The Commentariat -- Ides of March 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Caitlin Kelly of Wired: "Tonight, former vice president Joe Biden and Vermont senator Bernie Sanders will meet onstage to debate for the 11th time in the 2020 campaign season -- but it's never been quite like this.... It's the first time the two men will face off one-on-one in a debate like this. And after spending months portrayed as an underdog, Biden is now the presumptive favorite to be the Democratic nominee for president. Tonight's debate starts at 8 pm ET (5 pm PT), and is hosted by CNN and Univision.... [The debate will] be held at CNN's studio in Washington, DC. There will also be no live audience." The story includes ways to watch.

Mrs. McCrabbie: I don't know what to make of this, but there it is in a real newpaper, and apparently confirmed by a German minister: ~~~

~~~ Philip Oltermann of the Guardian: "The Trump administration has offered a German medical company 'large sums of money' for exclusive access to a Covid-19 vaccine, German media have reported. The German government is trying to fight off what it sees as an aggressive takeover bid by the US, the broadsheet Die Welt reports, citing German government circles. The US president had offered the Tübingen-based biopharmaceutical company CureVac 'large sums of money' to gain exclusive access to their work, wrote Die Welt. According to an anonymous source quoted in the newspaper, Trump was doing everything to secure a vaccine against the coronavirus for the US, 'but for the US only'. The German government was reportedly offering its own financial incentives for the vaccine to stay in the country. The German health minister Jens Spahn said that a takeover of the CureVac company by the Trump administration was 'off the table'. CureVac would only develop vaccine 'for the whole world', Spahn said, 'not for individual countries'." Thanks to Ken W. for the link. ~~~

     ~~~ This US News report is more detailed & less sensational. It seems to back up the essence of the story, but it isn't clear from this report that Trump's aim was to secure the CureVac vaccine "for the U.S. only." Mrs. McC: If that is Trump's plan, it's analogous to a war crime.

Justine Coleman of the Hill: "President Trump said Sunday that he is 'strongly considering' a full pardon for his former national security adviser Michael Flynn. 'So now it is reported that, after destroying his life & the life of his wonderful family (and many others also), the FBI, working in conjunction with the Justice Department, has "lost" the records of General Michael Flynn,' he tweeted. 'How convenient. I am strongly considering a Full Pardon!' he added." ~~~

~~~ "It Is Reported"?? Martin Pengelly & Oliver Laughland of the Guardian: "Although Trump did not cite specific reports, [Flynn's lawyer Sidney] Powell had tweeted hours earlier an unsubstantiated claim that '#FBI still hiding evidence of #Flynn's innocence'." Mrs. McC: Oh. The "reports" are in the right-wing fantasy loop. So (1) make up a story about some miscarriage of justice; (2) pardon the guy based on the invented story.

Some highlights from today's NYT coronavirus updates: "By Sunday morning, known cases of coronavirus in the United States exceeded 2,700, spread across 49 states, prompting the mass cancellation of events and the reordering of American public life. Just one week ago, fewer than 500 cases of the illness had been diagnosed in the country..... Two American emergency-room doctors -- one in Washington State and one in New Jersey -- were in critical condition with Covid-19.... As the U.S. government rushed on Saturday to implement President Trump's restrictions on travel from Europe, part of an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus, chaos ensued at some of America's biggest airports."

Derek Hawkins, et al., of the Washington Post: "Airports around the country were thrown into chaos Saturday night as workers scrambled to roll out the Trump administration's hastily arranged health screenings for travelers returning from Europe. Scores of anxious passengers said they encountered jam-packed terminals, long lines and hours of delays as they waited to be questioned by health authorities at some of the busiest travel hubs in the United States." Mrs. McC: The accompanying photo of the U.S. Customs waiting area at Dallas-Fort Worth International is not exactly a picture of "social distancing," even though many of the people in the photo are coming from areas with high coronavirus incidences. It's a "What's Wrong with This Picture?" moment.

