The Commentariat -- May 13, 2020

Afternoon Update:

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

Bob Herman of Axios: "Roughly 27 million people have likely have lost job-based health coverage since the coronavirus shocked the economy, according to new estimates from the Kaiser Family Foundation.... Most of these people will be able sign up for other sources of coverage, but millions are still doomed to be uninsured in the midst of a pandemic.... For the 27 million people who are losing their job-based coverage, about 80% have other options, said Rachel Garfield, a health policy expert at the Kaiser Family Foundation and lead author of the report." Mrs. McC: And you thought we needed national health care for all.

Michigan. Beth LeBlanc of the Detroit News: The lawyer for Owosso barber Karl Manke announced that "a Shiawassee County Circuit judge had denied a request for a temporary restraining order from state Attorney General Dana Nessel that would have resulted in the barbershop's immediate closure. The order by Shiawassee County Circuit Judge Matthew Stewart came several hours after Nessel requested the judge issue a court order backing a Friday Michigan Department of Health and Human Services shutdown edict under the public health code for violating of Whitmer's stay-home order." Manke's barbershop drew national attention when armed citizens sporting Trump paraphernalia threatened to shoot local police if they tried to close down the shop." Mrs. McC: Just guessing, but I suspect Judge Stewart is an elected official up there in Trump country. Update: Yup, and his current term ends at the end of this year.

Nebraska. How to Keep the Case Count Down: Don't Report It. Peter Whoriskey of the Washington Post: "For weeks, people in rural communities in Nebraska charted the rise of coronavirus cases at the state’s several meatpacking plants.... As of the first week of May, public health officials reported 96 at the Tyson plant in Madison; 237 at the JBS plant in Grand Island; and 123 arising from the Smithfield plant in Crete. There were other cases around the state, too, and the counts were climbing. At least three were reportedly dead. Then the numbers stopped. In a change initiated last week, Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) announced at a news conference that state health officials would no longer share figures about how many workers have been infected at each plant. The big companies weren't sharing numbers either, creating a silence that leaves workers, their families and the rest of the public blind to the severity of the crisis at each plant.... Ricketts ... recommended that local health departments withhold the case counts unless they get permission from the plants." ~~~

UPDATE: Shortly after this story was published, Tyson and the Elkhorn Logan Valley Public Health Department announced the results of testing at the company's plant in Madison, Neb. Of the employees and contractors who work at the Madison plant, 212 tested positive for coronavirus. The company said that it would also release the results of testing at its other plants to employees, government officials and other stakeholders. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Anyhow, I guess I was right this morning when I wrote they died of rickets. I just misspelled "Ricketts."

Timothy Bella of the Washington Post: "Hours after his remarks to Time magazine [that he couldn't commit to a promise that the presidential election would take place in November, Jared] Kushner..., issued a clarification, saying he was unaware of and not involved in any 'discussions' about changing the date of the 2020 election.... The brief and disconcerting episode raised doubts about Kushner's familiarity with the laws and constitutional provisions governing U.S. presidential elections. As the Congressional Research Service says, 'The text of the Constitution does not appear to contain a constitutional role for the Executive Branch in such decisions.'... 'Kushner's statement reveals amazing ignorance of the Constitution and law,' tweeted Bill Kristol, the neoconservative political commentator.... 'It reveals startling arrogance in taking for granted he gets to have some say about when the election is held. It also reveals an utter lack of understanding of his very subordinate role in our democracy.'" Mrs. McC: But nobody is surprised. Everyone already knew that Kushner was remarkably arrogant & ignorant.

Heather Long of the Washington Post: "Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell gave a dire warning Wednesday that the U.S. economy could become stuck in a painful multi-year recession if Congress and the White House do not approve more aid to address the coronavirus pandemic's economic fallout. 'Additional fiscal support could be costly, but worth it if it helps avoid long-term economic damage and leaves us with a stronger recovery,' Powell said in a videoconference with the Peterson Institute for International Economics." An AP story is here.

Jonathan O'Connell of the Washington Post: "The Aspen Institute think tank accepted more than $8 million in federal small-businesses funds despite having a $115 million endowment and a board of trustees populated by billionaires. As with other larger employers -- including public companies, the Los Angeles Lakers and private prep schools -- it does not appear that the Aspen Institute violated the rules of the program, managed by the Treasury Department and the Small Business Administration." Mrs. McC: C'mon. To a board full of billionaires, an $8MM gift is a pittance. It's so wrong to complain they taking money that would otherwise go to a few dozen struggling mom & pop shops in the hinterlands.

