Trump will definitely get credit if deaths exceed 100,000, but not the good kind

We warned America, and Democrats delivered an impeachment to underscore the seriousness of the matter: Donald Trump wasn’t fit to be president. Republicans didn’t care, because tax cuts and judges, and now here we are. 

Today, we’ll hit two Sept. 11ths’ worth of deaths, easily blowing by the 6,000 mark just two days after hitting a single 9/11. We’ve just about to reach a quarter-million cases, which is a whopping one-quarter of the total confirmed cases worldwide. By any measure, this is an abject disaster. Yet in a breathtaking display of goalpost moving, Trump said a couple of days ago, “[if] we have between 100 and 200,000 [deaths], we altogether have done a very good job.”

Yeah, nice try. 

Trump is in a politically perilous position, for sure. His inability to respond to the crisis—from dismantling the institutions designed to identify (CDC outpost in China) and respond to such a crisis (the pandemic preparedness task force and FEMA), to incompetent staff, to an utter inability to be forthright and truthful to the American people, to simply misplaced priorities (stock market > grandma)—our nation never stood a chance. 

Indeed, the only thing mitigating a death toll in the millions is the quick action of governors and local governments around the country. And even on that front, there was too much delay, particularly in Republican states, precisely because Trump was pretending things were okay to protect his donors’ stock portfolios. 

But let’s consider Trump’s new thesis: that as long as national deaths number below a quarter million, he will “have done a very good job.” Does he think that people will applaud him? 

Yesterday, 1,049 people died of the disease, and we’re nowhere near the peak. So every single day, we’ll be seeing 1,000, then 2,000, then a 9/11 (3,000 deaths), until who knows when. Every single day will see the kind of carnage we haven’t seen since World War II. 

Every day, people will have to face the death of someone they know, someone they love, someone they respect or admire. Artists, movie stars, athletes, politicians, religious leaders, musicians, business leaders, and so many grandmas. Their stories will be broadcast across all media, all of them a dagger in our hearts. 

And shock and sorrow will then give way to anger. It’s a stage of grief, after all. 

Conservatives will work overtime to deflect: It’s the fault of the Chinese! People die all the time (flu, car crashes, heart disease, insert random other cause of death), this is nothing special! It’s the fault of open sanctuary cities like New York!  No one could’ve predicted! And yet, the American people have already decided that they can’t and don’t trust trump. 

NEW POLL >> The credibility gap between Dr. Fauci and Trump on coronavirus is a stunning 65 POINTS. Cuomo is 25 points better than Trump. A majority of Americans distrust Trump to tell the truth about the virus. via @NavigatorSurvey pic.twitter.com/fMMQNQtGfL

— Ian Sams (@IanSams) April 2, 2020

Those numbers will only get worse. And those excuses might work in Fox News land, but that’s not where Trump needs to hold his numbers. Arkansas isn’t going to be competitive at any level this year. 

There are seven states that will decide the presidential election: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. All seven are on a razor’s edge. A shift of even a few points can take these states from “coin flip” to “lean Biden.” And already, we’re seeing the largest Democratic lead in Trump’s reelection numbers all year:

If you have seven states that are essentially 50-50 ties, then a one-point shift makes it 51-49. Two points, its 52-48. See? 

This is why Trump is freaking out. He can’t afford to bleed even marginal support, because every vote will matter. That’s why he’s trying to shift the goalposts. 

But there is no way in hell that people look at thousands dying every single day and give Trump any kind of credit. NONE. The toll on our nation is too great. The impact we’re suffering is so much worse than what other countries have experienced that it’s impossible to blame the fates. This may be an act of god, but the aftermath isn't. How we prepared isn’t. How we responded isn't. How we move forward isn’t. 

And we haven’t even discussed the economic devastation. 

NEW with @AlexNBCNews: Week of April 13 is earliest Americans will see direct deposit relief payments from the government; paper checks could take as long as 20 weeks -- nearly 5 months -- for some Americans

— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) April 2, 2020

Five months? The amounts being mailed out are already not enough. Just watch the Trump administration bungle this, too. Remember that 6.65 million workers filed unemployment claims last week, breaking the previous record by10 times. And with congressional Republicans ruling out further stimulus at this time (they’ll be forced to relent, eventually), the economic pain is only going to get worse. 

Presidents don’t get reelected when they bungle the economy. How are they supposed to do so when they also preside over a mass-death event ?