Superfluous "News": Karen Heller of the Washington Post believes she has compiled "The Definitive Guide to Bernie Sanders' Hand Gestures."

~~~~~~~~~~~

The New York Times' coronavirus live updates for Sunday are here. The Washington Post's live updates for Sunday are here. Both are free for nonsubscribers.

The New York Times' coronavirus live updates for Saturday are here. The page is open to nonsubscribers. Among the highlights: "Spain and France announced drastic, countrywide restrictions on Saturday to contain the spread of the coronavirus.... The virus has been reported in more than 2,100 people in 49 [U.S.] states, as well as Washington and Puerto Rico, and has killed at least 48.... It was unclear if Mr. Pence, who interacted with some of the infected Mar-a-Lago visitors, had known that the president was tested. Answering a reporter's question about his own status, Mr. Pence said, 'I'm going to speak immediately after this news conference with the White House physician's office,' which he said had previously advised him that neither he nor his wife needed to be tested.... Despite being pressed repeatedly at the White House news conference on Saturday, Mr. Pence did not share substantive new details about Mr. Trump's earlier claim that Google was developing a website to help people decide whether a test for the coronavirus was warranted and where they could get one.... As thousands of Americans flee from Europe and other centers of the coronavirus outbreak, many travelers are reporting no health screenings upon departure and few impediments at U.S. airports." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Access to the Washington Post's live updates on the coronavirus pandemic also is free. There is currently on the WashPo's front page a list of other virus-related stories that are free to nonsubscribers.

Jessie Hellmann & Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Trump has ordered for travel to be suspended from the United Kingdom and Ireland as the United States seeks to stem the spread of the coronavirus domestically. The restrictions, which take effect Monday night at midnight, don't apply to American travelers returning to the U.S., Vice President Pence said during a White House briefing on Saturday.... Trump said Saturday his administration is also considering domestic travel restrictions. 'If you don't have to travel, I wouldn't do it. We want this thing to end. We don't want a lot of people getting infected,' he said." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Trump Unaware of His Own "Decisions." Here's Trump saying that "we're looking very seriously at" extending the European travel ban to the U.K. & Ireland (begins about 34 sec. in):

~~~ About 15 minutes later, in the same press briefing, mike pence said, "The President* has made a decision to suspend and travel to the United Kingdom & Ireland":

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The Hill story linked above is a good example of how journalists clean up Trump's goofs, leaving readers as clueless as Trump is.

Susannah Luthi of Politico: "... Donald Trump said on Saturday that he has been tested for coronavirus after being questioned about it Friday. 'I also took the test last night,' Trump said during a briefing at the White House. 'And I decided I should, based on the press conference yesterday. People were asking, "Did I take the test?"' Asked when test results would be returned, he said: 'A day, two days. They send it to a lab.'... Late Friday, press secretary Stephanie Grisham released a memo from the White House physician saying Trump had dined at Mar-a-Lago with a person who has since tested positive for coronavirus. However, Navy Cdr. Sean Conley did not recommend testing the president as a necessity." Mrs. McC: So testing an old man who has been around three known virus carriers is unnecessary? I don't get it. It's almost as if you can't believe a single word that comes out of this White House. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Jason Hoffman & Veronica Stracqualursi of CNN: "... Donald Trump has tested negative for the coronavirus, according to a statement from the White House.... 'Last night after an in-depth discussion with the President regarding COVID-19 testing, he elected to proceed,' according to the statement about the results released by press secretary Stephanie Grisham with Trump's permission. 'One week after having dinner with the Brazilian delegation in Mar-a-Lago, the President remains symptom-free. I have been in daily contact with the CDC and White House Coronavirus Task Force, and we are encouraging the implementation of all their best practices for exposure reduction and transmission mitigation.'

Jonathan Swan of Axios: "Vice President Mike Pence sent White House staff an email Saturday afternoon recommending 'social distancing' and to 'avoid physical contact' to keep themselves and their colleagues safe from the novel coronavirus.... This is the first staff-wide email Pence has sent across the complex during his time as vice president -- and is the latest sign the White House is shifting its posture against the pandemic. As recently as Thursday, Pence, who is leading the President Trump's task force to combat COVID-19, told CNN he was still shaking hands with people at the White House."

Susannah Luthi & Evan Semones of Politico: "The White House on Saturday began checking the temperatures of anyone in close contact with ... Donald Trump or Vice President Mike Pence. White House staff met reporters at the door of the press briefing room with a thermometer, checking the temperatures of everyone coming in for a noon press conference on coronavirus developments. A man who appeared to be a journalist was blocked from entering the briefing room because his temperature was deemed too high."