In the special U.S. Congressional election to replace California Rep. Katie Hill (D), the Republican Mike Garcia was besting Democrat Christy Smith 56% to 44%, but the AP had not yet called the race at 8:41 am ET today.

~~~~~~~~~~

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

Trump Will Look Better if We Pretend Those People Died of Rickets. Erin Banco & Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "... Donald Trump and members of his coronavirus task force are pushing officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to change how the agency works with states to count coronavirus-related deaths. And they're pushing for revisions that could lead to far fewer deaths being counted than originally reported, according to five administration officials working on the government's response to the pandemic.... The White House has pressed the CDC, in particular, to work with states to change how they count coronavirus deaths and report them back to the federal government, according to two officials with knowledge of those conversations. And Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the administration's coronavirus task force, has urged CDC officials to exclude from coronavirus death count reporting some of those individuals who either do not have confirmed lab results and are presumed positive or who have the virus and may not have died as a direct result of it, according to three senior administration officials. Officials inside the CDC, five of whom spoke to The Daily Beast, said they are pushing back against that request, claiming it could falsely skew the mortality rate at a time when state and local governments are already struggling to ensure that every person who dies as a result of the coronavirus is counted."

Trump Blows up His Own Victory Party. Allyson Chiu & Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: "... it looked like a victory lap of sorts was underway. Two giant banners bearing the words 'AMERICA LEADS THE WORLD IN TESTING' in all-caps were suspended from the White House columns. Testing machines and kits to detect the novel coronavirus had been carefully arranged on wooden tables flanking the president's lectern, which was set against a backdrop of American flags. But the orchestrated opportunity for the president to boast about his administration's efforts to ramp up testing backfired. Instead of reassuring Americans and being a celebratory event, the roughly hour-long news conference ended with Trump shutting down reporters' questions and abruptly leaving the Rose Garden following heated exchanges with two female journalists, including one who seemed to imply that he made a racially charged comment toward her. Soon, the news conference was trending on social media -- for all the wrong reasons." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Sorta like he arranged the tables with Trump "University" "diplomas" and they ignited. And with Trump steaks that drew rats & flies. And with Trump wine bottles that exploded. Then two giant "Trump Brands" banners blew over in the wind, landing on Donald & Jared & catching fire from the "diplomas."

David Crary of the AP: "Even as ... Donald Trump urges getting people back to work and reopening the economy, an Associated Press analysis shows thousands of people are getting sick from COVID-19 on the job. Recent figures show a surge of infections in meatpacking and poultry-processing plants. There's been a spike of new cases among construction workers in Austin, Texas, where that sector recently returned to work.... The developments underscore the high stakes for communities nationwide as they gradually loosen restrictions on business. 'The people who are getting sick right now are generally people who are working,' Dr. Mark Escott, a regional health official, told Austin's city council. 'That risk is going to increase the more people are working.'"

John Vernovek & Molly Nagle of ABC News: "In an interview Tuesday morning on 'Good Morning America'..., Joe Biden pushed back on ... Donald Trump's claim that anyone in America who wants to get tested for COVID-19 has the ability to do so. '... Anyone can't get a test around the country...He knew about this crisis all the way back in January and February. He's been incompetent the way he responded,' Biden told ... George Stephanopoulos. Biden said that as president, he would advise the nation's governors to listen to the medical experts on the question of when it is safe to open back up certain parts of the country, in particular Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

AFP: "White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said [Vice President] Pence, who heads the White House coronavirus task force, 'has made the choice to keep his distance for a few days' from the president." Mrs. McC: Hope that means it's because he's busy calling Cabinet members about the 25th. (Also linked yesterday.)

Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "Two of the federal government's top health officials painted a grim picture of the months ahead on Tuesday, warning a Senate panel that the coronavirus pandemic was far from contained, just a day after President Trump declared that 'we have met the moment and we have prevailed.' The officials -- Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, and Dr. Robert R. Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- predicted dire consequences if the nation reopened its economy too soon, noting that the United States still lacked critical testing capacity and the ability to trace the contacts of those infected.... Dr. Fauci's remarks, during a high-profile -- and partly virtual -- hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, along with those of Dr. Redfield, made clear that the nation had not yet prevailed." ~~~

