The Commentariat -- March 17, 2020
It's primary election day in three states: Florida, Illinois & Arizona. Ohio's primary was cancelled in the middle of the night by a state supreme court ruling; see link to Columbus Dispatch story under "Presidential Race" below.
Late Morning/Afternoon Update:
From the New York Times' live updates on coronavirus developments: "As the coronavirus pandemic ground large swaths of the economy to a halt, cost an increasing number of people their jobs and sent the markets reeling, the White House, Congress and the Federal Reserve began taking steps to get aid to people and businesses. In a briefing on Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the administration is talking to Congress about sending cash payments to Americans over the next two weeks to cushion the economic blow from coronavirus. 'The president has instructed me we have to do this now,' he said. Mr. Mnuchin said that this Trump administration currently prefers making direct payments to Americans to get cash into their hands now rather than pushing for a payroll tax cut that would take months to reach people. He also said that President Trump instructed him to allow for the deferment of tax payments, interest free and penalty free for 90 days. People can defer up to a $1 million and corporations can defer up to $10 million in payments. The Treasury secretary said that this would inject $300 billion into the economy.... Mr. Trump said that his administration was also working to expand testing and preparing to ask Congress to infuse about $850 billion in additional stimulus to prop up the economy."
Trump Proposes Hu-u-ge Package to Raise Deficit & Help the Rich, Corporations. Erica Werner & Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration is asking Congress to approve a massive economic stimulus package of around $850 billion to stanch the economic free fall caused by the coronavirus, four officials familiar with the planning said Tuesday. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will present details to Senate Republicans later Tuesday. The package would be mostly devoted to flooding the economy with cash, through a payroll tax cut or other mechanism, two of the officials said, with some $50 billion directed specifically to helping the airline industry. White House officials also want to include more assistance for small businesses and their employees in the legislation, the officials said.... The $850 billion package would come in addition to another roughly $100 billion package that aims to provide paid sick leave for impacted workers, though the details of that legislation remain very fluid as it moves through Congress.... Democrats have said their proposals are focused more on helping workers, health care providers, schools, and senior citizens.... Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D., N.Y.) is expected to outline his $750 billion proposal and contrast it with the White House's approach. Schumer's offering would expand unemployment insurance, provide money for schools, public transportation, expand Medicaid funding, expand more investments in health care, provide loan assistance, and halt evictions and foreclosures, among other things." ~~~
~~~ Franklin Foer of the Atlantic: "The coming bailout is a familiar moral catastrophe. During the financial crisis, the government saved the banking industry's bacon, while asking exceedingly little of the culprits. When the government spends billions of dollars to save industries, it has enormous leverage. This is the moment when Congress can shape an economy. It should demand, for instance, that the airlines keep their workers in their jobs; it should place hard caps on executive pay and prohibit stock buybacks; it can demand that airlines take steps to reduce their Sasquatch-size carbon footprint.... If the industry wants the public's money, it will have to deal with it."
Maggie Haberman & Noah Weiland of the New York Times (March 16): "The culture that President Trump has fostered and abided by for more than three years in the White House has shaped his administration's response to a deadly pandemic.... It explains how Mr. Trump could announce he was dismissing his acting chief of staff as the crisis grew more severe, creating even less clarity in an already fractured chain of command. And it was a major factor in the president's reluctance to even acknowledge a looming crisis, for fear of rattling the financial markets that serve as his political weather vane.... Crises are treated as day-to-day public relations problems by Mr. Trump, who thinks ahead in short increments of time and early on in his presidency told aides to consider each day as an episode in a television show. The type of long-term planning required for an unpredictable crisis like a pandemic has brought into stark relief the difficulties that Mr. Trump was bound to face in a real crisis. Mr. Trump has refused repeated warnings to rely on experts, or to neutralize some of the power held by his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in favor of a traditional staff structure. He has rarely fully empowered people in the jobs they hold." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Sorry, I thought I had linked this story earlier, but I see I did not. There's not much in it you don't know, but it does give a good picture of how unsuited Trump is to hold any administrative post, much less president*.
