The Commentariat -- February 27, 2020

Afternoon Update:

Matt Phillips of the New York Times: "Global markets tumbled for a sixth consecutive day on Thursday, dragging down the S&P 500 more than 10 percent in just a week, reflecting rising fears over the coronavirus that is spreading quickly around the world. The S&P 500 fell 4.4 percent on Thursday, the worst single day slide for the market since August 2011. The index is on pace for its worst weekly performance since the 2008 financial crisis. Stocks in Europe and Asia were also hard hit on Thursday. The sell-off came after public health officials in the United States and Germany said new patients in each country had no known connection to others with the illness, a development that could complicate efforts to track the virus." The CNBC story is here. Mrs. McC: Wow! Democrats really upset traders.

Emily Cochrane, et al., of the New York Times: "Federal health employees interacted with Americans quarantined for possible exposure to the coronavirus without proper medical training or protective gear, then scattered into the general population, according to a government whistle-blower. In a portion of a complaint filing obtained by The New York Times that has been submitted to the Office of the Special Counsel, the whistle-blower, described as a senior leader at the health agency, said the team was 'improperly deployed' to two military bases in California to assist the processing of Americans who had been evacuated from coronavirus hot zones in China and elsewhere. The staff members were sent to Travis Air Force Base and March Air Reserve Base and were ordered to enter quarantined areas, including a hangar where coronavirus evacuees were being received. They were not provided training in safety protocols until five days later, the person said. Without proper training or equipment, some of the exposed staff members moved freely around and off the bases, with at least one person staying in a nearby hotel and leaving California on a commercial flight." The Washington Post story is here. The Hill has a summary report here.

Stifling the Experts. Michael Shear & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "The White House moved on Thursday to tighten control of coronavirus messaging by government health officials and scientists, directing them to coordinate all statements and public appearance with the office of Vice President Mike Pence, according to several officials familiar with the new approach.... Mr. Pence said Thursday that he had selected Dr. Deborah L. Birx, the director of the United States effort to combat H.I.V. and AIDS, to serve as the Coronavirus Response Coordinator for the White House.... With Mr. Pence's announcement, Dr. Birx becomes the third person to be designated as the administration's primary coronavirus official. Mr. Trump said that 'Mike is going to be in charge, and Mike will report back to me.' Mr. Pence said it will be Dr. Birx. Meanwhile, Alex M. Azar II, the health and human services secretary, remains the chairman of the government's coronavirus task force.... Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, one of the country's leading experts on viruses and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infections Diseases, told associates that the White House had instructed him not to say anything else without clearance." ~~~

Trump's plan for the coronavirus so far: -Cut winter heating assistance for the poor -Have VP Pence, who wanted to 'pray away' HIV epidemic, oversee the response -Let ex-pharma lobbyist Alex Azar refuse to guarantee affordable vaccines to all' -Disgusting. -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, in a tweet yesterday evening

Related Hill story here.

Martyn McLaughlin of the Scotsman: "Patrick Harvie MSP, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, said there were reasonable grounds for suspecting that the US president, or people he is connected with, 'have been involved in serious crime.' He has called on ministers to apply to the Court of Session to seek answers as to how Mr Trump's bankrolled his multimillion acquisitions of land and property in his mother's homeland. Responding at First Minister's Questions, Nicola Sturgeon stressed she was 'no defender' of Mr Trump, but said any allegations of criminality were a matter for Police Scotland and the Crown Office." Harvie asked the goverment to investigate via an "unexplained wealth order," a rarely-used tool designed "to target suspected corrupt foreign officials who have potentially laundered stolen money through the UK."

Senator Warren gets pointers about South Carolina from a native son. Thanks to PD Pepe for the link:

Zack Budryk of the Hill: "The Boston Globe Editorial Board on Wednesday endorsed former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld's long-shot primary challenge to President Trump. 'Although sometimes dismissed as a gadfly because of his Libertarian Party vice presidential bid in 2016, Weld is a solid, substantive, hyper-smart figure. As governor of Massachusetts from 1991 to 1997, he demonstrated an ability to work with an overwhelmingly Democratic legislature to produce impressive results,' the Globe said." The Globe's editorial is here.

Luke Broadwater, et al., of the Baltimore Sun: "Former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, who held elected offices in Baltimore for two decades and was elevated by voters to lead the city following the upheaval of 2015, was sentenced to three years in federal prison Thursday for a fraud scheme involving a children's book series.... 'I have yet frankly to hear any explanation that makes sense,' the judge said. 'This was not a tiny mistake, lapse of judgment. This became a very large fraud. The nature and circumstances of this offense clearly I think are extremely, extremely serious.'"

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Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump named Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday to coordinate the government's response to the coronavirus, even as he repeatedly played down the danger to the United States of a widespread domestic outbreak. The president's announcement, at a White House news conference, followed mounting bipartisan criticism that the administration's response had been sluggish and came after two days of contradictory messages about the virus, which has infected more than 81,000 people globally, killing nearly 3,000. The announcement also came on a day when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported a person with no known risk factors had been infected in Northern California. 'The risk to the American people remains very low,' said Mr. Trump, flanked by top health officials from several government agencies. 'We have the greatest experts, really in the world, right here.'... Several top health care experts at the news conference echoed Mr. Trump's optimism but also offered a more sober assessment of the future risks. Dr. Anne Schuchat, the principal deputy director of the C.D.C., warned Americans that there would be more infections.... About a half-hour later, Mr. Trump contradicted Ms. Schuchat's assessment, telling reporters that 'I don't think it's inevitable.' He left the door open to travel restrictions beyond China, to other hard-hit countries like South Korea and Italy, and said his early decision to stop flights from China had held the virus at bay." ~~~

~~~ Nisky Guy translation of Trump's remarks: I ignore the greatest experts in the world.

     ~~~ CNN's story, by Maegan Vasquez & others, is here. ~~~

~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: So it's Wednesday evening, & Trump is giving a rambling, disjointed speech about the coronavirus threat. Naturally, he occasionally contradicts himself, which should give you a lot of confidence he knows what he's talking about. It doesn't help that he's sniffing constantly, as if he caught the virus while he was in India. He says he put mike pence in charge of the federal government's response to the epidemic, so thank God we know we have someone praying for us. Now HHS Secretary Alex Azar is thanking Trump for his great leadership on the matter. I'm waiting for him to tell us to buy duct tape. IOW, we're screwed. BTW, I had to go to a couple of pharmacies today, so while I was there I asked if they sold surgical masks: yes, but sold out in both places. ~~~

     ~~~ Update: Trump claimed during the presser that a vaccine would be developed "fairly quickly." Later in the presser, Dr. Tony Fauci of NIH explained why, in the most optimistic scenario, it would take a minimum of a year for a vaccine to be made available to the public. ~~~

~~~ Everything Is Going Very Smoothly. Caroline Kelly of CNN: "Health and Human Services Secretary Alexander Azar stressed that he was still in charge of the task force addressing the novel coronavirus following ... Donald Trump's announcement that Vice President Mike Pence would lead US efforts to battle the outbreak.... Azar's post-news conference statements muddled the message on who is in charge of the administration's response to the crisis, which was perhaps the biggest news to come out of Trump's meandering news conference on the virus Wednesday evening.... When asked whether he felt he [was] being replaced, Azar relied, 'Not in the least.... When this was mentioned to me, I was delighted that I'd get to have the vice president helping me -- delighted, absolutely,' he continued. Azar also said the coronavirus poses a low risk to the American public, despite warnings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the contrary." Mrs. McC: According to MSNBC, pence's appointment was first "mentioned to Azar" at the press conference, surprising Azar. ~~~

~~~ Erin Banco & Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "The president's decision to put Pence in charge was seen by some as further evidence that he is not taking the threat of coronavirus seriously. Over the decades, Pence has amassed a public record that his critics have often bashed as anti-science. On matters of public health, for instance, he has made wild claims in the past. 'Despite the hysteria from the political class and the media, smoking doesn't kill. In fact, two out of every three smokers does not die from a smoking-related illness and nine out of 10 smokers do not contract lung cancer,' Pence said in 2000. Additionally, Pence has advocated teaching creationism in American public schools.... While top health agencies have warned that it is merely a matter of time before the virus spreads in the United States, Trump has seemed focused on controlling the narrative to prevent a financial crisis from getting in the way of his re-election campaign."