Carolyn Johnson & William Wan of the Washington Post: "After disastrous communications during the 2001 anthrax attacks ... the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention created a 450-page manual outlining how U.S. leaders should talk to the public during crises.... They compiled a list of pitfalls to avoid -- a list that has begun to look a lot like the administration's playbook.... The Trump administration's zigzagging, defensive, inconsistent messages about the novel coronavirus continued Friday, breaking almost every rule in the book and eroding the most powerful weapon officials possess: Public trust.... The fundamental principles behind good public health communication are almost stunningly simple: Be consistent. Be accurate. Don't withhold vital information, the CDC manual says. And above all, don't let anyone onto the podium without the preparation, knowledge and discipline to deliver vital health messages.... Trump in particular checks off many of attributes the manual specifically warns against. The spokesperson must be 'familiar with the subject matter' and have the 'ability to talk about it clearly and with confidence.'"

Spitballing a National Crisis. Ashley Parker, et al., of the Washington Post: "The administration's struggle to mitigate the coronavirus outbreak has been marked by infighting and blame-shifting, misinformation and missteps, and a slow recognition of the danger. Warring factions have wrestled for control internally and for approval from a president who has been preoccupied with the beating his image is taking.... Jared Kushner ... -- who has zero expertise in infectious diseases and little experience marshaling the full bureaucracy behind a cause -- saw the administration floundering and inserted himself at the helm, believing he could break the logjam of internal dysfunction.... 'People just show up in the Oval and spout off ideas,' said a former senior administration official briefed on the coronavirus discussions. 'He'll either shoot down ideas or embrace ideas quickly. It's an ad hoc free-for-all with different advisers just spitballing.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Maureen Dowd: Trump “can't cover up his lack of empathy, his instinct to mislead, his refusal to do his homework and his blame-shifting.... Even when the president stopped being so blithe about the virus, even after his error-ridden national address and his press conference Friday declaring a national emergency -- 'two very big words' -- his attempt at maturity was crystallized in one sound bite. 'No, I don't take responsibility at all,' Trump said, when asked about the egregious lag in testing. It was far from his tweet in 2013, when he loved trolling Obama: 'Leadership: Whatever happens, you're responsible. If it doesn't happen, you're responsible.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

AP: "The U.S. Defense Department is planning to halt all domestic travel for military members after ... Donald Trump declared the coronavirus pandemic a national emergency. The Pentagon says Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquist has approved new travel restrictions on service members and Defense Department civilians assigned to military installations and surrounding areas within the United States and its territories." Mrs. McC: Could be partly because "a financial document obtained by The Daily Beast found massive shortfalls for detecting, treating, and preventing COVID-19 from spreading throughout 1.2 million soldiers and Army employees, as well as roughly 3 million dependent family members." (Daily Beast story linked yesterday.) (Also linked yesterday.)

Linda Qiu of the New York Times lists the major false claims Trump made during his news conference Friday & summarizes the actual facts: "I don't take responsibility at all because we were given a set of circumstances and we were given rules, regulations, and specifications from a different time." "If you go back to the swine flu, it was nothing like this. They didn't do testing like this, and actually they lost approximately 14,000 people, and they didn't do the testing. They started thinking about testing when it was far too late." This is blatantly wrong. Diagnostic tests for the swine flu were approved and shipped out less than two weeks after the H1N1 virus was identified and a day before the first death in the United States. "... Google is helping to develop a website, it's going to be very quickly done, unlike websites of the past, to determine whether a test is warranted and to facilitate testing at a nearby convenient location." "As you know, Europe was just designated as the hot spot right now and we closed that border a while ago." "This includes the following critical authorities -- the ability to waive laws to enable telehealth, a fairly new and incredible thing that has happened in the not-so-distant past." It's been used for decades. "When you say me, I didn't do it [disband the White House's pandemic team]. We have a group of people I could ask -- perhaps my administration -- but I could perhaps ask Tony about that because I don't know anything about it." "To help our students and their families, I have waived interest that all student loans held by federal government agencies, and that will be until further notice." This needs context. Mrs. McC: Quite a list. (Also linked yesterday.)

