“The Spanish government is working to roll out a universal basic income as soon as possible, as part of a battery of actions aimed at countering the impact of the coronavirus pandemic,” Bloomberg reports.
The government’s broader ambition is that basic income becomes an instrument “that stays forever, that becomes a structural instrument, a permanent instrument.”
The Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly blasted the now ousted commander of the USS Theodore Roosevelt as “stupid” in an address to the ship’s crew Monday morning, in remarks obtained by CNN.
In the mail: You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington by Alexis Coe.
“After an unlikely victory in the Revolutionary War cast him as the nation’s hero, he was desperate to retire, but the founders pressured him into the presidency–twice. When he retired years later, no one talked him out of it. He left the highest office heartbroken over the partisan nightmare his backstabbing cabinet had created.”
Greg Sargent has compiled a detailed timeline comparing public statements about the coronavirus pandemic by Joe Biden with statements by President Trump.
It’s utterly damning to the president.
What people are searching for in the Political Dictionary sometimes tells you a lot about our politics. Here are the top terms over the last 30 days:
“A little-known Washington nonprofit has filed a lawsuit against Fox News, claiming the news station, its parent companies and owners violated the state’s Consumer Protection Act and acted in bad faith by disseminating false information about the novel coronavirus through its television news broadcasts and minimized the danger posed by the virus as COVID-19 began to explode into a pandemic,” Seattle Times reports.
Reuters: “The University of Washington model, one of several cited by U.S. and some state officials, now projects U.S. deaths at 81,766 by Aug. 4, down about 12,000 from a projection over the weekend.”
“The model, which is frequently updated with new data, projects the peak need for hospital beds on April 15 and for daily deaths at 3,130 on April 16.”
“Light at the end of the tunnel!”
— President Trump, on Twitter.
A new University of North Florida poll finds the decisions by both Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and President Trump to refrain from imposing strict sanctions on public gatherings until last week — in order to keep businesses operating — may have cost them politically.
Only 45% strongly or somewhat approve of the job Trump is doing to address the pandemic, with 53% disapproving. By contrast, a narrow majority, 51%, approve of the job DeSantis is doing while 46% disapprove.
The poll also shows Joe Biden leading Trump in a general election match up, 46% to 40%.
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told CNN said he was qualified to engage and disagree with Dr. Anthony Fauci on the use of an anti-malarial drug as a coronavirus treatment — which is not yet proven as effective — saying, “I’m a social scientist.”
Said Navarro: “Doctors disagree about things all the time. My qualifications in terms of looking at the science is that I’m a social scientist. I have a Ph.D. And I understand how to read statistical studies, whether it’s in medicine, the law, economics or whatever.”
Washington Post: “Some of his allies fret that, even before the pandemic, Biden was far behind President Trump, who has been raising money for the general election since 2017. They worry the current environment — which makes it impossible for Biden to hold intimate, in-person gatherings with wealthy donors, and in which Trump has much more visibility — may deepen his challenges.”
“Biden’s backers hope his name recognition and voter enthusiasm to oust Trump will ultimately make up for any financial setbacks — and, they point out, Republicans face the same hurdles in raising money while the coronavirus remains a threat. Supporters note that the anti-Trump sentiments will ultimately rally the party, and its donors, around the eventual nominee, and Biden has a delegate lead to challenge Trump in the fall.”
“The Taliban in a statement Sunday said their peace deal with the United States was nearing a breaking point, accusing Washington of violations that included drone attacks on civilians, while also chastising the Afghan government for delaying the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners promised in the agreement,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
“The Taliban said they had restricted attacks against Afghan security forces to rural outposts, had not attacked international forces and had not attacked Afghan forces in cities or military installations. The Taliban said these limits on their attacks had not been specifically laid out in the agreement with the U.S. signed in February.”
“Chronic absenteeism is a problem in American education during the best of times, but now, with the vast majority of the nation’s school buildings closed and lessons being conducted remotely, more students than ever are missing class — not logging on, not checking in or not completing assignments,” the New York Times reports.
“The absence rate appears particularly high in schools with many low-income students, whose access to home computers and internet connections can be spotty. Some teachers report that less than half their students are regularly participating.”
“The trend is leading to widespread concern among educators, with talk of a potential need for summer sessions, an early start in the fall, or perhaps having some or even all students repeat a grade once Americans are able to return to classrooms.”
NBC News: “Hospitals across the country face dire shortages of vital medical equipment amid the coronavirus outbreak — including testing kits and thermometers — and fear they can’t ensure the safety of health care workers needed to treat patients with COVID-19, according to an internal government watchdog report released Monday.”
“The alarming findings, based on interviews conducted from March 23 to March 27, represent the first government assessment of how the country’s hospitals are coping with the outbreak and confirm previous media reports and warnings from health workers that the medical system is under unprecedented strain.”
“Health officials warned Americans to brace for a pivotal week in the coronavirus pandemic, as the number of new cases around the world jumped by more than 100,000 in a single day for the first time, with a third of them coming from the U.S.,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Some of the hardest-hit cities, including New York, Detroit and New Orleans, are expected to see infections peak in the coming days, new models suggested.”
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has rejoined the medical register and is to work a session a week to help out in the Coronavirus crisis, The Irish Times reports.
“As the global pandemic and a staggering economic crisis swells, Dr. Mehmet Oz, the controversial celebrity doctor, has been advising senior Trump administration officials on coronavirus-related matters. Oz has even caught President Trump’s attention with the celebrity doctor’s numerous appearances on the president’s favorite TV channel,” the Daily Beast reports.
Frank Bruni: “Do you remember President George W. Bush’s remarks at Ground Zero in Manhattan after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks? I can still hear him speaking of national grief and national pride. This was before all the awful judgment calls and fatal mistakes, and it doesn’t excuse them. But it mattered, because it reassured us that our country’s leader was navigating some of the same emotional currents that we were.”
“Do you remember President Barack Obama’s news conference after the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., that left 28 people, including 20 children, dead? I do. Freshest in my memory is how he fought back tears. He was hurting. He cared. And while we couldn’t bank on new laws to prevent the next massacre, we could at least hold on to that.”
“One more question: Do you remember the moment when President Trump’s bearing and words made clear that he grasped not only the magnitude of this rapidly metastasizing pandemic but also our terror in the face of it? It passed me by, maybe because it never happened.”
“In Trump’s predecessors, for all their imperfections, I could sense the beat of a heart and see the glimmer of a soul. In him I can’t, and that fills me with a sorrow and a rage that I quite frankly don’t know what to do with.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