~~~ Lauran Neergaard & Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar of NBC Miami & the AP: "Rep. Bennie Thompson [D-Miss.]..., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee..., [said] that putting Pence, 'someone with no public health expertise, in charge of the response will not instill confidence with the American people and raises questions about the administration's ability to coordinate an effective response to a complex public health threat.' During his time as Indiana's governor, Pence faced criticism for his response to a public health crisis in the southern part of the state. In 2015, Scott County saw the number of people infected with HIV skyrocket.... Indiana law at the time prohibited needle exchanges, exacerbating the outbreak, which primarily infected intravenous users of the painkiller Opana. Pence had long opposed needle exchanges but was eventually persuaded to issue an executive order allowing one in Scott County. Despite his own misgivings -- Pence said he didn't support the exchanges as an 'anti-drug policy' -- he signed a law allowing the state government to approve them on a case-by-case basis." ~~~

~~~ Gail Collins of the New York Times: "The run-up to the Pence unveiling had not been exactly calming for citizens who wanted to have faith in competent White House oversight. Barack Obama used to have special epidemic-watching groups just in case this kind of crisis developed. One was headed by the highly regarded Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer, who got sent packing by John Bolton. Another infectious disease expert, Tom Bossert, suddenly vanished from the Department of Homeland Security in 2018, presumably also at the hand of John You-know-who.... [Trump has] come up with a totally new explanation for the stock market skid. It turns out investors were not frightened so much by the pandemic as the Democratic debate. 'I think the financial markets are very upset when they look at the Democrat candidates standing on that stage making fools out of themselves,' Trump told reporters. Plus that virus thing is ... not necessarily a big deal. What really 'shocked' him, Trump said, was his discovery that 'the flu in our country kills 25,000 people to 69,000 people a year.' So the problems are the Democrats and the flu. The answers are Mike Pence and ... reminding the public once again that Nancy Pelosi's district has a big homeless problem." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: It is worth noting here that the markets crashed Monday & Tuesday. The Democratic debate was Tuesday night. So evidently the markets crashed because traders anticipated the candidates would "stand on that stage & make fools of themselves."

From the Washington Post's live updates on coronavirus developments @4:30 pm ET Wednesday: "Rep. Donna Shalala (D-Fla.) who served as the health and human services secretary in Bill Clinton's administration, chastised Trump over his planned news briefing this evening, arguing that only medical professionals and scientists should be speaking to the public about the coronavirus. Shalala said during an appearance on MSNBC that this was especially so when it comes to Trump. 'This is an anti-science administration,' she said. 'The last person the American people trust is the president of the United States talking about science.'" Mrs. McC: Sorry, the link no longer works, & I can't retrieve the text. ~~~

President Trump responds to coronavirus w/acting WH chief of staff, acting intel director, acting Homeland Security sec'y; he has launched a loyalty purge; he wants to cut CDC and NIH budgets; he eliminated NSC post to safeguard against global pandemics -- John Harwood of CNN, in a tweet Wednesday morning

~~~ Trump to Hold Presser to Misinform Public about Health Crisis. Noal Weiland & Emily Chocrane of the New York Times: "President Trump blamed the media on Wednesday for 'doing everything possible' to make the coronavirus 'look as bad as possible,' even as he said his administration was 'doing a great job' with a virus that the Centers for Disease Control said would inevitably hit American shores. Mr. Trump set a 6 p.m. White House news conference to discuss the virus with officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But reassurances have not global markets, which were down sharply overseas Wednesday morning. A day after its worst one-day slide in two years, the S&P 500 closed down 3 percent on Tuesday, a decline that put the index deeper in the red for 2020. With cabinet secretaries fanning out on Capitol Hill, Wednesday promised more sharp questioning about the administration's preparedness for a virus that has now infected more than 81,000 people globally and killed more than 2,700." A Hill report is here. Mrs. McC: Maybe McQuack will be arrested for practicing medicine without a license. Meanwhile, shame on news media for reporting news. (Also linked yesterday.)

Intel Community to Mislead and/or STFU. Natasha Bertrand & Daniel Lippman of Politico: "... Donald Trump is tightening his grip on the intelligence community as part of a post-acquittal purge of career officials and political appointees deemed insufficiently loyal, and the abrupt firing of his last intel chief is only the tip of the iceberg, current and former intelligence officials say.... But it also revealed a deeper trend: namely, the steps Trump has taken to shield the public from intelligence that could be politically damaging for him, and keep the flow of information coming out of the agencies firmly under his control.... The NSA, CIA, and Pentagon have been urged by the White House not to share information about Russia and Ukraine with lawmakers, while the 'Gang of Eight' senior members of Congress were bypassed leading up to at least one major intelligence operation. And intelligence community leaders have backed out of the public portion of the annual worldwide threats hearing, fearing Trump's wrath if their assessments don't align with his." (Also linked yesterday.)

Justin Wise of the Hill: "The Marine Corps is calling for all paraphernalia related to the Confederacy to be removed from its bases around the world. Commandant Gen. David Berger made the directive in a memo to senior staff that included a list of initiatives that he is 'prioritizing for immediate execution,' according to a copy obtained by Military.com.... More than a third of all active-duty troops say they have personally witnessed an example of white nationalism or ideologically driven racism from another person within their ranks in recent months, according to survey conducted by The Military Times."

Aw, Sad. Chris Sommerfeldt of the New York Daily News: "Rudy Giuliani ... forgot to hang up on a Daily News reporter Wednesday and, thinking he was off the line, started trash-talking ex-Gov. George Pataki while complaining he only has 'five friends left.'" Read on for Rudy's beef with Pataki, which relates to Rudy's asking the then-governor to cancel NYC's 2001 mayoral election & leave him in office right after the 9/11 attack. Pataki put the story in a book he's hawking; Giuliani claims the conversation never happened.

Presidential Race

Lisa Lerer & Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "Dozens of interviews with Democratic establishment leaders this week show that they are not just worried about [Sen. Bernie] Sanders's candidacy, but are also willing to risk intraparty damage to stop his nomination at the national convention in July if they get the chance. Since Mr. Sanders's victory in Nevada's caucuses on Saturday, The Times has interviewed 93 party officials -- all of them superdelegates, who could have a say on the nominee at the convention -- and found overwhelming opposition to handing the Vermont senator the nomination if he arrived with the most delegates but fell short of a majority.... The party leaders say they worry that Mr. Sanders, a democratic socialist with passionate but limited support so far, will lose to President Trump, and drag down moderate House and Senate candidates in swing states with his left-wing agenda of 'Medicare for all' and free four-year public college." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: If this leaves Democrats with nominee Biden, the party's chances will be far worse than with Sanders as the nominee. In either eventuality, I foresee a loss to Trump. However, there's this: ~~~

~~~ Aris Folley of the Hill: "Sen. Bernie Sanders's (I-Vt.) presidential campaign said this week that he would not accept money from fellow Democratic presidential candidate >Mike Bloomberg if the senator becomes the party's presidential nominee. 'It's a hard no,' Jeff Weaver, a senior advisor for Sanders's 2020 presidential campaign, said of the idea in an interview with NBC News on Tuesday night after the primary debate in Charleston, S.C. 'Bernie has said he's going to fund his presidential campaign with small-dollar contributions, and I think we can do that.'" ~~~

~~~ Jonathan Chait: "... Democrats should consider the possibility that Sanders is not merely pretending to be a fanatic. He may be prepared to follow his convictions to their logical conclusion, at whatever cost. And the message to Democratic voters is, if you want your nominee to have the tailwind of Bloomberg's billion, nominate anybody but Sanders." ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: If you find yourself in a bind and refuse to take help from someone you despise -- say, your avaricious, hedge-fund-trading brother -- then fine, good for you. But the weight of the free world is not riding on your shoulders. A presidential candidate has a little more responsibility. It isn't that principles are like glass meant for breaking; it's that they must be applied within the context of other considerations. I see this is too much nuance for top Bernie Bro Jeff Weaver to understand, but the candidate himself has a moral obligation to be more pragmatic.