So no, Trump isn’t getting credit if we see hundreds of thousands of deaths. And if we ultimately do see those kinds of numbers play out, his reelection prospects will be around zero percent, and we’ll be talking about how much damage his entire party will face all the way down the ballot. 

Schiff Wants 9/11-Style Commission to Investigate Trump Administration’s Response to Coronavirus

Adam Schiff says he will introduce a bill to create a “nonpartisan” 9/11-style commission to study why America was “so unprepared” for the coronavirus pandemic.

Let’s repeat that.

The man who bogged down an entire nation with impeachment dreams while the coronavirus was beginning to flourish, is mobilizing the House Intelligence Committee, which he chairs, to figure out why the country wasn’t necessarily focused on the problem at hand.

Pearl Harbor, 9/11 … Coronavirus

Schiff shared an article from the Washington Post that cited his desire to begin an investigation once the crisis subsides.

“After Pearl Harbor and 9/11, we looked at what went wrong to learn from our mistakes,” Schiff (D-CA) tweeted. “Once we’ve recovered, we need a nonpartisan commission to review our response and how we can better prepare for the next pandemic.”

“I’m working on a bill to do that,” he added.

The Post article goes on to cite positive and negative actions taken by the Trump administration, leaving little doubt as to who Schiff is actually going after.

RELATED: Watch Nancy Pelosi Completely Ignore Trump’s Coronavirus Comments During SOTU Speech

Says Trump ‘Screwed Up’

Further proof that Schiff is focused not on “our mistakes” but the supposed mistakes made by President Trump himself are comments the impeachment manager made the night before.

In an appearance on MSNBC, Schiff said those blaming his impeachment sham for distracting the country were inadvertently admitting that “the administration screwed up this response.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blamed the highly partisan effort for distracting lawmakers when coronavirus was.

“It came up while we were tied down in the impeachment trial,” McConnell asserted. “And I think it diverted the attention of the government because everything every day was all about impeachment.”

RELATED: Rep. Crenshaw Blasts Obama Senior Adviser For ‘Vitriol’ Making ‘Americans Feel Awful’ During Coronavirus Crisis

Schiff Is Full Of It

“Yeah, the president said something similar, which, you know, was an interesting acknowledgment that the administration screwed up this response,” Schiff claimed without evidence.

“The facts are quite clear that the president’s weeks long, maybe months-long delay in taking this seriously has had catastrophic consequences that we are only now beginning to see the scope of.”

The facts ARE quite clear.

While Schiff, Pelosi, and the Democrats were developing their impeachment arguments, President Trump would issue travel restrictions with China, establish the Coronavirus Task Force, and declare coronavirus a public health emergency.

If there is any investigation, it needs to encompass the resistance party’s lack of action or hindrance to those trying to take action.

The post Schiff Wants 9/11-Style Commission to Investigate Trump Administration’s Response to Coronavirus appeared first on The Political Insider.

COVID-19 news: Trump gaslights America, police close down reopened Hobby Lobby stores

Donald Trump's delays in responding to the building wave of a COVID-19 pandemic have now created a "best case" scenario of between 100,000—240,000 American deaths, according to government experts. The result: A new push by Donald Trump to insist that he had never downplayed the virus, despite many weeks and videotaped speeches in which Trump did exactly that. Already supported by Mike Pence and other fawning officials, it will be the greatest test yet of the administration's gaslighting strategies—a new claim that the virus killing family members, neighbors and friends was being taken seriously all along, despite weeks of Fox News coverage directly showing, and arguing for, the opposite.

In today's other pandemic news:

• Disparities in federal supplies being granted to different states, with some Republican-held states receiving all or more than all of their requested orders while other states receive only a fraction of their orders, continue amid strong suggestions that Trump's obsessive need for praise and hostility towards criticism is playing an undue role in those decisions.

• New Trump administration guidelines tie the recently-passed $1200 pandemic relief checks to Americans to an IRS filing: If you don't file, you won't get it. This sets up a barrier to Social Security beneficiaries, disabled Americans with Supplemental Security Income, and veterans with pensions, who do not normally file returns because they have no taxable income.

• Despite the still-surging pandemic and the advice of health officials, the White House is still refusing to open up a new Obamacare enrollment period to allow uninsured Americans to shop for health insurance plans.

California's early, encompassing pandemic response measures have proven so far to have had dramatic success in slowing virus spread.