Greg Sargent of the Washington Post: "It isn't easy to find any bright spots amid our ongoing slide into failed-state status, but here's one: Far more Americans trust the news media than trust President Trump to tell them the truth about our coronavirus crisis. A new poll from NPR, PBS News Hour and Marist finds that only 37 percent of Americans have a good deal of trust in the information Trump tells them about coronavirus. By contrast, 60 percent have little to no trust. Meanwhile, the poll also finds that 50 percent have a good deal of trust in the news media's information about the disease, versus 47 percent who lack trust.... Our national response to a crisis with extraordinarily far-reaching destructive potential is more or less under the control of a megalomaniac who, with the eager backing of his media allies, vastly prioritizes protecting his reelection chances over protecting the country.... In addition to the threat it poses to the country, coronavirus also poses an existential threat to Trump's presidency. This Trump-protection project will only grow more urgent...." ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE. Elizabeth Williamson of the New York Times: "When Deborah Frank Feinen, the mayor of Champaign, Ill., drafted an emergency powers declaration last Thursday to confront the coronavirus pandemic, she was proud of her city's early preparation. But by the time she got to work the next morning, the National Rifle Association had blared a 'national alert' saying 'anti-gun extremists' were moving 'to undermine our firearms freedom.' The city government was soon under siege.... Keen to defend President Trump from criticism and portray virus-related warnings as politically motivated fear-mongering, conservative organizations, media and Trump loyalists are undermining state and local government efforts to convey accurate information and protect their constituents.... On Sunday..., the Rev. Rodney Howard-Browne, an evangelical pastor and conspiracy theorist who has prayed with Mr. Trump in the White House, encouraged his tightly packed congregation to shake hands, to prove they were not 'pansies.'... He added, 'There's going to be forced vaccines' to 'kill off many people.' The president has not rebuked his allies for their denialism."
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Benedict Carey of the New York Times: "Scientists tracking the spread of the coronavirus reported on Monday that, for every confirmed case, there are most likely another five to 10 people in the community with undetected infections. These often-milder cases are, on average, about half as infectious as confirmed ones, but are responsible for nearly 80 percent of new cases, according to the report, which was based on data from China."
Trump Faces Some Facts (At Least for Now). Nolan McCaskill & Joanne Kenen of Politico: "... Donald Trump on Monday acknowledged the gravity of the coronavirus pandemic, releasing strict new guidelines to limit people's interactions in an increasingly urgent bid to slow the virus in the next two weeks before U.S. hospitals are overwhelmed. 'It's bad. It's bad,' the president said at a news conference after releasing guidelines that called for people to avoid gathering in groups of more than 10 people and to steer clear of eating and drinking at bars, restaurants and food courts. The guidelines -- including a strict recommendation that anyone with even minor symptoms stay home -- are not mandatory. But they were issued with a sense of alarm and a frankness that Trump has not previously displayed.... No country, including the United States, has it under control, he said." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Just yesterday Trump said the coronavirus was something "we have tremendous control of." He also said he would give himself a "10" on a scale of one-to-ten for his response to the virus, which he claimed no one saw coming a month ago. So, ya know, he hasn't totally faced reality. Trump said, too, that he was tested "very strongly" for the virus, & the test was negative. What does that mean? Did he get a super-test? Did the technician stab him really hard? I just hope if I'm tested, it won't be done "very weakly." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Jonathan Chait: "President Trump's Monday coronavirus press conference was his best since the beginning of the crisis. That is, of course, a relative measure.... His most remarkable utterance -- one that would have set off an uproar if a normal president had said it -- came when he claimed the coronavirus had snuck up on everybody. 'We have a problem that, a month ago, nobody thought about,' he proclaimed. Uh, well, no. In January, two former Trump administration officials wrote a Wall Street Journal op-ed pleading with Trump to take the coronavirus seriously. Almost two months ago, Joe Biden wrote an op-ed demanding a more forceful response. Trump spent this entire period relentlessly denying the United States faced any danger at all." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Chait is in Trumpspeak denial here. When Trump says, "nobody knew," of course he means, "I didn't know" or "I just learned." The form of the statement is just like the one he made to GOP officials three years ago: "Most people don't even know [Abraham Lincoln] was a Republican. Does anyone know? Lot of people don't know that." Of course the Stable Genius can't acknowledge his own ignorance, so he must attribute that ignorance to "most people" or "everybody."
