bill fell far short of what was needed to meaningfully change policing tactics and was beyond the point of salvageable.... GOP senators privately offered amendment votes meant to address several criticisms of the bill that [Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer and Sens. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) laid out in a letter to [Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell on Tuesday. The Democrats turned down that offer, according to two GOP officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss procedural deliberations, and also rejected a subsequent offer of more amendment votes. Scott privately told Democrats that if they did not get votes on amendments they sought, that he, too, would help them filibuster his own bill...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) An NBC News story is here.

Arizona. Simon Romero of the New York Times: "The police chief of Tucson, Ariz., abruptly offered to resign on Wednesday while releasing a video in which a 27-year-old Latino man, Carlos Ingram Lopez, died in police custody two months ago. The video, taken by police officers' body cameras and not made public until Wednesday, depicts a gruesome episode on April 21. Before his death, Mr. Lopez is seen handcuffed while pleading repeatedly in English and Spanish for water and for his nana, or grandmother. Chief Chris Magnus said officers did not use a chokehold on Mr. Lopez. But he said they violated training guidelines by restraining the victim in a prone position, face down, for about 12 minutes before Mr. Lopez went into cardiac arrest and died at the scene. While he was restrained, Mr. Lopez told the officers he could not breathe. The autopsy report said the cause of death was a combination of physical restraint and cardiac arrest involving cocaine intoxication. Three officers resigned from the department last Thursday, Chief Magnus said."

Georgia. Christina Carrega of ABC News: "A Georgia grand jury indicted the three men arrested and charged in connection with the alleged murder of Ahmaud Arbery. Cobb District Attorney Joyette M. Holmes announced on Wednesday that a grand jury voted to indict Gregory and Travis McMichael along with William Bryan for the felony murder and aggravated assault that resulted in Arbery death.... 'The presentation took an hour and a half and the true bill came back in 10 minutes,' Holmes said during a press conference on Wednesday afternoon." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) A New York Times story is here.

New York. Trolling Trump. Larry Celona & Julia Marsh of the New York Post: "Mayor Bill de Blasio is planning to install a massive Black Lives Matter mural right outside Trump Tower in Manhattan ... sometime before July 4th weekend.... The installation is one of seven that will pop up across all five boroughs. Three are now planned for Manhattan -- along Centre Street in Lower Manhattan, Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard in Harlem and in front of Trump Tower." Mrs. McC: Another reason for Trump to be glad he's now a Florida man.

Wisconsin. Yes, Some Protesters Are Violent & Stupid. Molly Beck & Lawrence Andrea of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Fury exploded outside the Wisconsin State Capitol on Tuesday night as protesters smashed windows at the statehouse, attacked a state senator, and tore down two iconic statues -- including one of an abolitionist who died trying to end slavery during the Civil War. The unrest began earlier Tuesday following the arrest of a Black man who was arrested after bringing a megaphone and a baseball bat into a Capitol square restaurant. It followed weeks of mostly peaceful protests of the death of George Floyd.... [The protesters' actions] prompted Gov. Tony Evers on Wednesday to put the Wisconsin National Guard on notice to protect state buildings, including the Capitol. During the melee late Tuesday, Democratic state Sen. Tim Carpenter was assaulted after filming the protesters." ~~~

~~~ Update. Scott Bauer & Todd Richmond of the AP: "Wisconsin's governor activated the National Guard on Wednesday to protect state properties after a night of violence that included the toppling of two statues outside the state Capitol, one of which commemorated an abolitionist Civil War hero."

Elections 2020

Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "The Democratic National Convention will move out of Milwaukee's professional basketball arena, and state delegations are being urged not to travel to the city because of concerns about the coronavirus pandemic, party officials said Wednesday. Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. still intends to travel to Milwaukee to accept his party's presidential nomination, his campaign manager said, but neither his campaign nor the Democratic National Committee has made firm commitments that Mr. Biden will attend. The Democratic convention will be 'anchored' in Milwaukee, but the four-night mid-August event will 'include both live broadcasts and curated content from Milwaukee and other satellite cities, locations and landmarks across the country,' according to a news release."

Tim Murphy of Mother Jones: "Tens of thousands of absentee ballots still remain to be counted, and the race is not likely to be called for days. But [Rep. Eliot] Engel's [D-N.Y.] opponent, 44-year-old former middle school principal Jamaal Bowman, declared victory on Wednesday morning after election-day returns gave him a commanding 27-point advantage over the incumbent.... Engel was endorsed by both of the state's Democratic senators, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and Westchester County's own Hillary Clinton."

Moo-Fucking-Hoo. Kate Irby of the Fresno Bee: "A judge has ruled that Rep. Devin Nunes [R] has no right to sue Twitter over statements made by a fake Internet cow, someone parodying his mother and a Republican strategist. Judge John Marshall said in a decision Friday that Twitter was 'immune from the defamation claims of' Nunes, R-Tulare, due to federal law that says social media companies are not liable for what people post on their platforms.... The case [is still] pending against the two parody Twitter accounts and [Republican strategist Liz] Mair. But it's a blow to Nunes nonetheless, as he was trying to push Twitter into revealing the identities of the two accounts, who have been mocking him online anonymously." Mrs. McC: Of course the biggest "blow to Nunes" is that Judge Marshall removed the deep pockets from the case, meaning there's no chance of a hefty nuisance settlement being laid out for Devin.