• Wisconsin's April 7 presidential primary and elections are still slated to take place on that date, despite demands that they be rescheduled—and the increasing likelihood of fiasco.

Police are closing down Hobby Lobby stores in shelter-in-place states and cities after the chain, owned by now-notorious malevolent God-botherers, reopened the locations in defiance of local orders.

• In yet another disclosure of prior pandemic preparedness efforts ignored, a National Security Council study predicted the scope of economic damage from a pandemic similar to the one that would soon afterwards appear.

• Three weeks ago Trump stood with the CEOs of Walmart, Target, Walgreens and other companies to announce nationwide testing centers hosted by the huge retailers. The total number of testing centers opened three weeks later: 5. Of 30,000 locations. And of the five, most offer testing "only to first responders and health care workers," not the general public.

• Trump continues to lie about testing efforts and testing delays.

• House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff has indicated he is drafting plans for a new 9/11-styled independent commission to investigate government preparedness failures leading up to the pandemic.

• Recent Republican claims that Trump's incompetent pandemic response was caused by the distraction of impeachment were leveled flat by Trump himself, who says "I don't think I would have done any better had I not been impeached."

• New disclosures show Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler continued her previously known stock trading into late February and early March, selling off shares of retail stores and purchasing shares of a company that makes medical protective gear of the sort now being rationed in hospitals nationwide. (Loeffler was publicly dismissive at the onset of the pandemic, but as senator was receiving pandemic briefings not available to the general public.)

House and Senate lawmakers are demanding Immigration and Customs Officials release detainees to reduce crowded conditions, and the possibility of a "severe health crisis", in immigration detention centers. "A decision to do nothing is a decision to do harm." Another federal judge on Tuesday ordered the release of ten detainees for whom the virus posed heightened risks.

• Journalists continue to reward Trump for his falsehoods and incompetent, exploitative behaviors.

• Google is now banning political ads on the COVID-19 pandemic. But it's still allowing Trump's own political messages to go through.

• Medical workers are being fired for speaking up about inadequate protective gear as hospital systems warn workers they are "not allowed to speak to the press."

28 University of Texas at Austin students who recently returned from spring break in Mexico have now tested positive for the virus. The students had returned to the United States on March 19.

• A Michigan man who purchased a gun to "protect himself" during the pandemic ended up in a Battle Creek hospital after shooting himself in the leg with his new weapon.

• Although New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called the coronavirus "the great equalizer," unequal access to healthcare means that is likely not the case.

• Has China lied about their COVID-19 numbers? It's possible. But the "real" numbers are unlikely to be dramatically different from those reported.

• In new polling, 94% of American adults say they're practicing social distancing measures.

• Should we all be wearing masks in public, even if homemade versions? It still might be a good idea.

• Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden released a new video honoring the heroism of doctors, nurses and first responders during the pandemic.

• Coronavirus myths: No, you didn't "already have it in January."

Joe Scarborough Says Everyone Except Trump ‘Saw This Coming In Early January,’ But ‘Morning Joe’ Didn’t Mention It Until The 24th

On Wednesday, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough said that everyone but President Donald Trump had seen the coronavirus pandemic coming at the beginning of the year.

‘Everybody saw this coming, everybody saw this coming in early January’ – Even Though Joe Scarborough Didn’t?

“Everybody saw this coming, everybody saw this coming in early January,” Scarborough claimed on his program “Morning Joe.”

RELATED: New York Times Demands More Abortion Access During Coronavirus Pandemic

But there’s a big problem with his statement –  even Scarborough wasn’t talking about coronavirus in early January.

Trump 2020 Communications Director Matt Wolking tweeted, “Brazen lie from @JoeNBC. @Morning_Joe did not mention the coronavirus until Jan 24, when a guest said ‘we don’t need to be overly concerned yet in the U.S.’ and ‘Americans [should] take this as a wake up call for seasonal flu.’ Joe himself didn’t mention coronavirus until Feb 7.”

Coronavirus Wasn’t Even Mentioned on ‘Morning Joe’ Until January 24

Coronavirus was not mentioned on “Morning Joe” until January 24, when cohost Mika Brzezinski read a news report about China and the 26th death occurring in Wuhan.

There were just a few minutes of COVID-19 coverage that day, with most reporting and political conversations focusing almost entirely on President Trump’s impeachment trial.