Grace Panetta & Lauren Frias of Business Insider: "A third person who visited Mar-a-Lago ... has tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Friday. 'Brazil's Chargé d'Affaires Ambassador Nestor Forster has learned tonight that he has tested positive for Covid-19,' the Brazilian embassy in the US announced Friday. 'Following medical advice, Amb. Forster will extend his self-quarantine, which he had already placed himself into as a precautionary measure, for another two weeks.' The Washington Post reported that the second infected person was present at a Sunday fundraising lunch 'hosted by Trump Victory, a committee that raises money for the Trump campaign and the Republican Party.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "... Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, is being tested for coronavirus after reporting she is feeling unwell. McDaniel's illness comes after she visited ... Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago country club." As Anonymous points out, that's Ronna Don't-Call-Me-Romney McDaniel.

Healthcare Video of the Day: Wash your hands for 20 seconds, or as long as it takes to sing the chorus of "I Will Survive." Thank you, Gloria Gaynor:

Joanne Kenen of Politico: "Local officials from around the country are worried about the readiness of the U.S. public health system, citing a sharply limited number of ventilators to help some of the sickest coronavirus patients and an inadequate supply of critical care beds in a hospital industry that has gone through years of cutbacks in inpatient beds. As they prepare for an expected influx of patients, local public health officials painted a picture of a system with only a limited 'surge' capacity, and stressed the importance of social distancing as a crucial way to keep the numbers of patients at a level the system can handle." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Twitter Monster was busy Saturday morning touting yesterday's market surge (hmm, nothing about the previous day's plunge), and promising a "full report latter" on his meetings today. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Jamie Gangel of CNN: "... Donald Trump on Friday sent a note to supporters that included a chart showing the Dow Jones Industrial Average dramatically rising roughly at the time he began a news conference declaring a national emergency over coronavirus. The President signed the chart. The note, which was also sent to some members of Congress, included screenshots of television coverage of the stock market closing much higher than Thursday. 'The President would like to share the attached image with you, and passes along the following message: "From opening of press conference, biggest day in stock market history!"' read the note.... The message did not mention the overall coronavirus crisis, the number of people who have died or are sick, nor the fact that he had just declared a national emergency.... In boasting about the stock market, the President was cherry-picking a single day's rally amid a period of major selloffs and a 20% decline that was the fastest in history.... The day's rally ... came the day after the worst day for stocks since the 1987 crash." Thanks to Bobby Lee for the lead. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: There is some good news in this: President* Me-Me-Me now has evidence that when he indicates he's facing the coronavirus crisis, the markets rise, whereas his attempts to disregard & downplay the pandemic were at least partially responsible for the markets' big drops. ~~~

~~~ Update. Never Mind. President Dummkopf Didn't Learn Anything. Jeanne Smialek of the New York Times: "President Trump said on Saturday that he had the power to remove or demote Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, renewing a long-running threat against the central bank's leader at a time when it could further roil volatile markets. Mr. Trump said in a news conference at the White House that ousting Mr. Powell was not his current plan but that he was 'not happy with the Fed' because it was 'following' and 'we should be leading.' He said he had the right to remove Mr. Powell as chair 'and put him in a regular position and put somebody else in charge,' but added, 'I haven't made any decisions on that.'"

Ginia Bellafante of the New York Times: "By Thursday afternoon, texts and emails circulating among New York's professional class warned that ... the city was going into lockdown.... The rumor was false but that didn't slow it down.... These rumors did inspire those who were not in a position to flee the city to instead panic shop. Broad-scale emergencies never fail to reveal the fault lines in the American class system, and it was suddenly clear that well-off New Yorkers were going to go about the business of combating the coronavirus ... with ... secondary real estate. As the messages flew around, the people with weekend homes ... made plans to flee to them, indefinitely. Outside a prewar co-op on lower Fifth Avenue on Friday morning, well-dressed people were loading cats and canvas bags into their hatchbacks. 'The building is empty,' one woman entering with her dog explained. 'Everyone's gone to the Hamptons.'"

Presidential Race

Ben Nadler of the AP: "Georgia's March 24 presidential primaries have been postponed until May because of fears over the new coronavirus, state election officials announced Saturday, a day after Louisiana also pushed back its primaries. In-person early voting, which began statewide March 2, will be halted and the election will be moved to May 19, when Georgia's other 2020 primary elections are being held, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said in a statement. In addition to public safety, one of the biggest considerations was the risk the virus posed to poll workers, who are often older, election officials said."

I Forgot

Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Friday deflected blame for his administration's lagging ability to test Americans for the coronavirus outbreak, insisting instead -- without offering evidence -- that fault lies with his predecessor, Barack Obama. 'I don't take responsibility at all,' Trump said defiantly, pointing to an unspecified 'set of circumstances' and 'rules, regulations and specifications from a different time.'... Trump later got testy with another reporter who pressed him on whether he bore any responsibility for the surge in cases, noting that he'd disbanded the White House's pandemic office."

Washington Post (live update): "When pressed by Yamiche Alcindor, the White House correspondent for PBS NewsHour, about the White House dismantling the office on pandemics, he called the question 'nasty' and suggested that Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, knew something he didn't. 'I didn't do it,' [Trump] said. 'I could perhaps ask Tony about that because I don't know anything about it. I mean you say we did that but I don't know anything about it.' Fauci, who works under the National Institutes of Health, does not have purview over the National Security Council, which the team worked for."

Trump's full exchange with Alcindor is pretty remarkable. And of course he called her question "nasty." She's a black woman, for Pete's sake. Alcindor said later on MSNBC that she had a follow-up response/question for Trump, but the White House had cut her mic.

What's more remarkable is that Trump tried to deflect a question about the National Security Council to Fauci, who is not on the NSC. Trump, on the other hand, is chair of the NSC. He's the guy. "I didn't do it, ask Tony" is an insane response. Alcindor asked the right question of the right guy.