~~~ If You Beat Trump Over the Head with a Baseball Bat Enough Times, He Might Just Sorta Get It. Meredith McGraw, et al., of Politico: "Before markets started spiraling like 1987's 'Black Monday' crash, and even before ... Donald Trump heard from state governors and G-7 leaders trying to stave off deaths at home, the president received a series of fresh warnings about the scale of the calamity poised to wash over America. His coronavirus task force presented new information based on overseas models showing how quickly the virus could spread without swift action. And new data he was shown from China overnight highlighted that country's economic collapse -- plunging factory activity and soaring unemployment -- despite its draconian measures to combat the coronavirus crisis. Faced with a reality that the nation he oversees needs to take dramatic action or follow in the footsteps of deeply troubled nations abroad, the president took on a newly somber tone about a virus outbreak he spent months downplaying.... In just 24 hours, the president went from telling people filling up their pantries to just 'relax,' to acknowledging the economy might be careening toward a recession and warning the public they have a narrow window of 15 days to stop the spread of a lethal disease." ~~~
~~~ Ben White of Politico: "The early signals from the coronavirus crisis point to a scale of damage unseen in the modern U.S. economy: the potential for millions of jobs lost in a single month, a historic and sudden plunge in economic activity across the nation and a pace of sharp market swings not seen since the Great Depression. The S&P is now only around 300 points away from wiping out all its gains since Donald Trump won the White House in November 2016. President Trump himself, one of the grandest boasters of the strength and resilience of markets and the American economy, appeared to capitulate on Monday with a more somber tone reflecting the immense magnitude of the challenge facing the nation.... The hope on the part of White House officials is not to avoid a sharp economic slowdown -- they all know it is coming -- but that the short-term pain from extreme measures will lead to a flattening in the curve of the virus spread."
Paul Krugman: "At every stage, Donald Trump minimized the threat and blocked helpful action because he wanted to look good for the next news cycle or two, ignoring and intimidating anyone who tried to give him good advice. But here';s the thing: Even if he weren't so irresponsibly self-centered, he has denuded the government of people who could be giving good advice in the first place.... As far as I can tell, the Trump team is utterly incapable of formulating a coherent response to the gathering economic crisis.... At this point, in other words, it's pretty much up to Jay Powell, the Fed chairman, and Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House; the question is whether Trump and Senate Republicans will let them save the economy.... In another time, under another president, the White House would have played a crucial role in shaping crisis legislation. But last week..., it was almost entirely a Democratic effort.... True, Steve Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, negotiated with Pelosi, basically to make the bill a bit worse.... The Senate probably will eventually pass Pelosi's bill. But with all signs pointing to a steep economic dive, we need a much bigger stimulus package -- perhaps along the lines being developed by Chuck Schumer...."
Fred Imbert of CNBC: "Stocks fell sharply Monday -- with the Dow suffering its worst day since the 'Black Monday' market crash in 1987 and its third-worst day ever -- even after the Federal Reserve embarked on a massive monetary stimulus campaign to curb slower economic growth amid the coronavirus outbreak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 2,997.10 points lower, or 12.9%, at 20,188.52. The 30-stock Dow was briefly down more than 3,000 points in the final minutes of trading. The S&P 500 dropped 12% to 2,386.13 -- hitting its lowest level since December 2018 -- while the Nasdaq Composite closed 12.3% lower at 6,904.59 in its worst day ever. The major averages fell to their lows into the close after ... Donald Trump said the worst of the outbreak could last until August. He also told reporters the U.S. 'may be' heading into a recession." This is an update of a story linked previously. ~~~
~~~ New York Times live market updates: "The S&P 500 fell 12 percent, its biggest drop since the coronavirus outbreak began to roil markets in the United States last month -- and its worst daily decline since October 1987.... Financial markets cratered on Monday, as investors were confronted with evidence that a steep decline in the world's largest economies may have already begun. The sell-off began after the Federal Reserve took extraordinary steps on Sunday afternoon to bolster the American economy, signaling that it saw an economic crisis unfolding as businesses shut down and borders are closed to contain the coronavirus. The financial downdraft was global.... Then came news that factory activity in China -- one of the world's largest economies -- fell 13.5 percent last month compared with February of last year. Investment in China fell by roughly 25 percent. And one of the first bits of data for American economic activity in March, a gauge of manufacturing activity in New York State, showed a record one-month plunge in the measure, which fell to its lowest level since 2009." ~~~
~~~ Matt Egan & Rob McLean of CNN: "America's eight biggest biggest banks are slamming the brakes on their aggressive share buyback programs as they promise to preserve capital to get through the coronavirus crisis. The financial institutions announced the buyback decision simultaneously Sunday evening just after the Federal Reserve took emergency actions aimed at staving off a deep economic recession.... The decision reflects a realization that it would look bad for banks to reward shareholders with massive buybacks while simultaneously taking unpopular steps such as foreclosures, pulling credit lines, freezing hiring and laying off workers." --s ~~~
~~~ Al Lewis of CNBC: "Goldman Sachs' economists declared the U.S. economy all but recession-proof at the dawning of 2020, but now it appears a coronavirus-induced recession may have begun just a few months later. The analysis didn't account for a 'Black Swan,' a term for an improbable and unforeseen event.... 'We are going into a global recession,' warns chief economic advisor at Allianz Mohamed El-Erian, who correctly called the bear market as it approached. 'The economic damage is going to last.'" --s (Also linked yesterday.)
Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "President Trump told a group of governors on Monday morning that they should not wait for the federal government to fill the growing demand for respirators needed to treat people with coronavirus. "'Respirators, ventilators, all of the equipment -- try getting it yourselves,' Mr. Trump told the governors during the conference call, a recording of which was shared with The New York Times. 'We will be backing you, but try getting it yourselves. Point of sales, much better, much more direct if you can get it yourself.' The suggestion surprised some of the governors, who have been scrambling to contain the outbreak and are increasingly looking to the federal government for help with equipment, personnel and financial aid. Last Wednesday, Mr. Trump directed his labor secretary to increase the availability of respirators, and he has generally played down fears of shortages." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ William Baldwin of Forbes (March 14): "The German government just placed an order for 10,000 mechanical ventilators. What's the U.S. government doing about a potential shortage here? Not much, it seems.... 'We could increase production five-fold in a 90- to 120-day period,' says Chris Kiple, chief executive of Ventec Life Systems, a Bothell, Wash. firm that makes ventilators used in hospitals, homes and ambulances.... The ventilator industry is getting a burst of desperate orders from China and Italy. The U.S. hasn't seen that yet, although manufacturers are bracing for it. 'The time for action by the government is now,' says Kiple." --s
Tom Boggioni of RawStory: "As part of his duties overseeing the task force in charges of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, Vice President Mike Pence has been holding secret meetings with prominent right-wing 'influencers' on how to spin Donald Trump's administration's efforts to contain the growing health crisis." --s
Nahal Toosi, et al., of Politico: "Seven days before Donald Trump took office, his aides faced a major test: the rapid, global spread of a dangerous virus in cities like London and Seoul, one serious enough that some countries were imposing travel bans. In a sober briefing, Trump's incoming team learned that the disease was an emerging pandemic ... and that health systems were crashing in Asia, overwhelmed by the demand.... But ... this 2017 crisis didn't really happen -- it was among a handful of scenarios presented to Trump's top aides as part of a legally required transition exercise with members of the outgoing administration of Barack Obama.... But roughly two-thirds of the Trump representatives in that room are no longer serving in the administration. That extraordinary turnover in the months and years that followed is likely one reason his administration has struggled to handle the very real pandemic it faces now, former Obama administration officials said.... 'The problem is that they came in very arrogant and convinced that they knew more than the outgoing administration -- full swagger,' one former Obama administration official who attended said. 'There were people who were there who said, "This is really stupid and why do we need to be here,"' added another senior Obama administration official...."
MEANWHILE, on Trump TV. Paul Farhi & Sarah Ellison of the Washington Post: "For weeks, some of Fox News's most popular hosts downplayed the threat of the coronavirus, characterizing it as a conspiracy by media organizations and Democrats to undermine President Trump. Fox News personalities such as Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham accused the news media of whipping up 'mass hysteria' and being 'panic pushers.' Fox Business host Trish Regan called the alleged media-Democratic alliance 'yet another attempt to impeach the president.' But that was then. With Trump's declaration on Friday that the virus constitutes a national emergency, the tone on Fox News has quickly shifted. On his program on Friday, Hannity -- the most watched figure on cable news -- lauded the president's handling of what the host is now, belatedly, referring to as a 'crisis.'... Trump, meanwhile, has long looked to Fox News and its personalities for guidance and approval, a dynamic that may have been pivotal this week after host Tucker Carlson reportedly visited with the president in person to urge him to take the coronavirus seriously."