Just ten days before this early report, the Chinese government along with the World Health Organization was still saying that the coronavirus was not transmissible from person to person.

Obviously we have since learned this isn’t true. We have also all learned together, whether Scarborough wants to admit it or not, pretending this was well known back in January.

Left-Leaning Journalist Glenn Greenwald Calls Joe Out

The Intercept journalist Glenn Greenwald took Joe to task, tweeting, “Look what a pathological liar @JoeNBC is. Today he said about the coronavirus pandemic in the US: “Everybody saw this coming in early January.” Number of @JoeNBC tweets in January by topic: Impeachment – 29 Election – 11 Sports – 7 Coronavirus – 0″

RELATED: CNN’s Chris Cuomo Tests Positive for Coronavirus

Greenwald is right.

But Joe Scarborough’s purpose here isn’t to tell the truth, but to hurt the President. In that effort, any lie will do.

The post Joe Scarborough Says Everyone Except Trump ‘Saw This Coming In Early January,’ But ‘Morning Joe’ Didn’t Mention It Until The 24th appeared first on The Political Insider.

Schiff drafting plans for 9/11-styled commission to investigate failed pandemic preparations

In an interview with Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, House Intelligence Committee chair Rep. Adam Schiff says that his staff is now working on a "discussion draft" for creating an independent commission to investigate the failures of the United States in preparing for the COVID-19 pandemic. The commission would be modeled after the 9/11 Commission, created to investigate the events leading up to the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City and the Pentagon.

Schiff told Ignatius that that would be delayed "until the crisis has abated to ensure it does not interfere with" agencies' ongoing response efforts.

The most obvious concern, of course, is whether Trump and surrounding loyalists ignored warnings about the rapidly spreading virus due to Trump's obsession over his own self-interests. Ignatius reports that intelligence officials are already concerned that new acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, a partisan Trump loyalist, is "trying to shape intelligence that might challenge or embarrass Trump."

If this is the case, and there is absolutely no reason to believe Grenell would not act in such a fashion, an investigation of administration actions cannot be delayed for long. The Trump administration has already been caught once engaging in criminal conduct intended solely to benefit Trump's own reelection, resulting in impeachment; there is no question that Trump's team, having been immunized from consequences for those acts by a similarly corrupt Republican-held Senate, may engage in more.

Obama Accuses Trump Of Denying Coronavirus Warnings, Ted Cruz Fires Back

Barack Obama took a not-so-veiled swipe at President Trump, accusing his administration of ‘denying’ warning signs of a pandemic.

The former President took the jab on social media, sharing an article that discussed the White House’s efforts to roll back Obama-era regulations on gas mileage and emissions.

“We’ve seen all too terribly the consequences of those who denied warnings of a pandemic. We can’t afford any more consequences of climate denial,” he wrote. “All of us, especially young people, have to demand better of our government at every level and vote this fall.”

Cruz Missile

Texas senator Ted Cruz responded by pointing out the obvious – that while President Trump was implementing travel restrictions to slow the pandemic, Nancy Pelosi and Obama’s former VP Joe Biden were fighting it.

“Bold: Obama calls for the overwhelming electoral defeat of Joe Biden [and] Nancy Pelosi, after they opposed [and] demagogued Trump’s China travel ban, which helped slow the coronavirus pandemic,” he wrote.

There is little doubt at this point that Trump’s actions did just that, with Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, pointing out repeatedly that the President’s actions slowed the spread and saved lives.

RELATED: Dr. Fauci: President Trump’s Travel Ban Is What May Save This Country From Becoming Italy

Biden and Pelosi

Cruz is right – it was Democrats like Biden and Pelosi who hammered the President for daring to implement travel restrictions to combat the pandemic or ignored his warnings.

“This is no time for Donald Trump’s record of hysteria xenophobia, hysterical xenophobia, and fear-mongering to lead the way instead of science,” Biden said on the day Trump announced the restrictions.

House Speaker Pelosi meanwhile, has been accused by President Trump of ignoring his attempts to tighten travel restrictions.

“All she did was focus on impeachment. She didn’t focus on anything having to do with pandemics,” he insisted.

She also must have missed when Trump addressed the coronavirus outbreak in his State of the Union speech, perhaps more focused on her staged protest – ripping up her copy – than on what he was actually saying.