~~~ Katie Thomas, et al., of the New York Times: "The scientists and public health officials who are leading the federal government's response to the coronavirus pandemic on Tuesday painted a sobering picture of a country ill-prepared to reopen and contain the spread of the virus in the coming months. At a Senate hearing, the officials cautioned that a vaccine would almost certainly not come in time to protect students for the return to school in the fall, that a recently authorized treatment was not a game-changing advance and that states had to rebuild their depleted public health systems by hiring enough people before they could effectively track the spread of the virus and contain it.... Dr. Anthony S. Fauci warned that if parts of the country reopen too quickly, 'there is a real risk that you will trigger an outbreak that you may not be able to control, which, in fact, paradoxically, will set you back.'" ~~~

~~~ Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "... Anthony S. Fauci delivered his long-awaited coronavirus testimony Tuesday to a Senate health committee.... Also appearing at Tuesday's hearing were Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn and President Trump's coronavirus testing czar, Adm. Brett Giroir.... Fauci said to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who asked about [the actual death toll], '... most of us fee that the number of deaths are likely higher than [the] number [reported]....'... Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) pressed Redfield on when we might see the past-due guidelines for reopening that have been held up -- noting that many states are pressing forward with reopening even without them.... Redfield responded, 'I do anticipate this broader guidance, though, to be posted on the CDC website soon.' '"Soon" isn't terribly helpful,' Murphy responded.... Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) ... engaged in a particularly pointed exchange with Fauci.... 'What our country has done so far on testing is impressive but not nearly enough,' [committee chair Lamar] Alexander [R-Tenn.] said.... Alexander ... asked Fauci directly whether there will be the kinds of treatments or even a vaccine available to help reopen universities in the fall term.... [Fauci called that] 'a bit of a bridge too far.'... Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) called the testing in the United States 'nothing to celebrate whatsoever.' He also rebuked Giroir and the White House for favorably comparing U.S. testing to that of South Korea, which ramped up testing much more quickly and has dealt with a much smaller outbreak as a result." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Heather Caygle, et al., of Politico: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats are planning to move ahead with a Friday vote on a $3 trillion package to respond to the coronavirus crisis, despite protests from progressives that the bill doesn't go far enough.... Donald Trump and Senate Republicans also object to the Democratic proposal, saying there hasn't been enough time since the $2 trillion CARES Act passed to determine whether new legislation is needed or necessary." A Washington Post story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and members of the Senate GOP caucus panned the roughly $3 trillion House coronavirus bill unveiled on Tuesday, declaring it 'dead on arrival' in the Senate. McConnell, speaking to reporters after a closed-door caucus meeting, said Republicans would 'insist on narrowly targeted legislation.'" Mrs. McC: That is, targeted to help our rich donors.

Daniel Dale of CNN: "... Mitch McConnell falsely accused the Obama administration of failing to leave the Trump administration 'any kind of game plan' for something like the coronavirus pandemic. Appearing Monday in a Trump campaign online chat with Lara Trump, the President's daughter-in-law..., McConnell slammed Obama for criticizing Trump's coronavirus response as an 'absolute chaotic disaster' on a private call last week with former staffers. As Donald Trump has done repeatedly during the pandemic, McConnell also laid undeserved blame at Obama's feet.... Obama's White House National Security Council left the Trump administration a detailed document on how to respond to a pandemic. The document, whose existence was publicly revealed by Politico in March, is called the Playbook for Early Response to High-Consequence Emerging Infectious Disease Threats and Biological Incidents. 'We literally left them a 69-page Pandemic Playbook.... that they ignored,' Ronald Klain, a campaign adviser to Democratic candidate Joe Biden and the former Obama administration Ebola response coordinator, wrote on Twitter.... In addition to the playbook, outgoing senior Obama officials also led an in-person pandemic response exercise for senior incoming Trump officials in January 2017 -- as required by a new law on improving presidential transitions that Obama signed in 2016." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: According to Dale, one of the "senior Trump officials" who attended that pandemic response exercise: Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, who also answers to "Mrs. Mitch Mconnell." As Nicolle Wallace put it yesterday on MSNBC, Mitch's complaint about Obama was "rude and wrong." It was also a Big Fat Lie.

Marty Johnson of the Hill: "A handful of the country's most prominent news publications are suing the Small Business Administration (SBA) after it refused to release which businesses were receiving money through the $660 billion Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The Washington Post, The New York Times, Bloomberg, ProPublica and Dow Jones -- which publishes The Wall Street Journal -- are all part of the group suing the government agency. The suit comes after the publications initially requested the information through the Freedom of Information Act.... The SBA hasn't said that the names of PPP recipients aren't important but has sidestepped releasing the information, instead directing the news publications toward more generalized data on its website...."

Arizona. Not All Protesters Are Gun-Totin' Wingers. Jamie Landers of the Arizona Republic: "More than 20 body bags representing victims of the coronavirus pandemic lined the lawn of the Arizona state Capitol on Tuesday. The socially distant protest was organized by Indivisible Phoenix, a grassroots progressive movement, to ask Gov. Doug Ducey to reconsider his decision to lift the state's stay-at-home order. The stay-at-home order was originally extended through May 15. However, on May 4, Ducey said he spotted a downward trend and adjusted the order, allowing some non-essential businesses and restaurants to reopen." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Florida. WTXL Tallahassee: "A group of protesters laid out a line of body bags on the steps of the Florida Capitol building Tuesday morning. This group is part of the Indivisible Movement. The body bags represent lives lost due to COVID-19. Florida is currently in Phase One of Gov. Ron DeSantis' 3-step plan to reopen the state. DeSantis promises to only move forward when there is no evidence of a resurgence in COVID-19 cases." ~~~

