“This country is re-learning what it understood during the Cold War — we don’t elect presidents for the good days, we elect them to handle the bad days. Donald Trump is incapable of handling a bad day, let alone a protracted pandemic.”
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), quoted by NBC News.
Joe Biden told ABC News he would be heeding CDC advice by wearing a mask the next time he goes out in public as a way to mitigate his risk of contracting COVID-19, despite President Trump not following the advice.
Said Biden: “Yes. Look, I think it’s important to follow the science, listen to the experts do what they tell you. He may not like how he looks in a mask but the truth of the matter is that — follow the science. That’s what they’re telling us. So if I go out in public, and I have not gone to commercial places of late I haven’t gone to my local church … but my generic point is that you should follow the science.”
Joe Biden told ABC News the recently delayed Democratic Convention will have to happen, but conceded that it may need to be held virtually if the novel coronavirus continues to pose a public health threat by mid-August.
“It may not happen on our watch, but the nation needs the plan.”
— President George W. Bush, quoted by ABC News, to homeland security adviser Fran Townsend in 2005, after reading The Great Influenza.
“As the first alarms sounded in early January that an outbreak of a novel coronavirus in China might ignite a global pandemic, the Trump administration squandered nearly two months that could have been used to bolster the federal stockpile of critically needed medical supplies and equipment,” the AP reports.
“A review of federal purchasing contracts by The Associated Press shows federal agencies waited until mid-March to begin placing bulk orders of N95 respirator masks, mechanical ventilators and other equipment needed by front-line health care workers.”
“By that time, hospitals in several states were treating thousands of infected patients without adequate equipment and were pleading for shipments from the Strategic National Stockpile.”
CNN: Trump’s mismanagement undercuts his CEO image.
Rachel Maddow spoke directly to President Trump in a fiery segment:
“Mr. President, there are things that only you can do here. But the most important thing that you can do is put somebody in charge. You know, you’ll love it, because whoever you pick, you can blame that person at the end when there are still 100,000 or 200,000 dead Americans piled up in the nation’s funeral homes and crematoriums and cemeteries. Pick somebody you’re looking forward to scapegoating and blaming and saying that it was all their fault from the beginning.”
It’s worth watching the entire clip.
“What do you have to lose? What do you have to lose? Take it.”
— President Trump, quoted by The Guardian, urging Americans worried about Covid-19 to take a little-studied anti-malaria drug for the disease.
“Keir Starmer has promised to rebuild the nation’s trust in the Labour party after winning a stunning victory to succeed Jeremy Corbyn as leader,” The Guardian reports.
“By securing 56.2% of the votes of almost half a million Labour members and affiliates, he has emerged with a huge and powerful mandate to lead the party as he chooses, after four-and-a-half years of the Corbyn project, during which two general elections were lost.”
Josh Topolsky: “What the hell would we do right now without the internet? How would so many of us work, stay connected, stay informed, stay entertained? For all of its failings and flops, all of its breeches and blunders, the internet has become the digital town square that we always believed it could and should be. At a time when politicians and many corporations have exhibited the worst instincts, we’re seeing some of the best of what humanity has to offer — and we’re seeing it because the internet exists.”
“Now, I’m not letting Mark Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos off the hook, but we also can’t deny that there is still good, still utility, still humanity present here — and it’s saving us in huge ways and little ones, too. In the shadow of the coronavirus, the sum of the “good” internet has dwarfed its bad parts. The din of a connected humanity that needs the internet has all but drowned out its worst parts. Oh, they’re still there, but it’s clear they aren’t what the internet is; they’re merely the runoff, the waste product.”
“Republicans stalled Gov. Tony Evers’ move to push back Tuesday’s election, quickly adjourning a special legislative session to deal with voting issues in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
“During Saturday’s proceedings, the Assembly and state Senate each gaveled in and within seconds recessed until Monday.”
“A small group of Bernie Sanders’s top aides and allies — including his campaign manager and his longtime strategist — have encouraged the independent senator from Vermont to consider withdrawing from the presidential race,” the Washington Post reports.
“Sanders himself has become more open to the prospect of dropping out, especially if he suffers a significant defeat in Tuesday’s Wisconsin primary, which polls suggest Joe Biden will win handily.”
“President Trump and a growing number of Republican leaders are aggressively challenging efforts to make voting easier as the coronavirus pandemic disrupts elections, accusing Democrats of opening the door to fraud — and, in some cases, admitting fears that expanded voting access could politically devastate the GOP,” the Washington Post reports.
“Around the country, election officials trying to ensure ballot access and protect public health in upcoming contests face an increasingly coordinated backlash from the right. Much of the onslaught of litigation has been funded by the Republican National Committee, which has sought to block emergency measures related to covid-19, such as proactively mailing ballots to voters sheltering at home.”
Rick Hasen: How Republicans are using the pandemic to suppress the vote.
President Trump warned that America’s “toughest week” is coming up, predicting “there will be death” as the number of Covid-19 cases surges in the days ahead, Politico reports.
He also announced that New York would be getting “about a thousand military people — nurses, doctors, lots of other people because that’s what they need.”
But Trump also signaled his growing impatience with the stringent social distancing measures states had put in place around the country, which have sent the economy spiraling rapidly downward.
Said Trump: “We have to open our country again. We have to open our country again. We don’t want to be doing this for months and months and months.”
“In a conference call with major league sports commissioners on Saturday, President Trump said he believes the NFL season should start on time in September, ESPN reports.
“Trump also said he hopes to have fans back in stadiums and arenas by August and September, sources said, although it is currently unclear if medical experts find that to be a realistic timeline amid the current coronavirus pandemic.”
“In September 2018, the Trump administration received detailed plans for a new machine designed to churn out millions of protective respirator masks at high speed during a pandemic,” the Washington Post reports.
“The plans, submitted to the Department of Health and Human Services by medical manufacturer O&M Halyard, were the culmination of a venture unveiled almost three years earlier by the Obama administration.”
“But HHS did not proceed with making the machine.”
“What I found is when governors call me, I mean, I think in every case they’ve always been so nice. And then I’ll see them on television and it’s like a different person. I guess they assume I don’t watch them or something, but I watch very closely.”
— President Trump, quoted by the Wall Street Journal.
Bloomberg: “As it confronts the worst economic disaster since the 2008 financial crisis, the Treasury Department is riddled with vacancies among its political appointments. Of 20 Senate confirmed roles reporting to the secretary, seven aren’t filled, and four are held by acting officials. The domestic finance unit, which should be handling the brunt of the work related to the coronavirus outbreak, is particularly empty. It has no top boss and is missing three assistant secretaries, who are the next level down.”
“Jared Kushner’s family real estate company, which owns and manages thousands of apartment units, continued its aggressive eviction practices and debt collection lawsuits as Americans wait for government relief,” The Intercept reports.
“Well into the coronavirus crisis, which has led to skyrocketing unemployment, court records show properties owned by Kushner Companies are still filing new eviction lawsuits.”
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.