Brian Schwartz of CNBC: "Democratic megadonor Bernard Schwartz has started reaching out to party leaders, particularly House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, to encourage them to back a candidate for president in order to stop the surge of Sen. Bernie Sanders. Schwartz, the CEO of BLS Investments, told CNBC that in recent days he's been trying to speak with Pelosi and Schumer about making a pick, in the hope that voters will follow their lead and end up denying Sanders the party's presidential nomination. 'We should know who is the best person to beat Donald Trump, and with all due respect, Bernie Sanders cannot beat Trump,' he explained, describing the message he has relayed to the two Democratic leaders."

Caitlin Oprysko & Marc Caputo of Politico: "Rep. James Clyburn, the godfather of South Carolina Democratic politics, swung his support to Joe Biden's presidential campaign Wednesday, giving the former vice president a crucial seal of approval among black voters. 'I've been saying to the media, I've known for a long time who I'm going to vote for. But I had not decided -- well, not to share it with the public,' the House Majority Whip said at a news conference in North Charleston. 'But I want the public to know that I'm voting for Joe Biden. South Carolina should be voting for Joe Biden.'" ~~~

~~~ Joe's Fabulous Arrest. Katie Glueck of the New York Times: "At least three times this month, Joseph R. Biden Jr. has asserted that he was arrested as he sought to visit the anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela in prison, even saying that Mr. Mandela later thanked him for going to such an effort. And for a week, Mr. Biden's campaign declined to answer questions seeking comment and clarification on those remarks, which were rebutted by a former United States ambassador to the United Nations in an article in The New York Times.... But on Tuesday, Kate Bedingfield, a deputy campaign manager, said Mr. Biden was referring to an episode in which he was separated from black colleagues in Johannesburg while on a congressional delegation trip to South Africa in the 1970s. It was the campaign's first explanation to date -- but one that still left many questions unanswered and did not square with Mr. Biden's most recent remarks." ~~~

     ~~~ Dan MacGuill of Snopes puts Biden's arrest story to bed with a rating of "false."

Andrew Kaczynski, et al., of CNN: "Mike Bloomberg has vowed as a Democratic candidate for president to 'strengthen entitlement programs.' But when he was mayor of New York City, Bloomberg twice compared Social Security to a 'Ponzi scheme' and repeatedly said cuts to that program as well as Medicare and Medicaid had to be part of any serious solution to reducing the federal deficit.... 'We are giving monies out with the next guy's money coming in and at the end of -- when the music stops -- it's just not gonna be enough chairs for everybody,' Bloomberg said."

Michael Grynbaum & Marc Tracy of the New York Times: "President Trump's re-election campaign sued The New York Times for libel on Wednesday, alleging that an Op-Ed article published by the newspaper falsely asserted a 'quid pro quo' between Russian officials and Mr. Trump's 2016 campaign. Mr. Trump often threatens to sue media organizations but rarely follows through. The lawsuit, filed in New York State court in Manhattan, is the first time his political operation has taken legal action against an American news outlet since he took office. The lawsuit concerns an essay published by the Opinion section of The Times in March 2019. The article, headlined 'The Real Trump-Russia Quid Pro Quo,' was written by Max Frankel, who served as executive editor of The Times from 1986 to 1994. (The Opinion section of The Times operates separately from its newsroom.)... The suit also accuses The Times, without evidence, of harboring 'extreme bias against and animosity toward' Mr. Trump's re-election campaign.... Earlier Wednesday, several media law experts reacted with skepticism about the Trump campaign's chances of succeeding in the suit. 'A publisher cannot be held liable for commentary based on public facts,' said Brian Hauss, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union." A CNBC story is here. ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE. Michael Scherer & Anu Narayanswamy of the Washington Post: "Former president Barack Obama on Wednesday called on South Carolina television stations to stop running an ad from a super PAC supporting President Trump that uses Obama's words out of context in a misleading attack on former vice president Joe Biden. The Committee to Defend the President, a pro-Trump group, circulated an ad that falsely suggests that words Obama spoke in the narration of his own 1995 book were meant to describe Biden.... The ad repurposes a similar attack the Committee to Defend the President ran last year in several states with many black politicians, including Georgia, Michigan and Louisiana, according to PolitiFact."

Larry Neumeister of the AP: "The Trump administration can withhold millions of dollars in law enforcement grants to force states to cooperate with U.S. immigration enforcement, a federal appeals court in New York ruled Wednesday in a decision that conflicted with three other federal appeals courts. The ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan overturned a lower court's decision ordering the administration to release funding to New York City and seven states -- New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Washington, Massachusetts, Virginia and Rhode Island." Mrs. McC: Two of the three judges were appointed by Republican presidents, though neither by Trump. The third is a Democratic appointee.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.

David Bauder of the AP: "ABC News has suspended political reporter David Wright after he was recorded in a barroom conversation calling ... Donald Trump a 'nightmare spouse that you can't win an argument with.' Wright also used a common vulgarity to describe why he didn't like the president in a conversation recorded by Project Veritas, the conservative website that uses hidden cameras and undercover reporters to ensnare journalists in embarrassing conversations.... Wright said voter are poorly informed by the media and that his bosses 'don't see an upside in doing the job we're supposed to do, which is to speak truth to power and hold people to account.' He described himself politically as a socialist who believes in national health insurance. ABC News would not say how long Wright would be suspended. He will be reassigned from political coverage when he returns to avoid any possible appearance of bias."

Justin Baragona & Maxwell Tani of the Daily Beast: "Following MSNBC contributor Dr. Jason Johnson's inflammatory remarks about supporters and campaign staffers of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the academic has been temporarily benched by the network, sources confirmed to The Daily Beast. In recent months, Johnson -- a fixture of the network's Democratic primary analysis -- has drawn considerable heat for his relentlessly anti-Sanders commentary on MSNBC, which has also come under fire from the left for its skeptical and largely negative coverage of the democratic-socialist senator. During an interview last week on SiriusXM's The Karen Hunter Show, Johnson claimed 'racist white liberals' support Sanders and that the senator has done 'nothing for intersectionality.' The MSNBC contributor then took aim at the women of color who work for Sanders. 'I don't care how many people from the island of misfit black girls you throw out there to defend you,' Johnson exclaimed."

News Ledes

New York Times: "A person in California who was not exposed to anyone known to be infected with the coronavirus, and had not traveled to countries in which the virus is circulating, has tested positive for the infection. It may be the first case of community spread in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday." A CDC report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Update: New York Times: "A California coronavirus patient had to wait days to be tested because of restrictive federal criteria, despite doctors' suggestions. The patient, who has tested positive, may be the first person to be infected through community spread in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday." ~~~

~~~ This raises the possibility that we only think we have few cases in the US, because we have only tested a few hundred people. -- Ronald Klain, who oversaw the Ebola response, in tweet ~~~

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

The Commentariat -- February 26, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

From the Washington Post's live updates on coronavirus developments @4:30 pm ET Wednesday: "Rep. Donna Shalala (D-Fla.) who served as the health and human services secretary in Bill Clinton's administration, chastised Trump over his planned news briefing this evening, arguing that only medical professionals and scientists should be speaking to the public about the coronavirus. Shalala said during an appearance on MSNBC that this was especially so when it comes to Trump. 'This is an anti-science administration,' she said. 'The last person the American people trust is the president of the United States talking about science.'" Mrs. McC: Sorry, the link no longer works & I can't retrieve the text.

Trump to Hold Presser to Misinform Public about Health Crisis. Noal Weiland & Emily Chocrane of the New York Times: "President Trump blamed the media on Wednesday for 'doing everything possible' to make the coronavirus 'look as bad as possible,' even as he said his administration was 'doing a great job' with a virus that the Centers for Disease Control said would inevitably hit American shores. Mr. Trump set a 6 p.m. White House news conference to discuss the virus with officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But his reassurances have not calmed global markets, which were down sharply overseas Wednesday morning. A day after its worst one-day slide in two years, the S&P 500 closed down 3 percent on Tuesday, a decline that put the index deeper in the red for 2020. With cabinet secretaries fanning out on Capitol Hill, Wednesday promised more sharp questioning about the administration's preparedness for a virus that has now infected more than 81,000 people globally and killed more than 2,700." A Hill report is here. Mrs. McC: Maybe McQuack will be arrested for practicing medicine without a license. Meanwhile, shame on news media for reporting news.