~~~ Texas. Billy Gates of KXAN Austin: "Indivisible Austin laid out body bags in front of the Governor's mansion Tuesday to protest Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's plan to reopen the Texas economy. The group is calling on the governor to 'listen to medical experts and not cave to pressure to open the state too fast, risking more lives.'" ~~~

~~~ But Then There's Michigan's Armed Trump Brigade. Moriah Balingit of the Washington Post: "Armed members of the Michigan Home Guard stood outside Karl Manke's barber shop [in Owosso, Michigan], ready to blockade the door if police arrived. They were determined to help Manke, 77, reopen his shop Monday, in defiance of state orders, and dozens joined them, wearing Trump sweatshirts and Trump cowboy hats and waving Trump flags. They gathered not because they desperately needed haircuts but to rail against Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's approach to fighting the coronavirus outbreak in Michigan, one of the nation's worst hot spots. They were channeling President Trump's support of such protests, but some also were taking aim at the state's Republicans, who they say have not done enough to 'liberate' the state from safety measures that have ground life to a halt.... At the barbershop in Owosso, the local sheriff has said he will not enforce Whitmer's orders."

The POTUS* Is Completely Insane. Batshit Crazy. Deranged. Bonkers. Nutso. Quint Forgey of Politico: "Donald Trump on Tuesday explicitly suggested MSNBC's Joe Scarborough had committed murder.... Following a segment on the network's 'Morning Joe' talk show that featured discussion of upcoming Senate testimony by Dr. Anthony Fauci..., as well as critical comments from Scarborough regarding the White House's coronavirus response, Trump lashed out in a tweet posted just before 7 a.m. 'When will they open a Cold Case on the Psycho Joe Scarborough matter in Florida. Did he get away with murder? Some people think so,' Trump wrote. 'Why did he leave Congress so quietly and quickly? Isn't it obvious? What's happening now? A total nut job!' Trump was apparently referring to the 2001 death of Lori Klausutis, who worked as a staffer in Scarborough's Fort Walton Beach, Fla., office when he served as a Republican House lawmaker.... Klausutis' autopsy revealed she had an undiagnosed heart condition, and a coroner concluded she died after passing out and hitting her head in a fall, according to The Associated Press. She was not struck by another person, the coroner said, and Scarborough was in Washington at the time of her death." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: mike pence may or may not be in solitary confinement, but reporters should start phoning him up to ask why he hasn't got the Cabinet together to invoke the 25th Amendment. In the meantime, every single Republican who has demonstrated his or her fealty to Trump should be asked if they agree with Trump that Joe Scarborough may be guilty of murder & that a criminal investigation is in order. Especially Bill Barr. I don't know why this tweet has received almost no media attention. It's appalling. How safe would you feel if a POTUS* spread a false rumor that you had murdered someone AND you knew his AG was a lapdog with a history of running fake investigations to satisfy the president's whim? ~~~