Ryan Lucas of NPR: "Federal courthouses across the United States are taking steps large and small -- including postponing trials and moving courtroom hearings to video conferences -- as officials scramble to curtail public gatherings and limit the spread of the coronavirus.... The most dramatic effect so far on the federal judiciary was the Supreme Court's decision Monday to postpone oral arguments scheduled through April 1.... But there is no blanket decision that covers all district and circuit courts. Instead, each is crafting its own response in coordination with state and local health officials." (Also linked yesterday.)
Amy Goodman of Democracy Now, via RawStory: "A teenager's website tracking coronavirus has become one of the most vital resources for people seeking accurate and updated numbers on the pandemic. The URL is nCoV2019.live. We speak with 17-year-old Avi Schiffmann, a high school junior from Mercer Island outside Seattle, who started the site in late December, when coronavirus had not yet been detected outside of China. Now the site has been visited by tens of millions from every country on Earth." --s (Also linked yesterday.)
Mariel Padilla & Zach Montague of the New York Times: "Representative Devin Nunes, a California Republican, on Sunday encouraged healthy people to dine out at restaurants, contradicting public health advisories that strongly encouraged social distancing and discouraged Americans from attending mass gatherings.... 'There's a lot of concerns with the economy here because people are scared to go out,' he said. 'But I will just say, one of the things you can do is, if you're healthy, you and your family, it's a great time to just go out, go to a local restaurant. Likely you can get in easily. Let's not hurt the working people in this country that are relying on wages and tips to keep their small business going.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
Jared Holt of Right Wing Watch: "Former Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke melted down in a profanity-laced Twitter rant on Sunday in which he encouraged the public to defy the government' precautionary warnings meant to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease, alleging that liberal billionaire George Soros was somehow involved in the 'FLU panic.' 'GO INTO THE STREETS FOLKS. Visit bars, restaurants, shopping malls, CHURCHES and demand that your schools re-open. NOW! If government doesn't stop this foolishness...STAY IN THE STREETS. END GOVERNEMNT CONTROL OVER OUR LIVES. IF NOT NOW, WHEN? THIS IS AN EXPLOITATION OF A CRISIS,' Clarke posted on his Twitter account, where he has nearly one million followers. In another tweet, Clarke called the United States' response to the COVID-19 coronavirus the byproduct of 'several decades of liberal wussification.'... In one since-removed tweet, Clarke claimed that the ordered closures of bars and restaurants were part of 'orchestrated attempt to destroy CAPITALISM.' Clarke urged businesses to 'defy the order.'" Ginni Thomas (Clarence's wife) previously recommended that the White House hire Clarke for 'a homeland security role.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
Jonathan Chait on Trump's attempt "to pay a German biopharmaceutical company to develop a coronavirus vaccine in the United States, with the proviso that the product would be 'only for the United States.'... First, it shows his inability to grasp positive sum outcomes, especially between countries. A vaccine is a reductio ad absurdum of his dog-eat-dog worldview. While production capacity is somewhat finite, a vaccine is not a scarce good. Successful vaccines are always shared around the world because the entire world has a shared interest in eradicating diseases. Trump is the only world leader who is trying a beggar-thy-neighbor strategy for pandemic response. Second, it reveals his cynical assumption that everybody else shares his own amorality.... And third, we have Trump's inability to grasp the larger picture.... Would other countries be happy about this, or angry? Would they react in ways that might harm us when we might need their cooperation?" (Also linked yesterday.)
Peter Whoriskey & Neena Satija of the Washington Post on how U.S. testing failed: "As the coronavirus continues to spread across the United States, causing more than 80 deaths and over 4,000 confirmed cases, the struggles that overwhelmed the nation's testing are becoming clearer. First, the CDC moved too slowly to tap into the expertise of academia and private companies..., experts said.... The government effort was nevertheless marred by a widespread manufacturing problem that stalled U.S. testing for most of February.... Critics say government officials should have moved much more quickly to bring on expertise from outside the CDC." The story goes on to illuminate how the CDC rejected assistance from both the private sector & some state labs. Experts are urging the government to find out why.