Intel Community to Mislead and/or STFU. Natasha Bertrand & Daniel Lippman of Politico: "... Donald Trump is tightening his grip on the intelligence community as part of a post-acquittal purge of career officials and political appointees deemed insufficiently loyal, and the abrupt firing of his last intel chief is only the tip of the iceberg, current and former intelligence officials say.... But it also revealed a deeper trend: namely, the steps Trump has taken to shield the public from intelligence that could be politically damaging for him, and keep the flow of information coming out of the agencies firmly under his control.... The NSA, CIA, and Pentagon have been urged by the White House not to share information about Russia and Ukraine with lawmakers, while the 'Gang of Eight' senior members of Congress were bypassed leading up to at least one major intelligence operation. And intelligence community leaders have backed out of the public portion of the annual worldwide threats hearing, fearing Trump's wrath if their assessments don't align with his."

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Jonathan Martin & Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "The Democratic presidential candidates delivered a barrage of criticism against their party's emerging front-runner, Senator Bernie Sanders, at a debate on Tuesday night, casting him as a divisive figure with unrealistic ideas, even as they continued to batter Michael R. Bloomberg for his extreme wealth, his record on policing and his alleged behavior toward women. Mr. Sanders, in his first debate since a smashing victory in the Nevada caucuses last weekend, cut a combative but perhaps not a commanding figure, firmly defending his left-wing agenda on subjects like health care and foreign policy against attacks from all sides. The forum plunged repeatedly into an unsightly spectacle of flailing hands and raised voices, and even outright chaos, with candidates talking over one another and the moderators struggling and failing at times to direct an orderly argument." ~~~

     ~~~ Marc Caputo & Noland McCaskill of Politico look at the "key moments." ~~~

     ~~~ Emily Stewart, et al., of Vox: "There was a lot of yelling at the Democratic debate in South Carolina on Tuesday, to the point that sometimes it was really unclear what was going on." ~~~

     ~~~ Russell Berman of the Atlantic: "Well, that was loud." ~~~

~~~ AND, in criticizing Bernie Sanders' 2007 vote to protect gun manufactrers from liability, Joe Biden said 150 million people (presumably Americans affected by Bernie's vote) had died since then from gun violence. Were that true, there's a good chance you would be too dead to read this. If you had survived, nearly half your neighbors would be dead. There would be regular shoot-outs on local streets. It's clear Biden doesn't listen to what he says because making a mistake like that is one thing; not realizing what a ridiculous mistake it is is another. ~~~

~~~ Here's the highlights reel:

The New York Times' debate snark-a-thon is here. It includes a live videofeed of the debate. Here's Politico's live analysis. It also includes a live videofeed.

The Boston Globe Editors endorse Elizabeth Warren for the Democratic presidential nomination.

You may ask about the coronavirus, which is very well under control in our country. We have very few people with it, and the people that have it are, in all cases, I have not heard anything other -- the people are getting better, they're all getting better. -- Donald Trump, Tuesday ~~~

~~~ Pam Belluck & Noah Weiland of the New York Times: "The coronavirus almost certainly will begin spreading in communities in the United States, and Americans should begin preparations now, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday. 'It's not so much of a question of if this will happen anymore but rather more of a question of exactly when this will happen,' Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said in a news briefing. In the event of an outbreak, communities should plan for 'social distancing measures,' like dividing school classes into smaller groups of students, closing schools, canceling meetings and conferences, and arranging for employees to work from home." (Also linked yesterday.) Bloomberg, via Yahoo!, has the story here. ~~~

~~~ Alexander Bolton of the Hill: “Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah) ... told senior Trump administration officials Tuesday that they are not adequately prepared for the possibility the coronavirus may spread more widely in the United States. Romney confronted administration officials at a private briefing on Capitol Hill about the same time that President Trump downplayed concerns about spreading infections, telling reporters in New Delhi the situation is 'under control' and is a 'problem that's going to go away.'... 'At this stage, I think we are substantially underinvesting in what would be appropriate for a setting which could be serious,' he [said'.... 'I think we should be pulling out all the stops,' he said." ~~~

~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "The Department of Homeland Security is coordinating the U.S. government's response to the increasing threat of the novel coronavirus. The agency has also been under the control of acting head Chad Wolf for more than four months, with no full-time replacement selected. And Wolf's testimony Tuesday morning wasn't exactly confidence-inspiring -- particularly for one GOP senator. Appearing in front of a Senate appropriations subcommittee, Wolf was on the receiving end of a brutal line of questioning from Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.). Throughout the exchange, Wolf struggled to produce basic facts and projections about the disease." Mrs. McC: If you have access to the WashPo, the article is worth reading. Wolf was entirely unprepared to answer the most basic questions about the virus. This could become Make America Hurricane Katrina Again. ~~~

~~~ Fred Imbert of CNBC: "National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow tried on Tuesday to assuage concerns over the cornavirus and its impact on the U.S. economy. 'We have contained this. I won't say [it's] airtight, but it's pretty close to airtight,' Kudlow told CNBC's Kelly Evans.... He added that, while the outbreak is a 'human tragedy,' it will likely not be an 'economic tragedy.' 'There will be some stumbles. We're looking at numbers; it's a little iffy,' Kudlow said. 'But at the moment ... there's no supply disruptions out there yet.'" ~~~

~~~ Steve M.: "But Tucker Carlson knows it's time for the right to seize the initiative and do what right-wingers always do when something bad happens: blame it on liberals.... 'He said:... "Countless publications wagged their fingers in the face of readers, and told them it was irrational, probably immoral in fact to worry about the coronavirus than the annual flu. Identity politics trumped public health and not for the first time. Wokeness is a cult. They would let you die before they admitted that diversity is not our strength."'... Rush Limbaugh also seized the moment -- and leveled the exact opposite charge at liberals, or at least at the 'liberal media': They're being overly alarmist.... Trumpism is popular among the untraveled; they're suspicious of people who gad about the planet rather than settling into a small town or gated retirement village. They'll regard this as a disease of rootless cosmopolitanism -- or, rather, as a disease rootless cosmopolitans have spread to simple, decent, travel-averse Volk." ~~~

~~~ James Hamblin of the Atlantic explains why (1) you're likely to contract a strain of coronavirus and (2) it isn't apt to kill you. Quite a helpful article.

Trump Tries to Stifle Female Judge & Justices:

Darren Samuelsohn & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A federal judge swung back at ... Donald Trump on Tuesday over his heated criticism of the Roger Stone case, warning that the president's commentary about his longtime associate's conviction had helped fuel threats to the jury. U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson cited Trump's public comments and Twitter posts, as well as an accompanying campaign from the president's conservative media allies to identify and critique the jury, as one of the reasons for her decision to clamp down on public access to a hearing on Stone's request for a new trial. 'Any attempt to invade the privacy of the jurors or to harass or intimidate them is completely antithetical to our entire system of justice,' Jackson said before issuing a ruling that cleared the courtroom..., highly unusual hearing that featured testimony from the jury foreperson and two other members of the Stone jury. Not long after Jackson made her remarks, Trump tweeted three times in rapid fashion about the judge and the Stone jury. 'There has rarely been a juror so tainted as the forewoman in the Roger Stone case. Look at her background. She never revealed her hatred of "Trump" and Stone,' he wrote in one post. 'She was totally biased, as is the judge. Roger wasn't even working on my campaign. Miscarriage of justice. Sad to watch!' The president also posted comments from a conservative lawyer complaining that Stone's jury wasn't impartial and a link to a Fox News story with a headline suggesting Jackson's bias 'may have jeopardized the whole trial.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Update. The New York Times story is here.