~~~ Thank You, Mr. Olorunnipa. Toluse Olorunnipa of the New York Times Washington Post: "On a day when coronavirus deaths passed 80,000 and top government scientists warned of the perils of loosening public health restrictions too soon, President Trump used his massive public platform to suggest a talk-show host he has clashed with committed murder. His baseless charge capped a 48-hour stretch in which he accused scores of perceived opponents of criminal acts ranging from illegal espionage to election rigging. Since ... Sunday [morning], Trump has used his Twitter account to make or elevate allegations of criminal conduct against no less than 20 individuals and organizations.... The list of purported culprits Trump has charged include two television news hosts, a comedian, at least five former officials from the FBI and Justice Department, the state of California, a broadcast television station and at least five top national security officials from President Barack Obama's administration. Trump tweeted multiple times about alleged criminal activity against him by Obama but struggled to elaborate beyond his frequent references to 'Obamagate.' Over the course of his presidency, Trump has responded to criticism of his performance or comments by suggesting or outright asserting that his critics are criminals." ~~~

~~~ Trump's Crazy Tweets Aren't Working. David Frum of the Atlantic: "Over Mother's Day and then through Monday -- and who knows, perhaps continuing today [Tuesday] -- Trump has fired off hundreds of rounds of weapons-grade lunacy on Twitter.... Angry, scared, and aggrieved by the lack of praise for his efforts, Trump turns for safety to television, where his two-dimensional friends explain how everything is everybody else's fault.... But those stories have drawn Trump into a twisting ghetto of craziness that is impenetrable to outsiders.... Trump's messages ... are all about him. You are sick or scared, you have lost your job or your business -- but let's remember who the real victim is. Me. Me and Michael Flynn. But mostly me.... The most important thing to notice about the Trump-Fox blizzard of mania is how remote it is from anything that real-world voters care about.... And what they hear is not: Obama was mean to me. What they hear is: I cannot do this job."

** Couldn't Happen to a Less Deserving Guy. Katherine Faulders & Luke Barr of ABC News: "President Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort has been released from prison to serve the remainder of his sentence in home confinement because of concerns over the novel coronavirus, two sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. Manafort was released from FCI Loretto in central Pennsylvania early Wednesday morning, the two sources said. An attorney for Manafort confirmed he had been released to home confinement...."

** Spencer Hsu & Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post: "A U.S. judge put on hold the Justice Department's move to drop charges against Michael Flynn, saying he expects independent groups and legal experts to argue against the bid to exonerate President Trump's former national security adviser of lying to the FBI. U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan said in an order Tuesday that he expects individuals and organizations will seek to intervene in the politically charged case. Having others weigh in could preface more aggressive steps that the federal judge in Washington could take, including -- as many outside observers have called for -- holding a hearing to consider what to do. ~~~

     ~~~ Katelyn Polantz of CNN: "The judge overseeing Flynn's criminal case opened the door on Tuesday for people outside of the Justice Department and the former national security adviser's legal team to comment on the Trump administration's effort to dismiss the case against him. Judge Emmet Sullivan said third-parties may be able to file "friend of the court" briefs in the case, an extraordinary development for criminal proceedings and a development that will likely delay a ruling on the request to dismiss the case." The New York Times report is here. ~~~

~~~ Shane Harris & Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "President Trump's top intelligence adviser [Richard Grenell] has given the Justice Department the names of Obama administration officials who 'unmasked' then-national security adviser Michael Flynn following his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the United States in 2016, according to U.S. officials.... Current and former officials said unmasking can be a vital tool for identifying potential spies or terrorists.... 'This is politics corrupting intelligence,' said one former senior official.... The Trump administration has offered no evidence that the unmasking in Flynn's case was improper or didn't follow standard rules.... A Justice Department official said the department had 'been reviewing unmasking as part of our broader review of 2016 and 2017.' That would seem to refer to the investigation being conducted by [career federal prosecutor John] Durham, and perhaps a related inquiry by U.S. Attorney Jeff Jensen into high-profile cases in the D.C. U.S. attorney's office."

~~~ ** Frank Figliuzzi in an NBC News opinion piece: "On Saturday, Trump retweeted a fantastical fiction of a theory from The Federalist asserting that former President Barack Obama's White House intelligence discussions about, in part, the trustworthiness of incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn ... were proof that Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden were malevolently conspiring against the Trump administration. Trump later retweeted a Fox News legal analyst's opinion that without Flynn, the entire Russia investigation is meaningless and perhaps should be thrown out.... [Attorney General Bill] Barr is riding shotgun on Trump's scorched-earth joyride against justice.... On May 7, the same day that Barr moved to dismiss proven charges against Flynn, Trump had a call with Putin. Although the official White House summary of the call didn't include a discussion of what Trump has called the 'Russia hoax,' Trump disclosed to reporters that he and Putin talked about the repercussions of the special counsel's investigation. Trump explained that the 'Russia hoax' was 'very hard' on the U.S. and Russia's foreign relations, 'and we discussed that.'... As this staged farce unfolds, the truth will be trampled, reputations ruined and a foreign adversary empowered." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

The Supreme Court heard three Trump tax returns cases yesterday. The full recording, via the New York Times, is still available here. Audio begins at about 15 minutes in. Also comes with Times reporters snark attacks. ~~~