RELATED: Susan Rice Accuses The US Of Race-Baiting After Pompeo Refers To ‘Wuhan Virus’

Takes Guts

It takes a tremendous amount of chutzpah for Obama to accuse Trump of denying the pandemic knowing full well his administration helped handcuff any actions he may have taken.

In 2009, the H1N1 swine flu pandemic triggered a massive deployment of respirators and masks, but the Obama administration never set about replenishing the stockpile, despite warnings from multiple experts.

Also that year, Obama scrapped the White House Health and Security Office, which worked on international health issues.

And a Fox News report, citing yearly budget requests, reveals “the Obama administration repeatedly sought to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).”

The post Obama Accuses Trump Of Denying Coronavirus Warnings, Ted Cruz Fires Back appeared first on The Political Insider.

Maxine Waters Says Trump Is An ‘Incompetent Idiot’ Who Must ‘Pray for Forgiveness’

On Monday, Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters went on a social media rant against President Donald Trump over his handling of the coronavirus crisis, calling him an “incompetent idiot” who needs to “pray for forgiveness.”

‘Your ignorance & incompetence are appalling’

“Trump, stop congratulating yourself! You’re a failure & you’ve mishandled this #COVID19 disaster! You’re not knowledgeable & you don’t know more than experts & generals,” Waters wrote on Twitter. “Your ignorance & incompetence are appalling & you continue to demonstrate that every time you open your mouth!”

RELATED: Mitch McConnell Points Finger Of Blame For Coronavirus Crisis Directly At Impeachment Happy Democrats

She didn’t stop there.

“Trump, you incompetent idiot!,” she tweeted. “You sent 18 tons of PPE to China early but ignored warnings & called COVID19 concerns a hoax. You’ve endangered doctors, nurses, aids, [sic] orderlies, & janitors – all risking their lives to save ours. Pray 4 forgiveness for the harm that you’re causing!”

Waters’ Rampage Against Trump Is Nothing New

Waters had accused President Trump on Sunday of ignoring the pandemic early on.

“As you know, we had an office of pandemic affairs basically in the office of the president that was shut down, closed down, not funded by the president of the United States,” Waters told MSNBC host Joy Reid. “That’s the kind of office that does the planning, that anticipates, that makes sure that supplies and everything that’s needed can be readily available when you have this kind of disaster. And so even though we didn’t have that kind of planning in addition to that, the early notifications I’m told were ignored.”

Waters Wants Trump to Address Crisis But Also… Shut His Mouth About It?!?

Strangely, while Waters accused Trump of ignoring the crisis in its early stages, she also believes he should “shut his mouth” about it.

RELATED: Maxine Waters Accuses Trump Of Lying, Ignoring Early Warnings On Coronavirus

“It’s been said over and over again that you cannot trust this president,” Waters told Reid. “Not only is he a liar, he does not believe in anything scientific.”

“So the President of the United States cannot be relied upon,” she added. “Someone said he needs to be quiet, he needs to shut his mouth.”

Despite Waters’ random and often nonsensical grumblings, the Trump administration continues to make strides in implementing testing nationwide, mask production and financial and other relief crucial to Americans during this crisis.

The post Maxine Waters Says Trump Is An ‘Incompetent Idiot’ Who Must ‘Pray for Forgiveness’ appeared first on The Political Insider.

COVID-19 news: U.S. deaths top 3,000; nuclear aircraft carrier captain begs for aid

Three weeks after Donald Trump said it would "go away" and two months after he claimed it was "very well under control," U.S. deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic topped 3,000 yesterday evening, outnumbering deaths in the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon. The month of April is going to see mass deaths in the United States.

In recent days, government experts have been floating a new estimated eventual death toll of 100,000—200,000 Americans. Trump has seized upon that number, if it creeps no higher, as representing a possible "very good job" by him.

In today's pandemic updates:

• It is now evident that the Trump administration and its congressional allies had overwhelming evidence of the pandemic's dangers during the same period of time they were publicly downplaying the threat of the virus—and, in the case of several Republican senators, cashing out of the stock market before those markets collapsed.

• In a hint of what may be to come, a New York City hospital today reminded its doctors that they are allowed to withhold care for "futile" intubation efforts.

The nation's critical shortage of protective masks continues.

• The captain of the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt wrote a four-page letter begging the Navy for quarantine rooms in Guam after between 150 and 200 sailors tested positive for the virus. The ship has over 4,000 on board, and little to no ability to contain further spread.