Mitt Gets Real. Clare Foran of CNN: "Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah on Monday outlined a list of proposals to address the coronavirus outbreak, including giving all American adults $1,000 in response to fallout from the spread of the disease. Romney's office framed the proposals as a way to ensure economic stability for working Americans.... The proposal comes after businessman Andrew Yang drew attention as a candidate in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary by advocating a universal basic income of $1,000 per month for every American adult to address economic inequality. Yang, who dropped out of the presidential race in February and is now a CNN political commentator, tweeted about the Romney proposal on Monday, saying, 'Mitt understands this crisis' potential impact on the economy and what is at stake.'" Thanks to Ken W. for the link.
Josh Marshall of TPM: "As we've moved into the shocking events of March one of my central experiences has been what I would call time dilation.... What's unthinkable Thursday is quaint by Sunday. Such rapid shifts in our perceptions of the world and reality we're living in are profoundly disorienting. I suspect more disorienting than many of us yet understand simply because there's no respite from the rush of events. With all this I thought it would be helpful to review some of the recent timeline of events, both to get some temporal footing but also to start thinking about the range of possibilities of what might happen and how long this might last." --s
Ben Collins of NBC News: "The various false text messages forwarded to many Americans on Sunday and Monday all started a little differently before making the same debunked claim: Martial law is coming. Martial law is not coming.... With social media networks like Facebook and Twitter cracking down on the spread of dangerous misinformation in the face of the pandemic, misleading information and false claims have moved to what experts are calling a literal 'game of telephone' in text-messaging apps. Some users, even those who have no intention of spreading wrong information, are forwarding along viral rumors and urban legends to push vital information that is frequently untrue.... The supposed 'source' of the martial law rumors differs from recipient to recipient. Different versions of the texts seen by NBC News attribute the rumor to 'high-ranking military officials,' a 'close friend ... with incredibly reliable information' and 'a source that works for Homeland Security.'"
Alex Wickham of BuzzFeed News: "The UK only realised 'in the last few days' that attempts to 'mitigate' the impact of the coronavirus pandemic would not work, and that it needed to shift to a strategy to 'suppress' the outbreak, according to a report by a team of experts who have been advising the government. The report, published by the Imperial College COVID-19 Response Team on Monday night, found that the strategy previously being pursued by the government -- dubbed 'mitigation' and involving home isolation of suspect cases and their family members but not including restrictions on wider society -- would 'likely result in hundreds of thousands of deaths and health systems (most notably intensive care units) being overwhelmed many times over'... 'Our most significant conclusion is that mitigation is unlikely to be feasible without emergency surge capacity limits of the UK and US healthcare systems being exceeded many times over,' perhaps by as much as eight times, the report said. In this scenario, the Imperial College team predicted as many as 250,000 deaths in Britain."
The Grifters. Jordan Libowitz of CREW: "On March 7, less than two weeks after President Trump returned from an official visit to India, the business he still owns and profits from made an announcement: it would now ship Trump-branded products to India. This appears to be a clear violation of the Trump family's pledge of no new foreign business during the Trump presidency, and an invitation for corruption. This decision will allow foreign nationals to funnel money into President Trump's pocket in a way that is unfortunately both secret and legal. India is joined on the announcement by Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Scotland (which we must note is still technically part of the United Kingdom) and Germany." --s (Also linked yesterday.)
Swamp. Mike Spies & Jake Pearson of ProPublica: "The Republican National Committee has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to contractors closely connected to the organization's chairwoman, Ronna McDaniel. One contract went to her husband's insurance company. Two others went to businesses whose executives recently donated to Ronna for Chair, a largely inactive political action committee that McDaniel controls.... The companies won the contracts soon after McDaniel became the party's top official. She was picked for the position by President Donald Trump after the 2016 election." --s (Also linked yesterday.)
Phillip Bailey of the Louisville Courier Journal: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is quietly making phone calls to senior federal judges and urging them to step aside ahead of the 2020 election. A source familiar with the Kentucky leader's thinking described Monday how McConnell is personally reaching out to judges appointed by past Republican presidents.... The effort underscores how the GOP leader might be concerned about Republicans losing their Senate majority in the fall or ... Donald Trump failing to be reelected."