~~~ Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The very nature of the presidency was under scrutiny at the Supreme Court on Tuesday, as the justices heard more than three hours of arguments on whether House committees and prosecutors may obtain troves of information about President Trump's business affairs. The court's ruling, expected by July, could require disclosure of information the president has gone to extraordinary lengths to protect. Or the justices could rule that Mr. Trump's financial affairs are not legitimate subjects of inquiry. But some of the justices' questions raised a third possibility: that the court could return the cases to lower courts for reconsideration under stricter standards. That would have the incidental effect of deferring a final decision beyond the 2020 presidential election." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Robert Barnes, et al., of the Washington Post: "The court's conservative majority seemed far more critical of lawmakers' demands, questioning whether approving the subpoenas issued by three congressional committees would open the door for a Congress ruled by one political party to make potentially harassing requests of a president from a different party. The court's liberal justices seemed more accommodating to Congress's position that it has an important job to do in investigating potential wrongdoing and then proposing legislation to correct it.... Justices on both sides found less to criticize when Carey R. Dunne, general counsel for New York County District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr., spoke. Dunne said Trump's records are needed for an ongoing criminal investigation that touches more people than Trump and that federal courts already have decided that the request would put no additional burdens on the president. The records requested are held by Trump's accounting firm and financial institutions, and the prosecutors have said no action is required of the president to comply." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Ian Millhiser of Vox: "Part of the story here is that Douglas Letter, the lawyer for the US House, delivered a disastrous performance at Tuesday's oral argument. Not long after Letter began his argument, Chief Justice John Roberts expressed disagreement with the Court's longstanding rule giving Congress broad power to conduct investigations, and asked Letter if he could suggest any limits on congressional investigatory power. Letter had no good answer to that question, and he stumbled over various versions of it again and again as the argument wore on.... It was a torturous spectacle. It's clear that a majority of the Supreme Court believes that decades of prior decisions were wrongly decided, at least when President Trump is involved. And Letter did nothing to allay their concerns.... It's tough to exaggerate just how thoroughly current Supreme Court precedents cut against Trump.... [Yet] a majority of the justices appeared very sympathetic to an argument, pushed by Trump's Justice Department, that the president is special and should enjoy special immunity." ~~~

~~~ Rachel Maddow pointed out the incongruity of Trump's lawyers arguing that releasing Trump's tax returns would create too much of a "distraction" for a busy, busy president with vast responsibilities -- even as this President* spent the day of the Supreme Court hearings watching the teevee & tweeting his nutty responses to the shows & whatever else was making him crazier. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: I hope somebody reminded the confederate justices that every single major-party presidential candidate in the last half-century has released years of tax returns, most without whining about it. (Romney whined.) Voters have a right to know what their potential presidents have been doing with their money. I'm not sure about previous presidents & veeps, but both President Obama & Vice President Biden also timely released their returns covering the years they were in office. What-all is Donald Trump hiding? And wouldn't you think the confederate justices would notice that Trump is so unpopular that it's likely he won't be president* on the afternoon of January 20, 2021, but a Democrat will be? That means that whatever their decision on the executive branch's responsibility to assist Congress's oversight function, it will soon apply to Joe Biden? Do they really want Democratic presidents to stonewall Congress?

Presidential Race

Annie Karni & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Jared Kushner ... refused on Tuesday to rule out postponing the presidential election in November, a comment that fed directly into Democratic concerns that President Trump might use the coronavirus crisis to delay or delegitimize the contest and one that contradicted Mr. Trump himself. 'I'm not sure I can commit one way or the other, but right now that's the plan,' Mr. Kushner told Time magazine in response to a question about whether the election could be postponed because of the pandemic. The opinion of a White House staff member has no bearing on when the election is held. Even the president himself does not have the authority to unilaterally postpone Election Day, which by law takes place the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. But Mr. Kushner's comment raised alarms both because of the expansive power Mr. Trump has conferred on members of his family who serve in his administration and because it played into the worst anxieties of Mr. Trump's detractors -- that the president would begin to question the validity of the election if he feared he was going to lose." A Daily Beast story is here.