~~~ Eli Okun of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Tuesday slammed Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, saying both should recuse themselves from cases involving him or his administration. His comments at a press conference in India -- and previous tweets to the same effect -- came after Sotomayor criticized the court's conservative majority for granting a number of the administration's emergency stay requests.... Riffing off Laura Ingraham's commentary on her Fox News show, Trump used Sotomayor's dissent as a jumping-off point to hit the pair of liberal justices." (Also linked yesterday.) Update: The New York Times story is here. ~~~

~~~ Jonathan Chait: "'She's trying to shame people with a different view into voting her way, and that's so inappropriate,' Trump complained. In other words, Sotomayor' offense is to try to make arguments in her written dissents that persuade other justices to change their minds. That is not a cause for recusal, it is literally the job description for a Supreme Court justice. It is true that Ginsburg clumsily opined on Trump during the campaign (probably assuming, as many people did, he was bound to lose). That is certainly a form of bias that detracts from the image of nonpartisanship the court attempts to project. On the other hand, Trump appointed two members of the Supreme Court. A third justice, Clarence Thomas, currently has a spouse working for his administration, where she is at this moment helping lead a purge of putatively disloyal officials and attempting to replace them with a list of right-wing lunatics."

Muslim-Ban Prez Praises Anti-Muslim PM. Anne Gearan, et al., of the Washington Post: "As violence erupted in the streets Tuesday over a citizenship law that critics say discriminates against Muslims, President Trump defended Prime Minister Narendra Modi's record on religious tolerance.... 'We did talk about religious freedom, and I will say that the prime minister was incredible in what he told me. He wants people to have religious freedom and very strongly,' Trump said during a news conference that capped the public portion of his largely ceremonial visit.... The bonhomie and praise for Modi's leadership was all the more striking for its contrast with an apparent communal riot between Hindus and Muslims.... At least 13 people were killed, including a police officer, in clashes in the capital city during Trump's visit. The violence began when supporters of the citizenship law confronted opponents of the measure. Heavy police presence in the affected areas failed to stem the violence.... The U.S. State Department has repeatedly expressed concerns about the crackdown in Muslim-majority Kashmir after Modi revoked its autonomy. The citizenship law along with India's other actions have drawn bipartisan criticism in Congress...."

Jim Acosta Is Tired of Trying to Reason with Donald Trump:

Mr. President, I think our record on delivering the truth is a lot better than yours sometimes. -- Jim Acosta of CNN, to Donald Trump, after Trump questioned CNN's credibility ~~~

~~~ Eli Okun: "... Donald Trump was half a world away from his usual Washington fights on Thursday but couldn't resist a press conference spat with an old standby from back home: CNN's Jim Acosta. A question from Acosta at Tuesday's news conference in New Delhi about foreign electoral interference and Trump's new acting director of national intelligence quickly degenerated into a splatter of cross-talk once the president took aim at CNN's credibility." The exchange starts at 30:05 minutes in this video. Trump seems very low-energy throughout the presser. (Also linked yesterday.)

Michael Stern of USA Today: "'Things have only gotten worse since Trump survived his Senate impeachment trial. For a start, [AG Bill] Barr has said that he must personally approve any investigation into corruption by a presidential candidate or campaign.... No agent or prosecutor is going to tap the attorney general on the shoulder to ask permission to investigate the man Barr lives to protect. That means Trump and his campaign can solicit assistance from foreign adversaries in this year's presidential election, and no one will stop them.... If Trump can harness the power of the U.S. Department of Justice to do his personal bidding, we are no longer the America we thought we were. If we cannot rely on the U.S. Department of Justice to do the right thing, we are lost." --s

Undergrad May Fire Veteran Admin Officials. Daniel Lippmann & Meredith McGraw of Politico: "The White House has hired a college senior to be one of the top officials in its powerful Presidential Personnel Office, according to three administration officials familiar with the matter. James Bacon, 23, is acting as one of the right-hand men to new PPO director John McEntee, according to the officials. Bacon, a senior at George Washington University pursuing a bachelor's degree, comes from the Department of Transportation, where he briefly worked in the policy shop. Prior to that role, while still taking classes, he worked at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, where he was a White House liaison.... At HUD, he distinguished himself as Secretary Ben Carson's confidential assistant, according to two other administration officials.... Bacon will be PPO's director of operations overseeing paperwork and will assist on vetting. The role was previously filled by Katja Bullock, who is in her late 70s and was a veteran of the office in both Bush administrations, as well as the Reagan administration." --s ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: But I'm sure Bacon is a sensitive kid with good judgment. Seriously, I found it alarming that McEntee, the 29-year-old former Trump "body man," would be snooping around looking for communists never-Trumpers to oust, but "college student" is ridiculous.

Matthew Daly of the AP: "Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked a pair of Republican bills that would ban most late-term abortions and threaten prison for doctors who don't try saving the life of infants born alive during abortions. The measures have been defeated multiple times in recent years, but Senate Republicans pushed for renewed votes to allow GOP lawmakers to make an election-year appeal to conservative voters."

News Ledes

USA Today: "In one of the worst shootings in Wisconsin history, six people were killed during a shooting rampage on the Milwaukee campus of Molson Coors on Wednesday afternoon, according to multiple sources who spoke to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The New York Times' live updates of developments in the coronavirus epidemic are here." The Journal Sentinel front page has links to numerous related stories.

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

The Commentariat -- February 25, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Pam Belluck & Noah Weiland of the New York Times: "The coronavirus almost certainly will begin spreading in communities in the United States, and Americans should begin preparations now, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday. 'It's not so much of a question of if this will happen anymore but rather more of a question of exactly when this will happen,' Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said in a news briefing. In the event of an outbreak, communities should plan for 'social distancing measures,' like dividing school classes into smaller groups of students, closing schools, canceling meetings and conferences, and arranging for employees to work from home."

Thou Shalt Not Disagrees with the Lord Donald. Eli Okun of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Tuesday slammed Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, saying both should recuse themselves from cases involving him or his administration. His comments at a press conference in India -- and previous tweets to the same effect -- came after Sotomayor criticized the court's conservative majority for granting a number of the administration's emergency stay requests.... Riffing off Laura Ingraham's commentary on her Fox News show, Trump used Sotomayor's dissent as a jumping-off point to hit the pair of liberal justices." ~~~

~~~ Jim Acosta Is Tired of Trying to Reason with Donald Trump:

Mr. President, I think our record on delivering the truth is a lot better than yours sometimes. -- Jim Acosta of CNN, to Donald Trump, after Trump questioned CNN's credibility ~~~

~~~ Eli Okun: "... Donald Trump was half a world away from his usual Washington fights on Thursday but couldn't resist a press conference spat with an old standby from back home: CNN's Jim Acosta. A question from Acosta at Tuesday' news conference in New Delhi about foreign electoral interference and Trump's new acting director of national intelligence quickly degenerated into a splatter of cross-talk once the president took aim at CNN's credibility." The exchanges starts at 30:05 minutes in this video. Trump seems quite low-energy throughout the presser.

~~~~~~~~~~

CBS News: "Seven Democratic candidates for president have qualified for Tuesday's debate in Charleston, South Carolina, to be hosted by CBS News. It's the last opportunity candidates will have to make their pitch on a national stage before Saturday's critical South Carolina primary -- and the last one before voters in 16 states and territories go to the polls on Super Tuesday, March 3." The debate will air from 8 p.m. to 10:15 p.m. ET. The debate will air on CBS & will stream on this page (I think) and on various devices like Roku & on CBS All Access.

Piling on Bernie. (1) Brian Schwartz of CNBC: "Mike Bloomberg's presidential campaign plans to unleash its cash-flush media operation against Bernie Sanders in the wake of the Vermont senator's resounding victory in the Nevada caucuses. Senior aides to Bloomberg's campaign have been discussing how they are going to use some of their resources against Sanders, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter who declined to be named because these decisions were made in private. Already, the campaign has spent over $500 million on media ad buys, according to Advertising Analytics. The campaign plans a multipronged attack, including the publication of opposition research on Sanders, these people said. It will also push out digital attack ads focused on Sanders' record. On Monday, the Bloomberg campaign attempted to paint Sanders as a past ally of the National Rifle Association, a gun advocacy group that Bloomberg has fought for over a decade." ~~~