Republicans coordinated to again push the notion that January’s impeachment trial of Donald Trump "diverted" the Trump administration's attention away from the pandemic. Attempting to address Trump's known criminality, in other words, only exacerbated his known incompetence.

• Talks of the next stimulus measures to salvage the pandemic-ravaged economy are beginning. Those measures need to be much bolder than the first few attempts.

• As U.S. testing continues to lag behind that of other nations, rural counties may soon face the same consequences of sparse testing that allowed the pandemic to explode in more urban areas.

• Democratic mayors in Republican-held states are battling against the more lax pandemic policies of their Republican governors.

The New York Times and other outlets continue to privilege Trump's false statements, framing them as political disagreements rather than provable lies.

• Trump's attacks on black female journalist Yamiche Alcindor for asking him to explain his past pandemic statements did not go unnoticed.

After three federal judges temporarily blocked legislation ending abortion services in Texas, Ohio, and Alabama by declaring them "unnecessary" medical services, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals swiftly issued an order staying that decision, allowing the Texas legislation to be enforced.

A second federal judge is now urging immigration officials to work more urgently to release detained children, warning officials that he will "revisit" demands for emergency releases if "there are [COVID-19] cases in these centers" or "there are other problems that are not compliant." Detained immigrants and immigration attorney's groups are now suing for the immediate closure of U.S. immigration courts due to severe pandemic risks.

• A ventilator manufacturer took $13.8 million of federal money to design and produce 10,000 ventilators for the emergency stockpile. They delivered none, but are instead selling more expensive variants of the designed machine overseas.

• Ohio voting rights groups have filed a lawsuit asking the state's pandemic-delayed, now vote-by-mail primary be further delayed, arguing the April 28 date set does not allow enough preparation time for either boards of election or voters.

• Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden's campaign released another video highlighting Trump's own words downplaying the pandemic as it unfolded.

• The Trump administration is using the pandemic crisis to nullify environmental regulations, allowing widespread air, water, and soil pollution without consequence.

• After Trump publicly invented an alleged new website he claimed was in the works, a Jared Kushner-tied company quickly scrambled to try to create one.

• While much of the rest of the economy shutters, construction of Trump's demanded wall along the U.S.-Mexico border is not just continuing, but "ramping up."

• The conservative legal scholar who impressed the Trump team with his ... unusual ... theories about the virus gave an interview to defend his claims. It did not go well.

Large corporations continue to furlough workers by the tens of thousands as pandemic-related shutdowns wreak havoc on newspapers, retail stores, and other industries. The CEO of Columbia Sportswear, however, slashed his own salary to help avoid layoffs during the crisis.

A majority of Americans disapprove of Trump's handling of the pandemic, and 69% support a "national quarantine." Republicans, however, remain "remarkably insular" in their support for Trump and his (non)responses.

DACA recipients are playing vital roles in the nation's pandemic response.

• For decades, the U.S. militia movement has prepared for disaster to strike America. Now that a disaster is taking place the same idiot brigades are resisting social distancing measures, believing them an illegitimate use of government power.

• Farm work was already one of the most dangerous occupations in the United States. Now it's even more dangerous.

• Fox News has promoted reckless and false conspiracy theories, medical advice, and dismissals of the emerging pandemic throughout its early days. If you have cable television, you are probably helping to subsidize those lies.

• While Trump congratulates himself (now, for potentially allowing "only" 200,000 deaths), Rep. Maxine Waters isn't having it.

Pelosi, Trump start talking about the next phase of coronavirus stimulus, need to be talking bigger

The new Daily Kos/Civiqs poll is chock-full of important and astounding information about how the American public is handling the COVID-19 pandemic. In and amongst that data is the suffering, and the reason why Congress still has a lot of work to do to get us through this crisis. Through March 30, one in FIVE Americans who were working before the outbreak say that they have been laid off or furloughed from their position. Nearly 40%—fully 39%—of households have lost income. More than a quarter, 26%, has already been affected by a layoff, furlough, or cut hours and another 15% feel extremely concerned that it will happen to them. Another 28% are moderately or slightly concerned they'll lose income because of the disease and its economic impact.