Comments

[Ken Winkes]

Judge Sullivan's unusual decision ought to take the heat off him for a while, leaving Flynn and the Pretender twisting in the wind for that same interval,whatever it turns out to be....as we close in on November.

And I don't expect those amicus briefs he's inviting will be looking kindly on Flynn's behavior

I doubt that's what Barr expected.

[Akhilleus]

Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, Li’l Randy gotta be a dick.

Senator What about Meeee? attacked Dr. Anthony Fauci during a coronavirus update hearing. Well, an update for some. For the littlest narcissist, it’s just a chance to say something ignorant and call attention to himself. One possible headline for this encounter might be “Self certified eye poker questions credentials of real doctor on a subject he knows nothing about.”

At one point the littlest sour ball squeaked that Covid-19 is actually pretty “benign”, except maybe in New England. News to people in New York and Illinois, I’m sure. Such ignorance is carefully designed to ensure him replay after replay of this stunningly stupid commen on state TV. First, it picks up the Fox (and Trump) “It’s no big deal” ball and attempts to run it into the end zone (he was sacked in the backfield; soooorrrry, Randy). But almost as good, for Foxbots, he points to New England as A. the national hotbed of coronavirus whining, and B. a place where people they hate are dying off. “Ooh, pass the popcorn, Jed, those commies in Boston are all going to hell!”

He’s just as mean and stupid as he looks. He also made a classic Trumpy assertion-without-evidence that scientists (those horrible monsters) have made “wrong prediction, after wrong prediction, after wrong prediction”. He musta forgot which predictions were wrong and who-all made them. Details, schmetails. Besides, science bashing is always a huge sop to the Fox luddites.

But this little prick doesn’t miss a trick. He also weasels in a straw man argument, accusing Fauci of thinking he’s the end all and be all and the only one who gets to make decisions. I’m sure Fatty was surprised to hear that. Dr. Fauci batted away these dishonest and underhanded brickbats with ease, like the wise and patient teacher who gently corrects the class bully when he insists that things can be so if he sez they are.

But looking stupid has never bothered this dickhead. His goal is to get his sour puss on the TV as often as he can. If he has to scream that up is down, he’s perfectly willing to do that. Right about now, you can reset your Li’l Randy “What about Meeee?” timers. He’ll be needing another fix in short order.

Rational observers who wonder why the US trails the entire planet in responding to this epic pandemic could do no worse than watching this little douchebag waste everyone’s time and energy so he can feel important.

[PD Pepe]

Howard Stern–-man verbally engaged in all things sexual–-the more kinky the better–- was once a bud of our fatuous Fatty, the two going on about how to protect themselves from getting infections from all those loose women types who were so willing and eager to participate in quickies in the closets or, in Fatty's case, in a Bloomingdale dressing room and other close quarters. Now, however, Howie has a change of heart telling his audience ––wake up! you sycophants–-you people who think Trump cares one little wit about you––truth is––HE DON'T! In fact, all you dummies, he doesn't even like you! (a message I thought would be great for a Democrat campaign ad). So––best news of the day––when you lose Howard Stern, who by the way wants Fatty to flee, you are halfway there and wouldn't that be loverly if true.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/howard-stern-donald-trump-voters_n_5ebb4b43c5b6ae915a8bd391

[Marie Burns]

@Akhilleus: Somehow it slipped my mind yesterday that Li'l Randy was a self-certified ophthalmologist. He's also not very popular even in his home state. So when he criticized the popular, high-profile Fauci for hubris -- a quality Fauci has failed to display in his many recent public appearances -- the criticism may have been inspired by doctor-to-doctor "professional" jealously.

[PD Pepe]

And look what we have here! Republicans for the Rule of Law have put out this video and lo and behold it was shown on Fox, which means the King has probably seen it adding fuel to his fire branding take downs of anyone not heeding to his Kinglishness.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/king-trump-legal-shell-game_n_5ebba20ac5b6bf83abbb2f9d

[pat]

A tiny correction: The piece by Olorunnipa (sp?) is in the
Washington Post, not New York Times. It becomes obvious when you click on the link.
Thank you for your continuing coverage and updates. My first stop of the day on the internet.

[Patrick]

Re postponing the election, Jared said "'I’m not sure I can commit one way or the other,... "

It is good to see that the lad is gaining a sense of perspective, and is unwilling to 'commit" to something that is entirely outside his ken and authority and outside the power of the executive branch.