Robert Faturechi of ProPublica (March 10): "House members and staffers of both parties are increasingly dodging ethics investigators. The last decade showed a sharp drop in cooperation starting in mid-2016. Before that, in 74% of distinct cases subjects cooperated fully..., according to a ProPublica review of every case in which OCE found a potential violation. Since then, full cooperation has plummeted to just 33% of cases. Today, it's common for lawmakers from both parties to refuse not just some requests for interviews and documents from OCE, but all of them. In the last four years, subjects in 11 of 18 distinct cases refused any cooperation whatsoever. In the six years before that, there were just three such cases out of 43." --s (Also linked yesterday.)
Michael Balsamo & Eric Tucker of the AP: "The Justice Department is moving to drop charges against two Russian companies that were accused of funding a social media campaign to sway American public opinion during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Prosecutors said they concluded that a trial, against a corporate defendant with no presence in the United States and no prospect of meaningful punishment even if convicted, would likely expose sensitive law enforcement tools and techniques, 'potentially undermining their effectiveness.' Concord Management and Consulting LLC and Concord Catering were among three companies and 13 individuals charged in 2018 by special counsel Robert Mueller in a conspiracy to spread disinformation on social media during the 2016 presidential race. The effort was aimed at dividing American public opinion and sowing discord in the electorate, officials said. The case was one of the signature indictments from Mueller's two-year Russia investigation.... Concord was the sole defendant in the case to enter an appearance in Washington's federal court and contest the allegations. The case had been set for trial next month, making the government's filing all the more abrupt. Concord is controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a wealthy businessman known as 'Putin's chef' for his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin." ~~~
~~~ Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department's retreat comes after several controversies over Attorney General William P. Barr and top aides' handling of Mueller-related cases." The Hill has a story here. Mrs. McC: I smell a rat. Or two. Or three.
Presidential Race
John Wagner & Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) said that no in-person voting will take place in the state's primary Tuesday, noting that proceeding as usual would not be in accordance with the CDC guidelines against gatherings of 50 people or more.... He said a lawsuit will be filed to enact the change.... Election officials in the three other states voting Tuesday -- Arizona, Florida and Illinois -- have said they will proceed with their primaries, though Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) questioned the wisdom of that ... Sunday." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Update. As of 8 pm ET Monday, it wasn't clear if Ohio polls would be open or closed tomorrow. Gov. DeWine, according MSNBC, asked a court to close the polls, and the court declined his request. DeWine is appealing. ~~~
~~~ ** Update 2. Rick Rouan & John Futty of the Columbus Dispatch: "For real this time: There is no Ohio primary Tuesday. Early Tuesday, the Ohio Supreme Court denied a legal challenge to the state delaying the primary. A candidate in Wood County filed the action alleging the delay of the primary violated election laws. Only four justices participated in the ruling, which was issued without an opinion. The ruling capped a chaotic 12 hours in which it appeared the election was off, back on, and then off again.... Lawsuits are expected Tuesday seeking to allow additional days for absentee balloting and to perhaps move the election to a date other than June 2." ~~~
~~~ ** Nick Corasaniti & Stephanie Saul of the New York Times: "The other three states scheduled to vote on Tuesday [today] -- Arizona, Florida and Illinois -- have indicated that they intend to hold their elections as planned.... Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana and Ohio have postponed their presidential primary elections.... Wyoming is suspending in-person caucuses and asking voters to mail or drop off their ballots. Other states are weighing similar options or adding extra precautions for voters." The story has more information on voting in the three states voting today, but if you vote in those states, you'll probably have to consult local papers or other news outlets for clarification.
Senate Race. Kentucky. Daniel Desroches of the Lexington Herald-Leader: "U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's campaign called on a potential Democratic opponent -- former Marine Corps pilot Amy McGrath -- to stop running political advertisements during the COVID-19 pandemic. 'Amy McGrath's decision to blanket the airwaves with deceitful ads during the coronavirus outbreak is tasteless and shameful,' said McConnell campaign manager Kevin Golden.... The Kentucky primaries were slated for May 19, but Gov. Andy Beshear delayed the primary by 35 days to June 23." Mrs. McC: Seems to me like a good time to run ads about how Mitch is holding up passage of a bill for coronavirus relief & mitigation funding.
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