That's a lot of economic uncertainty that a one-time check for $1,200 isn't likely to allay. The enhanced unemployment benefits that were included in the third coronavirus stimulus bill will help a lot of people, but it won't help everyone including all those people still working but with fewer hours. There's still so much work to be done to get the country through this, and with money practically free to borrow now, yes, Congress should be "tossing money out of helicopters" to answer it, since the Fed is unlikely to do it. Give everyone money, and while you're at it, all the things Speaker Nancy Pelosi is talking about, especially what was in the House bill that didn't make it into the Senate's bill.

In an interview in The New York Times Pelosi "emphasized the need to secure more equipment for health workers on the front lines, known as personal protective equipment, and ventilators for hospitals" and House Democrats would make another "push to bolster pensions and medical leave provisions, and would work to ensure that other aspects of treatment for the coronavirus, beyond the initial test, would be covered by the government." She also talked about more direct aid to families, including "a possible retroactive rollback of the limit on the state and local tax deduction, a change that hurt high earners in states like New York and California." Fine, if that's what it takes to get Republican support, but that's not a sword to die on.

The sword to die on is health care for everyone infected by this disease. It's food security for everyone. It's making sure that the nation's millions of incarcerated people aren't left to die locked up. It's making sure that the gig workers and minimum-wage workers and the undocumented workers who are securing our food supply have the protections they need on the job and in society. It means at least $2 billion to secure this year's elections AND saving the U.S. Postal Service to conduct the necessary vote-by-mail elections.

It means not just postponing student loan payments, but cancelling student loan debts. It needs to have Housing Security, including a moratorium on evictions, a national mortgage and rent holiday, and at least $200 billion to keep housing stable.

It could also have the infrastructure Donald Trump endorsed in a tweet Tuesday: "Two Trillion Dollars, and be focused solely on jobs and rebuilding the once great infrastructure of our Country! Phase 4." Whatever, if that gets Trump on board, as long as it's green, sustainable infrastructure. That, by the way, should include broadband infrastructure—the entire nation needs to have access to reliable, high-speed internet. That's one thing this crisis has demonstrated in spades; the technology gap can cripple communities. Earmarking those trillions now would be great for getting people to work on infrastructure right out of the gate when it's safe for people to be out in the world again.

So yes, Phase 4 or whatever Donald Trump wants to call it, provided he gets Republicans in Congress—who are so far rejecting the notion that more has to be done—on board. They're not going to have much choice, realistically. It's not going to take very long for the pressure to build on them to realize that they haven't done nearly enough to get us out of this thing standing.

Democrats Diverted Nation When Coronavirus Was Beginning

When Democrats whine about an alleged late response of the Trump administration to the coronavirus, they should first look in the mirror.

For when the virus was germinating in Wuhan and the U.S. could have possibly gotten quicker wind of it, the nation was diverted by the unsuccessful Democrat impeachment effort against the president.

If anyone is this responsible for a delayed response, it is the Democrats. GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) made the point Tuesday on a radio show: “He was first, and I think Tom [GOP Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas] was right on the mark. And it came up while we were tied down on the impeachment trial,” he said on The Hugh Hewitt Show. “And I think it diverted the attention of the government, because everything every day was all about impeachment. But Tom figured this out early, and he was absolutely right.”

Former GOP Senate aide John Ashbrook also said Tuesday that the pandemic probably arrived in the U.S. the same day Democrats sent articles of impeachment to the Senate. The same day.

Democrats were playing political games while a silent threat was getting ready to kill thousands of Americans. Not only do they not acknowledge their share of the blame, they try and switch it to the president. Shame is a concept foreign to them, as are logic and natural fabrics.

McConnell mentions Tom Cotton. If two GOP senators have made a name for themselves recently, it is Cotton and Senator John Thune (R-SD). You may hear from them in 2024.

McConnell concluded: “The way I thought it [the economic rescue bill] would work best would be for those of us in the Senate to try to get started on a bipartisan basis, and we were doing really quite well, as you may recall, until the speaker of the House decided to insert herself into the process, which created a couple of days of unnecessary partisan sniping. But we got past that. And in the end, I think the best evidence is that there was not a single vote against it.”

Whether it’s unnecessary sniping or diverting the nation away from a mortal threat, you can always count on Democrats to be, well, Democrats.

This piece was written by PoliZette Staff on March 31, 2020. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

Read more at LifeZette:
What if President Hillary Clinton were dealing with this virus?
Will there be a coup at the Democratic convention?
Lindsey Graham obliterates Nancy Pelosi after she blames Trump for Americans dying from COVID-19

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