As Lena Sun of the Washington Post reported in May 2018, "The top White House official responsible for leading the U.S. response in the event of a deadly pandemic has left the administration, and the global health security team he oversaw has been disbanded under a reorganization by national security adviser John Bolton. The abrupt departure of Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer from the National Security Council means no senior administration official is now focused solely on global health security. Ziemer's departure, along with the breakup of his team, comes at a time when many experts say the country is already underprepared for the increasing risks of a pandemic or bioterrorism attack."

As it turns out, Trump has been asked this same question before, and recently. Then he had very different answers, answers that suggest he knew damned well his office had disbanded the global pandemic team.

"Who would have thought?" Who could have known getting rid of advisors responsible for monitoring, reporting & coordinating response to an international pandemic would be a problem? Way last week (March 7), Trump himself explained that this whole "foreign virus" thing was a big surprise. A reporter asked him if he would rethink having an office of pandemic preparation in the White House. Trump's response: "I just think this is something, Peter, that you can never really think is going to happen.... I think we're doing a really good job in this country at keeping it down. We've really been very vigilant, and we've done a tremendous job at keeping to down. But who would have thought? Look, how long ago is it? Six, seven, eight weeks ago -- who would have thought we would even be having the subject? We were going to hit 30,000 on the Dow like it was clockwork. Right? It was all going -- it was right up, and then all of a sudden, this came out.... And the thing is, you never really know when something like this is going to strike and what it's going to be. This is different than something else. This is a very different thing than something else."

So Trump seemed to know -- less than a week before -- that he had disbanded the global health security office. He knew he did it because he figured he would get lucky and there would be no pandemics on his watch. I mean, nobody can predict the future; nobody can predict a thing that's "very different than something else."

Besides, as he had already explained, getting rid of the global health team was a good business decision. And it would never be a problem. He could reassemble the team "very quickly":

On February 26, a reporter asked Trump if his "enormous cuts to the CDC, the NIH, and the WHO' gave him pause now that the country was confronted by a major health crisis. Trump's response: "No, because we -- we can get money and we can increase staff. We know all the people. We know all the good people. It's a question I asked the doctors before. Some of the people we cut, they haven't been used for many, many years. And if -- if we have a need, we can get them very quickly. And rather than spending the money -- and I'm a business person -- I don't like having thousands of people around when you don't need them. When we need them, we can get them back very quickly."

This isn't true. Beth Reinhard & others of the Washington Post reported (Feb. 27), "Former USAID official Jeremy Konyndyk, who helped lead the U.S. response to the Ebola outbreak and other international disasters during the Obama administration, said recruiting people with the specialized skills to handle an infectious-disease crisis is difficult.... Cyrus Shahpar, a physician who served at the CDC under Obama and worked on the agency's global rapid-response team during the first year of the Trump administration..., [said] it is not easy to persuade a lot of people with specialized skills to suddenly shift to federal service to help respond to a threat.... 'They have stable jobs with retirement plans,' he said. 'They are not going to quit their job at the university or quit their job in the local government to go join the U.S. federal government for six months because of coronavirus. It doesn't work like that.' In November 2019, a commission on health security that included Republican and Democratic members of Congress warned that 'the American people are far from safe.'"

So a week ago, and two weeks ago, Trump not only knew he had axed the global health security team, he produced a number of "reasons" as to why that was a smart idea: nobody can predict a pandemic, the team was just sitting around doing nothing but collecting paychecks, they would come right back to work if he called them. But by Friday, he forgot all that. By Friday, his past decisions were another excuse to insult a black woman.

"Two Very Big Words"

Following are links to reports about Donald Trump's declaration that the coronavirus pandemic was a national emergency.

New York Times (from the live updates on coronavirus): "President Trump on Friday afternoon officially declared a national emergency that he said would give states and territories access to up to $50 billion in federal funds to combat the spreading coronavirus epidemic. In a live address in the White House Rose Garden, he also gave broad new authority to the health secretary, Alex Azar, who he said would now be able to waive regulations, giving doctors and hospitals more flexibility to respond to the virus, including making it easier to treat people remotely. 'I am officially declaring a national emergency, two very big words,' he said. 'I'm urging every state to set up emergency operations centers effective immediately,' he added. Mr. Trump said he was waiving interest on student loans, and that with oil prices low, the government would buy large quantities of crude oil for the nation's strategic reserve. His comments marked the first time he has addressed the coronavirus as a problem within the country's borders, not just something that needed to be kept out with travel restrictions. But the optics of the address offered a contrast to the social distancing that many experts recommend: Mr. Trump and the top advisers he invited to speak crowded together around the lectern and shared a microphone. Mr. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence both lauded the administration's efforts, and the president particularly praised his own measures to keep the virus from entering the country. However, some Americans returning from coronavirus hot spots say they are not being screened for symptoms." Emphasis added.

"He said that millions of virus testing kits would become available, but added that he did not think so many would be needed. 'We don't want everybody taking this test,' he said. 'It's totally unnecessary.' 'This will pass, this will pass through, and we will be even stronger for it,' the president said. Asked if he would be tested for the coronavirus because of his contact at his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, with an infected Brazilian official, he said, 'most likely, yeah,' countering earlier White House statements that he would not be tested. 'I think I will do it anyway. Fairly soon,' he said. Even as he spoke, news emerged that a second person who was at Mar-a-Lago had been found to have the coronavirus." ~~~

     ~~~ Update: "... around midnight [Friday, Trump's] physician, Sean P. Conley, said testing [Trump for the coronavirus] was 'not currently indicated.'" ~~~