~~~ (2) Natasha Korecki of Politico: "Joe Biden's campaign is airing a new digital ad in South Carolina accusing Bernie Sanders of trying to undermine Barack Obama's 2012 reelection by threatening to primary him. 'When it comes to building on Barack Obama's legacy, Bernie Sanders just can't be trusted,' the new ad ... warns." ~~~

Rebecca Klar of the Hill: "Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the leading Democratic presidential candidate, said in an new interview that it's 'unfair' to classify everything as being 'bad' in Cuba under the authoritarian rule of the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro. 'We're very opposed to the authoritarian nature of Cuba, but you know it's unfair to simply say everything is bad,' Sanders told '60 Minutes' in an interview that aired late Sunday. 'You know, when Fidel Castro came into office, you know what he did? He had a massive literacy program. Is that a bad thing? Even though Fidel Castro did it?' he added." ~~~

~~~ Marc Caputo of Politico: "Bernie Sanders says he's the Democrat best-equipped to defeat Donald Trump in November. But Florida Democrats insist he's the worst-equipped after Sanders's refusal Sunday night to thoroughly condemn the Cuban Revolution. His comments on 60 Minutes sent shockwaves through the nation's biggest battleground state, where Democratic members of Congress, state legislators and party leaders warned that his nomination -- and Sanders's self-described "Democratic socialism" -- will cost them the biggest battleground state of them all. 'Donald Trump wins Florida if Bernie is our nominee,' said state Rep. Javier Fernandez, a Democratic candidate in a majority-Hispanic state Senate district. 'If Bernie Sanders is atop the ticket, it's going to make it tougher for all of us to win in Florida,' said Fernandez, who has endorsed ... Joe Biden." ~~~

~~~ Eric Levitz of New York: "If offering an (accurately) positive assessment of any aspect of an authoritarian communist regime's record is tantamount to endorsing its form of rule, then Barack Obama is an authoritarian communist[.]... Every modern U.S. president -- and a wide array of liberal commentators -- has found positive things to say about an absolutist Saudi regime that beheads gays, suppresses all dissent, and had ties to 9/11."

Extreme Bernie Bro. Scott Bixby of the Daily Beast: "... at least some of [Bernie Sanders]' most toxic support is coming from inside the house. Using the account @perma_ben, Ben Mora, a regional field director for Sanders' campaign based in Michigan, has attacked other Democrats in the field -- as well as their family members, surrogates, journalists, and politically active celebrities -- in deeply personal terms, mocking their physical appearance, gender, and sexuality, among other things. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Mora has tweeted, 'looks like her name: pained, chunky, [and] confused origin/purpose.' Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg 'is what happens when the therapist botches the conversion,' and his husband, Chasten, Mora predicts, will be 'busted for running a meth racket' in 10 years. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), a frequent subject of Mora's private account, is called a 'dumb Okie,' 'an adult diaper fetishist' who 'looks like shit' and who lied about having Native American ancestry 'to get into Harvard.'... After this story was published, Mike Casca, the Sanders campaign's communications director, told The Daily Beast that 'we are running a multiracial, multigenerational campaign for justice where disgusting behavior and ugly personal attacks by our staff will not be tolerated.' Mora, the Sanders campaign confirmed, has been fired." Read on. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Bear in mind that Mora -- had he not been caught out -- would get at least a low-level job in a Sanders administration. I doubt he's the only person with this sort of sick, disgusting mindset who has found a place in Bernie's campaign. Bernie bros are not all sweet-faced idealists singing Kumbaya while hoping to make sure the kids get tuition-free PhDs and all the free doctors' visits a hypochondriac could desire. ~~~

~~~ A Wake-up Call from Jonathan Chait: "At the heart of [Bernie] Sanders's campaign is a hard-core socialist vanguard which is indifferent to the Democratic Party except as a potential vessel for the Bernie revolution.... What makes Bernie's profile uniquely toxic is the way his liabilities all reinforce each other. He combines discrete, deeply unpopular policy positions with an unpopular socialist label, which in turn reinforce the fact that his campaign is premised on radically changing the economy, the one thing most voters believe Trump has done well. His historic statements praising various leftist dictators reinforce the impression of kookery.... Satisfaction with economic conditions has risen to the highest level in two decades.... [Sanders' supporters] have every incentive to imagine away his many flaws and seize on the real but unlikely possibility he can defy the odds and win. What is shocking is observing how many other progressives have joined in this fantasy with them."

Christina Carrega of ABC News: "A Minneapolis inmate [Myron Burrell] who spent more than half his life so far behind bars says he was wrongfully convicted for murder and blames presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar, in part, for standing by what he calls an injustice.... In early February, an Associated Press report claimed there were several flaws with Burrell's case at the time of the investigation -- flaws that Burrell claims should lead to his exoneration. With no weapon found, the case against Burrell largely relied on testimony from a teen rival who according to the AP changed his story several times about who he said he saw at the crime scene. He has since died. The AP investigation also questioned police tactics caught on camera...."

One of the Many Terrible "Traditions" Trump Started. Matt Viser & Lenny Bernstein of the Washington Post: "A little over three years ago, at age 70, Donald Trump became the oldest person to win the presidency after a campaign in which he released only a letter from his doctor attesting to his 'astonishingly excellent' health. Now, the contenders for the Democratic nomination -- the oldest field in U.S. history -- are following his lead. Four of the six major Democratic candidates are 70 or older, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, the polling leader, suffered a heart attack about five months ago -- an episode he at first failed to disclose. But the candidates, for the most part, have declined to release full dossiers on their health, relying instead on the Trumpian physician testimonial. Former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg, for example, has released a single page from his doctor declaring the 78-year-old in 'great physical shape' and noting that he 'plays golf avidly' and has a pilot's license."

Here's the Problem. Gabriel Debenedetti of New York: "... the day after a decisive Sanders victory in Nevada, his rivals are all intent on staying in. Given the general agreement among anti-Sanders moderates that the field needs to shrink, why won't anyone drop out?" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Here's something I can see happening: Bernie gets about 40 percent of the delegates in the primaries & caucuses. Barack Obama & Nancy Pelosi & maybe a few other éminences grises get together & pick a consensus candidate. Then they strongarm all the other "moderate" candidates to pledge their delegates to their chosen candidate. And let's hope their choice is not Hillary Clinton.

Mrs. McCrabbie: At the top of his show Monday, Chris Matthews made a fullthroated & appropriate apology to Bernie Sanders for the very inappropriate remarks he made Saturday, comparing Sander's decisive win in Nevada to the Nazis' invasion of France in 1940. ~~~

~~~ Joe Pompeo of Vanity Fair (via Steve M.): "After Matthews's comments on Saturday night, [MSNBC president Phil] Griffin's phone blew up with an angry reaction from the campaign. Griffin quickly discussed the matter with Matthews, who then interviewed campaign cochair Nina Turner on air minutes later. Sources also noted that MSNBC took Sanders's El Paso and San Antonio rallies live on Saturday, and that Sanders people like campaign manager Faiz Shakir and former campaign manager Jeff Weaver both received airtime on Monday. 'The Sanders team is in contact with our senior management,' one source said, 'and they are heard. Phil is doing his best to give Bernie his due.'"

