“A poll worker who was stationed at a Chicago voting site on election day died from the coronavirus, the Chicago Board of Elections said Monday,” NBC Chicago reports.
Disapproval of Susan Collins Keeps Climbing
A new Critical Insights poll in Maine finds a further drop in approval for Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) since last fall, from 42% to 37%, while the share of voters who disapproved of her performance climbed to 52%.
In contrast, Sen. Angus King (I-ME) remained popular, with 59% of voters approving of his performance.
President Trump’s approval in Maine is just 36%.
The Imposters
Coming soon: The Impostors: How Republicans Quit Governing and Seized American Politics by Steve Benen.
“Republicans, simply put, have quit governing… The contemporary GOP has become a ‘post-policy party.’ Republicans are effectively impostors, presenting themselves as officials who are ready to take seriously the substance of problem solving, but whose sole focus is the pursuit and maintenance of power.”
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- Benen, Steve (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 400 Pages - 06/16/2020 (Publication Date) - Custom House (Publisher)
White House Says Trump Won’t Fire Dr. Fauci
“President Trump isn’t firing Anthony Fauci, the White House said Monday, seeking to extinguish speculation that flared over the weekend after Mr. Trump retweeted a critic who called for the member of his administration’s coronavirus task force to be dismissed after he said lives could have been saved if the government had acted more quickly,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Said spokesman Hogan Gidley: “This media chatter is ridiculous—President Trump is not firing Dr. Fauci. Dr. Fauci has been and remains a trusted advisor to President Trump.”
Majority Think Trump Waited Too Long to Act
A new Economist/YouGov Poll finds 57% of Americans now believe that President Trump waited too long to act on the coronavirus pandemic that is devastating the nation.
That includes 85% of Democrats and 56% of independents but just 20% of Republicans.
Biden Holds Big Lead In Election Match Up
A new Firehouse Strategies poll of likely voters, Joe Biden leads President Trump in a general election match up, 53% to 43%, with just 4% undecided.
Also interesting: Trump’s approval rating on the coronavirus crisis (51%) is currently lower than the approval ratings of Congress (57%) and governors (75%).
Bernie Sanders Endorses Joe Biden
Sen. Bernie Sanders announced on a livestream Monday that he’s endorsing Joe Biden for president, five days after suspending his own presidential campaign, Axios reports.
Said Sanders to Biden: “We have to make Trump a one-term president and we need you in the White House.”
It took Sanders 36 days to endorse Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Congressional Deadlock Deepens as Urgency Increases
Politico: “After the Senate adjourned with no action on Monday, it became clear that a slugfest between Democratic and Republican leaders will bleed into its second week over how to deliver the next tranche of economic stimulus. A continued deadlock is untenable: A popular small business program is set to run out of funds as soon as the end of the week and governors are begging for more money.”
“But neither party seems ready to buckle.”
Louisiana Official Admits He Was Wrong on Coronavirus
Louisiana Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser (R) admitted he was “wrong” for advocating that events in New Orleans go on despite the growing coronavirus crisis, CNN reports.
He added that he “absolutely” regrets his comments.
Nungesser also apologized to New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell (D) for criticizing her decision to cancel events: “So the mayor did the right thing. In hindsight, I was wrong and she was right.”
Ron DeSantis Sinks In Florida
Tampa Bay Times: “Unlike other governors, DeSantis doesn’t hold regular public briefings. He has ceded the biggest decisions, like whether to close beaches, to city and county officials, yet he hasn’t talked to many of them. Early on, he clashed with federal officials over whether Florida had community spread of the virus.”
“DeSantis’ uneven response has made him an outlier among his counterparts across the country. The approval ratings of most governors have soared during the crisis. DeSantis, one of America’s most popular governors a few months ago, has seen his support plummet. One poll found him the third-worst rated governor at handling the coronavirus in the country.”
Companies Warn Economic Recovery Will Be Slow
“President Trump is in a rush to lift restrictions on economic activity amid the coronavirus pandemic, convinced that the move will rocket the economy out of a deep recession,” the New York Times reports.
“Companies say otherwise. So do a wide variety of economic and survey data, which suggest the economy will recovery slowly even after the government begins to ease limits on public gatherings and allow certain restaurants and other closed shops to reopen.”
“The evidence suggests it’s not just stay-at-home orders and other government restrictions that have chilled economic activity in the United States over the last month: it’s also a behavioral response from workers and consumers scared of contracting the virus.”
Workers of the World Didn’t Unite
David Atkins: “The reality is that leftist policy has never been more ascendant in the Democratic Party since at least the 1960s if not the 1930s. The Biden 2020 campaign platform is well to the left of the Clinton 2016 platform, which was itself well to the left of the Obama 2008 platform. Every major candidate in the 2020 field ran either on some version of Medicare for All, or at least a public option and Medicare expansion as a pathway toward it. Every major candidate proposed much bolder action on climate change than the Obama administration, and major policies to address student debt and college tuition. And on social policy from LGBT rights to criminal justice, the difference between the Democratic Party of today and that of 10 years ago could not be more stark…”
“What did lose unequivocally, however, was a certain brand of anti-partisan class revolutionary electoral politics rooted in industrial-era Marxist theory. Zack Beauchamp’s excellent analysis at Vox is essential reading on this topic, but the upshot is that regardless of leftist policy, a strain of Marxist theory since the late 19th century has posited that the left can usher in a socialist utopia by uniting the workers of the world–and that any cultural divisions within the working class that get in the way are the product of false consciousness and manufactured consent to prevent the proletariat from arising together to overthrow their capitalist chains.”
Special Briefing with Amy Klobuchar
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Quote of the Day
“I think you can say, ‘The worst is over.'”
— Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), quoted by the New York Times, while noting precautions will need to be taken for many months to come, even if restrictions are somewhat eased.
Trump Is Terrible at Governing
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Trump Falsely Claims Power to Reopen the Economy
President Trump falsely claimed in a tweet that he has the authority to determine when the country’s economy reopens.
Said Trump: “It is the decision of the President, and for many good reasons. With that being said, the Administration and I are working closely with the Governors, and this will continue.”
USA Today: “Federal law allows Washington to impose quarantines in some circumstances and limit travel between states, but the Trump administration has not invoked those powers. And the Supreme Court has struck down attempts by the federal government to intervene within states.”
Wisconsin Primary Results Coming
The Wisconsin primary results from last week will begin to roll in at 5 p.m. ET today.
Plagues and Peoples
Another excellent book: Plagues and Peoples by William McNeill.
“From the conquest of Mexico by smallpox as much as by the Spanish, to the bubonic plague in China, to the typhoid epidemic in Europe, the history of disease is the history of humankind.”
- Amazon Kindle Edition
- McNeill, William (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 354 Pages - 10/27/2010 (Publication Date) - Anchor (Publisher)