~~~ Washington Post (from the live updates): "President Trump declared a national emergency over the coronavirus pandemic Friday as public life in America continued to grind to a halt. Trump's announcement sent the Dow soaring nearly 2,000 points.... When pressed by Yamiche Alcindor, the White House correspondent for PBS NewsHour, about the White House dismantling the office on pandemics, he called the question 'nasty' and suggested that Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, knew something he didn't. 'I didn't do it,' he said. 'I could perhaps ask Tony about that because I don't know anything about it. I mean you say we did that but I don't know anything about it.' Fauci, who works under the National Institutes of Health, does not have purview over the National Security Council, which the team worked for.... In May 2018, after John Bolton became national security adviser..., a team working on global health security under him was disbanded, The Post reported at the time. Beth Cameron, the former senior director for global health security..., said in a Washington Post editorial Friday that the decision most likely slowed the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic."

~~~ Anita Kumar of Politico: "... Donald Trump declared a national emergency on Friday to offset lagging coronavirus testing and unlock billions of dollars -- accelerating a response plan that has faced weeks of criticism. Trump touted partnerships with private companies that he claimed would allow patients to learn if they need to be tested and locate a testing site, some of which will be drive-thru facilities at big box retailers across the country.... Trump insisted the move would eradicate the testing shortcomings that health experts say hindered the country's ability to contain the virus when it first appeared on American shores. Yet even as Trump unleashed $50 billion in government funding, the announcement had a distinct market-first flavor. Trump outlined a series of agreements with private companies, including Google, Target and Walmart, to facilitate swifter coronavirus testing for Americans. Target and Walmart said they will set aside parking lot space for testing sites, while Google pledged to set up a website to determine whether a person needs a test, and where one is available.... 'I don't take responsibility at all,' Trump said of the government' struggles to produce enough tests, blaming existing rules set by prior administration for limiting his options."