The (South Carolina) State Editors endorse Pete Buttigieg for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Keith Collins, et al., of the New York Times: "The final results of the Nevada Democratic caucuses were released on Monday, and the data appears to contain errors and inconsistencies similar to those that plagued the contests in Iowa a few weeks ago. An analysis by The New York Times found flaws in the results of at least 9 percent of precincts, including some instances in which delegates appeared to have been given to the wrong candidates.... Shortly after the final caucus results were released, the Nevada State Democratic Party chairman, William McCurdy, said in a statement that the state should consider abandoning caucuses." ~~~

~~~ The New York Times has the final results of Nevada's Democratic caucuses here. Politico has the results here.

Benjamin Fearnow of Newsweek: "Regardless of whether or not Americans are voting for ... Donald Trump, almost two-thirds of nationwide registered voters say they think he'll most likely win re-election in November. About 65 percent of U.S. registered voters of all political affiliations say Trump will 'definitely' or 'probably will' defeat whoever the ultimate Democratic challenger is against him in the general election.... Republicans are far more confident than Democrats, with 90 percent of GOP registered voters expecting Trump to win re-election." --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Nancy Cook & Caitlin Emma of Politico: "The Trump administration sent to Capitol Hill on Monday night its $2.5 billion supplemental budget request for additional money to fight the coronavirus, but House Democrats immediately labeled it as insufficient, indicating a battle ahead in Congress over the emergency aid. The administration's request would require enhanced authority to move around federal funds -- a non-starter with Democrats, who are already livid over White House moves to reshuffle existing federal funds toward the border wall. The package proposes using untouched money, including hundreds of millions of dollars in fiscal 2020 cash to fight Ebola. In total, the administration is seeking just $1.25 billion in new funding, relying on extra flexibility to unlock the rest. More than $1 billion would go toward vaccine development, and the other funds would go toward stockpiling protective equipment like masks, according to the Office of Management and Budget. While the money is meant to be spent in 2020, the request contains language that would allow the spending to continue through 2021 if needed."

Another Trumpian Flop. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Trump said Tuesday that he and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India had made progress toward what he hopes will be a landmark trade agreement between the two economic giants. But there was no breakthrough to announce after formal talks on the second and final day of the president's visit. A joint public appearance between the two leaders was long on florid language about the strength of their relationship and short on concrete results. While Mr. Trump had said before departing the United States that 'we may make a tremendous deal there,' the two sides appeared far apart on major points of a trade pact." A CNN story is here. ~~~

~~~ Modi Rolls out the Red Carpet for Trump. Anita Kumar of Politico: "Standing alongside Modi, Trump on Monday inaugurated the brand-new Motera Stadium, lined with 110,000 orange, yellow and blue seats -- all filled. Trump is ostensibly in India to help mitigate a long-standing trade dispute while tightening U.S.-Indian relations, but Monday's mega-rally was also designed to appeal to Indian-American voters as Trump heads into his reelection campaign.... It was a political-style rally like no other. Even Trump's popular MAGA rallies couldn't compare to the size and scope of the 'Namaste Trump' rally.&" Mrs. McC: The world's oldest former democracy & the world's largest former democracy keep pretending they're still democracies. Sweet. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: A Daily Beast item headline: "Trump Speaks to Massive Indian Crowd, Mispronounces Almost Everything." It's easy to mispronounce words: put the accent on the wrong syllable, mangle vowel combos, fail to roll Rs, etc. But Trump makes these mistakes because he can't read. Really. For instance, he pronounced "Vedas" as "Vestas." There are a few ways to mispronounce "Vedas," but "Vestas" isn't one of them. There's no "ST" sound in "Vedas," and a soft D doesn't sound like ST. The other reason Trump mispronounces words is that he's an arrogant SOB. When my husband -- who was a native Italian -- taught at NYU, he was friends with the university's then-president, who did not speak Italian. The president would call my husband before he had to make remarks that included Italian words or names to make sure he could pronounce them correctly. The president made this effort because he was polite and didn't want to insult his Italian-speaking guests. Trump doesn't care whom he insults. So Vestas. In front of 100,000 people, plus media listeners. ~~~

~~~ Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump and first lady Melania Trump visited the Taj Mahal on Monday, posing for photos and getting a private tour of the iconic monument to cap his first day in India." Mrs. McC: I guess Trump enjoyed seeing a Taj that didn't send one of his companies into bankruptcy and later sold for 4 cents on the dollar. (Also linked yesterday.)

Anita Kumar of Politico: "... Donald Trump arrives Monday in a country featuring the most Trump properties outside the U.S. The White House hopes the visit will advance trade talks and bolster the president's standing with Indian-Americans ahead of the 2020 election. But it's also a trip that will create attention that could help Trump-branded properties amid a slumping real estate market and slowing economy in India." --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "President Trump's ongoing purge of his administration is rapidly getting worse.... The real driver here is that Trump is removing officials who committed the sin of trying to defend the rule of law from his efforts to corrupt it. This is forward-looking: It clears the way for more such corruption of the rule of law and sends a message to others about what awaits them if they stand in the way of this as it continues to devolve. Two new reports about Trump's ongoing purge underscore this with great clarity. First, Axios reports that in the view of Trump's aides, the president has 'crossed a psychological line' regarding the 'deep state.' He has concluded multiple agencies are filled with 'snakes,' and he wants them rooted out.... A second report [is] a deep New York Times dive into tensions roiling the Justice Department amid Attorney General William Barr's intervention on behalf of Trump confidant Roger Stone.... Trump is raging at officials who constitute an obstacle to his own active, ongoing corruption of the rule of law. And it's working: The Justice Department actually is carrying out his corrupt bidding in many ways." (Also linked yesterday, as was the linked Axios story.) ~~~

~~~ Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "For the past 18 months, Ginni Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, and other conservatives have plied the White House with memos and suggestions about which people to fire -- and who should replace them. President Trump has generally treated Ms. Thomas's suggestions coolly, passing them off to advisers, according to people familiar with Ms. Thomas's efforts. But since the end of the Senate impeachment trial, the president has become more distrustful of the people filling the ranks of government and has been giving those recommendations a closer look.... Some administration aides have long been suspicious that people like Ms. Thomas ... are less interested in pro-Trump purity than in appointments for their own networks of friends. White House officials have privately questioned Ms. Thomas's lobbying on personnel, and have said Mr. Trump -- who is facing several decisions before the Supreme Court personally and in terms of administration policy -- has made clear he is conscious of whom she is married to.... Administration officials have routinely sent aides to attend weekly Groundswell meetings held at the offices of Judicial Watch, another conservative group led by a vocal defender of the president, Tom Fitton." See also Akhilleus's related comment in yesterday's thread. ~~~

~~~ Summer Concepcion of TPM: "White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley and counselor Kellyanne Conway seemed to add more fuel to the fire that has emerged from Axios' Sunday evening report detailing the Trump administration's list of officials that it's looking to oust." Mrs. McC: When questioned on-air by hard-hitting Fox "News" personalities, neither Gidley nor Conway even bothered to issue non-denial denials, as Concepcion reports.

Spencer Hsu & Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "The federal judge who oversaw Roger Stone's trial and sentenced him last week to 40 months in prison has scheduled a closed-door hearing for Tuesday afternoon regarding his request for a new trial based on allegations of juror misconduct, preceded by a public hearing about his motion to make the matter public.... The order came one day after [Judge Amy Berman] Jackson dismissed Stone's demand that she be taken off the case as a baseless smear." Update: Politico has the story here.

Garrett Graff of Wired: "As Richard Grenell, the current US ambassador to Germany, starts his ... job as the nation's acting director of national intelligence, his arrival also marks the ouster of not only his predecessor, Joseph Maguire, but reportedly also of DNI principal executive Andrew Hallman. By the end of the day, almost all of the roles created after 9/11 literally to prevent the next 9/11 will be either vacant or lack permanent appointees.... There will soon be no Senate-confirmed director of the National Counterterrorism Center, director of national intelligence, principal deputy director of national intelligence, homeland security secretary, deputy homeland security secretary, nor leaders of any of the three main border security and immigration agencies.... No department is in worse shape than the Department of Homeland Security, itself a post-9/11 creation meant to bring together under one roof the key agencies that protect the nation's infrastructure, transportation, and borders." --s (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Emma Brown, et al., of the Washington Post: "Two years before President Trump nominated him to become ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell wrote an op-ed about Nigeria's highly charged 2015 presidential race.... A year later, Grenell defended the government of Moldova against corruption allegations from a whistleblower who, Grenell argued, was a Russian operative bent on destabilizing an Eastern European country trying to move toward the West. And Grenell's public relations firm was paid to do work for a U.S. nonprofit funded almost entirely by the Hungarian government led by far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orban.... [Grenell's] promotion is drawing fresh scrutiny to [his] past, including his foreign affairs commentary and consulting work.... [It] is the type of activity that, in other cases, has drawn the attention of Justice Department investigators tasked with enforcing the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).... Grenell also represented people based in countries such as Iran, Kazakhstan, Somalia and China..., [including ]the ex-girlfriend of Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, the drug kingpin..., according to an archived version of his personal website." The Raw Story has a summary report here. ~~~

~~~ Natasha Bertrand of Politico: "Attorneys for Julian Assange, who is fighting a U.S. extradition request on espionage and computer hacking charges, plan to introduce evidence in the WikiLeaks founder's extradition hearing involving ... Donald Trump's new intel chief Richard Grenell.... At the heart of the Assange team's argument is an ABC News report from last April alleging that, while serving as Trump's ambassador to Germany, Grenell told Assange's Ecuadorean hosts that the U.S. government would not pursue the death penalty for Assange if Ecuador allowed British officials to enter its embassy in London and arrest him. Assange's legal team will claim that Grenell's role was more extensive than previously known, and that it corrupted the extradition process early on."