On the other hand, the statement is a trial balloon and you will see many such over the next few months, as DiJiT tries to create the popular impression that the date is subject to his discretion for "national security" reasons.

[Bobby Lee]

Michigan could get ugly real fast. This is basically an armed insurrection against state authority with the cooperation of local law enforcement. How would President Kim react if the governor calls out National Guard troops and reads the riot act?

[Marie Burns]

@Bobby Lee: Excellent call. That "with the cooperation of local law enforcement" is the scariest part.

This morning Stephanie Ruhle (definitely not my favorite MSNBC host) asked, "Why are guns a symbol of 'I can take care of myself' but masks are not?"

Ruhle doesn't get it. Carrying lethal arms & not wearing masks are both primarily signals of power over others. The guns part is obvious, and the refusal to wear a mask is a way of projecting two things: (1) I don't care if I give you a deathly illness, and I will if I want to; and (2) nobody tells me what to do.

[Marie Burns]

@Patrick. Right. Jared is conveying (and probably believes in) Trump's assertion that "I have an Article II, where I have to the right to do whatever I want as president*,” That includes -- and why wouldn't it? -- cancelling or delaying an election for "national security reasons."

Wonder how Johnny & the Confederate Dwarfs would deal with that. Not to mention Bill Barr.

[Ken Winkes]

Bea,

You have the gun thing absolutely right. Would add only 3) guns also represent to their bearers (these Michigan bearers anyway) a sense of safety and invulnerability, protecting them from all that threatens or that they imagine threatens their person or sense of self-worth. Power projected outward, yes, but inward, too.

Have a solution for Dr. Birx, who has risen and fallen in my estimation over the weeks. At the moment, if the above report is accurate, she's rapidly sinking again.

Since death is commonly defined as permanent heart failure, why not attribute all Covid deaths to that

His/her heart stopped. Period. Problem solved.

[Akhilleus]

The argument that a president, even a president*, is “too busy” to be distracted by law suits and thus should have total immunity, has already been heard by the Supreme Court, when confederates, pushing the Paula Jones suit, learned to their mustache-twirling delight, that the president (ergo, the president*) can be granted no such reprieve.

If Bill Clinton, a real President, who did actual work, is deemed to have no immunity, how is it that the current court may side with those claiming that Fatty, about as illegitimate a politician as they come, who sits on his fat ass during his eight hour egg-zecutive time watching Fox, is waaaay to busy to have to deal with anything as insignificant as the law?

Easy. This is the Supine Court. Even if they kick it back to the lower courts, thus evading responsibility (cuz wingers aren’t responsible for a goddam thing), they will effectively hand the Orange Menace a huge win.

And pay no mind to settled law and decades of precedence. The prime directive for Little Johnny and the dwarfs is “How can we help our party beat the Democrats every time out?”.

[RAS]

Michigan is a stand your ground state. What hapens if one of those losers has an epiphany that the virus is actually bad and looks around to see a bunch of guys huddled close together yelling with their hands near their triggers and no masks on. Maybe they all turn their cell phones off while protesting so they don't get any inconvenient texts saying some family member was taken to the hospital with covid-19. Though the neanderthals will find some way to blame Obama for themselves infecting their whole family with the disease.

[Bobby Lee]

So now the local Michigan judiciary is joining with the local law enforcement in the the armed insurrection against the state. Where is the federal government as this balloons? Probably we'll get a tweet shortly telling the governor to make a deal with these "very fine people".

[Akhilleus]

Bobby Lee,

No doubt. But once again, the order to “make a deal” ignores the very obvious (to all but the immoral, the broken-brained, and the stooges) problem that one cannot bargain with a FUCKING VIRUS!!

The wild card here is the fact that no matter how many Fox turds, narcissistic dilettantes with degrees bought by their daddies, and gun toting imbeciles “demand” shit, the hand winning all the books is held by a pathogen that is insensible to idiots strutting around with their big, impotent penis-replacement weapons and the needs of their little king for self aggrandizement.

It.doesn’t.care.what.you.want.

But hold on, here’s Li’l Randy on line two claiming that he is in charge, not the virus. Oooohkay, we’ll let the self-certified eye poker negotiate a deal with the virus. After all, they’re almost the same size.

The difference is that the virus is excellent at what it does, Randy, not so much. Likewise the Orange Menace and his army of insurrectionist gun knobbers.

[Ken Winkes]

My late night paranoia?

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-05-13/fbi-serves-warrant-on-senator-stock-investigation

Perhaps.

But I see the heavy hand of the Pretender Injustice Dept. in this, as it follows the Senate final bipartisan report issued by Burr's committee certifying Russian interference in the 2016 election.

To the Pretender, that report was unpardonable. Any other possible Burr malfeasance is irrelevant.