~~~ Marina Fang of the Huffington Post: "... Donald Trump on Friday declared a national emergency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but spent much of the announcement refusing to take responsibility for testing delays and praising his own inadequate response that helped let the coronavirus spread rapidly throughout much of the country.... Trump opened his press conference Friday by praising his response to the pandemic, claiming it was better 'when compared to other places around the world,' touting 'our closing of the borders' and claiming experts told him his ban on travel from China 'saved a lot of lives.' He also invited Vice President Mike Pence to speak, who praised Trump's 'decisive action.' When asked about his demolition of President Barack Obama's pandemic response team, Trump called it 'a nasty question.' In announcing the increase in tests, Trump still appeared to downplay the public health crisis. He said that five million tests would be available 'within a month,' before adding: 'I doubt we'll need that.'"

If you'd like a better sense of the "atmospherics" of Trump's announcement, without actually having to watch, Akhilleus has done the honors: ~~~

By Akhilleus:

Just listened, slack-jawed, to the latest abomination of a press conference, brought to you by Fatty Productions. It was like some kind of weird pep rally unreality show. Lots of vague promises, peppered, comme d'habitude, with the usual yuuuuge pats on the back for his own amazing wonderfulness, and interrupted, just like a TV show, for commercials for huge corporations.

Representatives of giant private sector businesses were trotted out (Fatty having basically farmed out the work of the federal government to for-profit operations) to take a bow and kiss Trump's ass. "Hey, let's bring up Joe Blow from CVS, Joe's been a great friend for a long time [three hours] and he'll be blah, blah, blah. C'mon up Joe. Say a few words." "Well, thank you Mr. President. I'd like to suck your dick for the rest of my time on stage, but I see that there's a line up of other CEO's waiting to do that." "Well, thank you, Joe. You can blow me later. Let's hear from Google. They're doing blah, blah, blah, and it will be the greatest blah, blah, in the history of the world. Of course, I invented it all."

No word about when Google's greatest blah, blah, blah will be available or even what it will do, but hey, that would only interrupt the Giant Trump Jerk Off.

And on and on. One woman (didn't get her name) went waaaay out on a limb in offering her unearned encomiums to Fatty, lying that "The president realized that the old fashioned (read: Obama) way was not up to the present situation so he personally directed us to blah, blah, blah..."

Directed you to what? Make sure he doesn't continue to look like a fucking schmuck who couldn't find a communicable disease in the Black Hole of Calcutta. That's what.

It was disgusting. A smoke and mirrors Trump pep rally where he got to do things he loves to do....praise himself for being wonderful, declare a National Emergency where I Trump will save everyone! At one point, he slid into his trademarked form of self praise about how he has personally created the situation for the US energy self-sufficiency. (How did we get to energy while talking about a medical emergency??) "They all said it couldn't be done, but I did it in six days. No one else in the history of the world could do it, but I did it."

Did what? Oil prices are at rock bottom because of a pissing contest between two dictators on the other side of the world. Trump had NOTHING to do with anything. But somehow that gets translated into "energy sufficiency" created personally by the Orange Menace. Just incredible.

There were zero details. Lots of bullshit. The half-pence was led out on his leash (embroidered by Mother, no doubt) to announce that there would be hundreds of thousands of testing kits available. At some point. Soon. Sometime soon. Maybe. Hundreds of thousands? How about tens of millions? This is a huge step forward? Hell no. This is something that should have been accomplished a fucking month ago. This is a FIRST STEP, not the final solution for which they should all be crowned with laurel wreaths. "Oh look at how wonderful we all are!" It's like telling troops going into battle that a tenth of them will have a weapon. Soon. And they might even get ammunition! So, good luck. And don't forget to thank us.

Ronald Reagan had it half right. Government IS the problem. Government run by Republicans, that is.

Appalling.

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: If you have some masochistic desire to see the annoucement, here's a less-then-10-minute YouTube video of an ABC News report. It doesn't include the Q&A. For the whole thing, which runs more than an hour, here's another YouTube video.

More on Trump's press conference in Saturday's Commentariat below.