Will Bunch of The Philadelphia Inquirer: "It's hard not to believe that ... we are missing the most alarming and important trend of the last decade. That would be the rise of violent, brownshirt-style, right-wing global extremism and the concurrent era of authoritarian-style rulers on every continent, whose angry rhetoric toward migrants, ethnic minorities or women inspires these terrorists.... I'm thinking about the tragic and shocking events that took place on Wednesday night ... in the German community of Hanau.... In all, nine people were slaughtered..., most of Turkish descent.... A German killer ... was fascinated by the rise of Donald Trump and what that said about white supremacy. In addition to supporting ... a wall between the U.S. and Mexico..., he also cited off-the-wall conspiracy theories..., like the internet fake-scandal called QAnon or its cousin, the invented Pizzagate affair.... It's the kind of thinking that screams out for mental health treatment but which, in 2020, might get one, in his or her 'Q' T-shirt, a front-row seat at a Trump campaign rally." --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Brian Naylor of NPR: "Historians and activists charge that the White House has failed to keep notes of the president's meetings with foreign leaders, including with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and that other papers, including records of alleged abuses of undocumented immigrants, could be destroyed.... The American Immigration Council, an advocacy organization, along with three other groups last week filed Freedom of Information Act requests with ICE asking for the documents, as a way to keep them intact. Emily Creighton, [an attorney for the council..., calls it 'mind boggling' that some documents detailing detention conditions could be destroyed in 10, 20 or 30 years. 'It's almost as though we are, you know, erasing our nation's conscience,' she says.... Historians are fighting on another front with the Trump administration: over the preservation or, in some cases, the creation of presidential records. President Trump is reportedly averse to having note-takers present at his meetings with foreign leaders and is said to have torn up some notes, in violation of the Presidential Records Act." --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Congressional Races

Arizona. Ronald Hansen of the Arizona Republic: "Chris Taylor, a Safford[, Arizona,] city councilman who is running for Congress, overdosed on heroin last week and since has suspended his campaign. The Wednesday incident was a relapse for Taylor, a combat veteran who has battled opioid addiction since high school. In a written statement, Taylor said he was seeking treatment and not backing away from what happened."

Texas. Annie Karni of the New York Times: "Dr. [Ronny L.] Jackson left the West Wing i December after rising from President Trump's physician to his unlikely pick to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs to Trump administration roadkill when he was forced to withdraw his name from consideration amid allegations related to his professional conduct. Now he's running for Congress in Texas' 13th District, one of the most conservative in the country, and his argument is simple.... [His] access [to Trump], he said, would make him an unusually powerful replacement for Representative Mac Thornberry, the Republican who announced last fall he would not seek re-election after representing his district for more than a quarter of a century. But it is not clear if that connection, combined with his background as a Navy rear admiral, will be enough to help Dr. Jackson overcome some rookie mistakes as a candidate. There have been more than a few.... Mr. Trump ... has been silent about Dr. Jackson's campaign.... Dr. Jackson is now facing an uphill battle against two well-funded and connected [primary] opponents...."

Mrs. McCrabbie: I seldom link Fox "News" stories, but the headline here made me laugh out loud: "In Supreme Court dissent, Thomas cites Thomas in arguing to overturn decision authored by Thomas." The post is by Tyler Olson, who "covers politics for FoxNews.com." Really, only Thomas's opinions matter -- even when he disagrees with them.

Keith Bradsher & Katie Robertson of the New York Times: "Stocks on Wall Street plummeted on Monday, following sharp declines in global markets after spreading coronavirus outbreaks in Italy and in South Korea stoked concern among investors about the potential damage they might inflict on the global economy. The S&P 500 dropped nearly 3 percent at the start of trading, after European markets recorded their worst day since 2016 and major benchmarks in Asia closed sharply lower. The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 900 points. The number of people infected with the virus has ballooned to more than 79,000 people in Asia, crippling China's economy. Rapidly spreading outbreaks have now been reported in Italy, Iran and South Korea." This is a liveblog of developments related to the coronavirus pandemic. A Politico story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) Update at 6:37 pm ET: "The S&P 500 fell more than 3.3 percent, its biggest daily decline since February 2018, while the Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 1,000 points."

Zack Whittaker of Tech Crunch: "A spyware app designed to 'monitor everything' on a victim's phone has been secretly installed on thousands of phones. The app, KidsGuard, claims it can 'access all the information' on a target device, including its real-time location, text messages, browser history, access to its photos, videos and app activities, and recordings of phone calls. But a misconfigured server meant the app was also spilling out the secretly uploaded contents of victims' devices to the internet.... Although many of these apps are marketed toward parents to monitor their child's activities, many have repurposed the apps to spy on their spouses. That's prompted privacy groups and security firms to work together to help better identify stalkerware." --s (Also linked yesterday.)

Daniel Arkin & Adam Reiss of NBC News: "Harvey Weinstein, the once-powerful Hollywood mogul, was found guilty of rape in the third degree Monday but acquitted on the two most serious criminal charges, capping a landmark trial of the #MeToo era. The jury in New York convicted Weinstein, 67, of third-degree rape of Jessica Mann, a former aspiring actress, as well as a count of criminal sexual act in the first degree against Mimi Haley, a former 'Project Runway' production assistant. But the jury found him not guilty on two counts of predatory sexual assault, which could have resulted in a life sentence. He was also acquitted on a count of first-degree rape against Mann." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ A New York Times story, comprised of live updates, is here. "Harvey Weinstein is being sent immediately to jail to await his sentencing." Update: The Times' main story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) Update 2: "After the verdict was read, Justice James M. Burke thanked the jurors... [and] announced that Mr. Weinstein would immediately be sent to jail to await his sentencing. But as court officers approached him, the producer seemed stunned and refused to move. Moments later, he was handcuffed and removed from the room, limping with two officers standing by his side. His lawyers said that Mr. Weinstein left the courthouse in an ambulance at about 4:30 p.m. and was taken to an infirmary on Rikers Island, the city's sprawling jail complex. Donna Rotunno, the lead defense lawyer, said he was 'fine,' but would not elaborate on the producer's condition."

Beyond the Beltway

Illinois. Judy Wang & Sean Lewis of WGN-TV: "Actor Jussie Smollett pleaded not guilty Monday to restored charges that accuse him of staging an attack against himself last year. Smollett plead not guilty to six counts of disorderly conduct after special prosecutor Dan Webb announced the charges earlier this month. They stemmed from the alleged staging of a hate crime outside his streeterville apartment last year."

Way Beyond

Egypt. Michael Slackman of the New York Times: "Hosni Mubarak, the former autocratic president of Egypt, whose hold on power was broken and place in history upended by a public uprising against the poverty, corruption and repressive police tactics that came to define his 30 years in office, died on Tuesday. He was 91. His death was confirmed by state TV." CNN's obituary of Mubarak is here.

News Lede

The New York Times' live updates on developments in the coronavirus epidemic are here. "Iraj Harirchi, the Iranian health official who has been leading his country's response to the outbreak, has the virus, according to the government.... An Italian doctor staying at a resort in the Canary Islands was also feared to have the virus. New outbreaks in Europe, Asia and the Middle East are renewing fears of a coming global pandemic."