The sobering data on NYC and the country is getting people’s attention. While Trump plays politics, Democrats really need to concentrate on actions that get us through the crisis.
Don’t make the mistake of ceding the field to Trump. Put pressure on media not to cover these rallies live. (They’re not public health briefings.) But don’t waste time playing his game—play your game by getting the job done. That means supporting local governors, who are way more popular, respected, and trusted than Trump will ever be.
See also Navigator:
WaPo:
Inslee clashes with Trump over his leadership on coronavirus aid: ‘We need a Tom Brady’
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D) clashed with President Trump during a conference call with governors on Thursday, pleading with him to take more dramatic action to secure medical supplies for his state as it suffers from the coronavirus pandemic, according to four people familiar with the call.
After Trump told governors that his administration was ready to be the “backup” for states in crisis, Inslee spoke up and said to the president, “We don’t need a backup. We need a Tom Brady,” a reference to the legendary Super Bowl-winning quarterback who has been friendly with the president, said the people familiar with the exchange with the president who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private conference call.
Inslee, they added, also alluded to the Defense Production Act and said Washington state needs businesses to be more than encouraged to produce items such as masks and ventilators — they need a federal mandate to force them to act. He said the Pentagon needed to make immediate moves to prod defense companies to provide materials. And he spoke with urgency about the situation in nursing homes.
Gary Langer/ABC:
A third report a job loss, half a pay cut as coronavirus crisis grips the economy
One in three in say they or an immediate family member have lost their job.
The survey’s result on job losses is reflected in the unprecedented level of new unemployment claims reported today by the federal government. But the claims data don’t reflect the broader public fears. Among those who haven’t yet experienced a job loss in their immediate family, 58% are concerned about it occurring. And 53% are concerned their family will be hit with pay cuts or reduced work hours.
Navigator/Medium:
Trump spent the week saying we need to give up on the coronavirus response by Easter, but Americans believe he needs to do more as they feel the pain of this crisis.
- NEW NAVIGATOR DATA >> More Americans now believe Trump is “not doing enough” in his response to the crisis than “getting it right” (46%-42%) — a 9-point swing from earlier this week (41%-46%).
- AND >> Americans believe that the federal government should take immediate, long-term intervention in the economy (67% — including 59% of Republicans).
- MORE NEW DATA >> The number of Americans who know someone who has lost their job due to coronavirus is up 5 points from earlier this week (from 41% to 46%).
Jim Swift/The Bulwark:
The ‘Let the Elderly Die’ Chorus
Some conservatives—including supposed ‘pro-lifers’—say we should quit social distancing. Is it the economy they want to help? Or the president?
Let’s set aside for now the reflexive Republican defenses of President Trump’s handling of the crisis—sadly, a Trump-can-do-no-wrong attitude is just baked into the price of participating in Republican politics nowadays—and focus instead on the fight that arose over the last week about whether stay-at-home, social-distancing practices should be stopped sooner than medical experts recommend. This is an urgent policy matter that touches on some profound moral questions.
It wasn’t that long ago that Republicans used to mock Democrats for routinely saying that, when it came to government inaction, “people will die.” Reason’s libertarian video star Remy Munasifi once released a hilarious video about Elizabeth Warren making such an argument. And that’s a fair point: Government can’t solve every problem or save every life. Conservatives generally believe in individual responsibility, so if people don’t take their health seriously or if they make risky financial decisions, they shouldn’t always expect government to step in to save them.
In the case of the coronavirus pandemic, however, some Republicans and conservative commentators have begun to make an argument more radical than “people will die.”
It’s this: People should die.
Windsor Mann/Washington Monthly:
What Trump's coronavirus briefings are really about
Even when Trump is not talking about himself, he talks about himself. A reporter asked if he regretted his handling of the crisis. "I'm not interested in myself," said Trump, putative author of eight books whose titles begin with "Trump," about himself.
When not praising himself, Trump vilifies those who fail to praise him as much as he does. He denounced "fake news" and "dishonest journalists." He reprimanded NBC News correspondent Peter Alexander for asking "a very nasty question" and told him, "You're a terrible reporter." He called The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal "very dishonest media sources." Last week, he said he wanted to "get rid of about another 75-80 percent of you. I'll just have two or three that I like in this room." The president is holding press conferences in a pandemic to say he wants to get rid of the press.
It's no wonder why he feels this way. Unlike at his rallies, where thousands of fans shout his name, the audience at his coronavirus briefings consists of reporters asking questions about the health and safety of Americans, all but one of whom are not him.
Instead of reassuring the country, Trump wants the country to reassure him.
Richard Tofel/ProPublica:
“Our Goal Should Be to Crush the Curve”
A doctor-scholar who studied the 1976 mishandling of swine flu says the president is wrongly choosing between saving lives and saving the economy.
We are in a desperate situation where the economy has tanked and hundreds to hundreds of thousands or more Americans’ lives are in jeopardy. The choice is not one or the other. The choice is what is the mix of policy and strategy and execution that optimizes the best outcome, given where we start today with both a serious pandemic and a fractured economy. From an economic point of view, ironically, there is an optimal choice. There is a dominant choice, and that choice is based on experience in other countries that we can adapt — and based on the as-yet incomplete commitment to solve this problem.
Our goal should not be to flatten the curve. Our goal should be to crush the curve. We should be mobilizing under the leadership of a supreme commander who has the full confidence of the president and can act with the full power and authority of the presidency, to mobilize every resource of the federal government, civilian and military, to win this war against the coronavirus. We should set a goal of achieving victory in 10 weeks. We should make this year’s D-Day victory over coronavirus day.
Dr Philip A Verhoef/USA Today:
ICU doctor: Coronavirus frightens me. It's severe, unpredictable and it has no cure.
This disease is terrifying. I’m scared for my patients, my colleagues, my family, and my own health. Please don't stop trying to 'flatten the curve.'
It is an honor to care for critically ill patients, but it's also terrifying. What if we make a mistake that costs someone their life or causes irreparable harm? Can we keep them from dying, and at what point do we acknowledge that, in spite of our best efforts, we are losing the fight? Having the skill set to care for these patients means we have a responsibility to do our best, but also to realize that our best might not be good enough. This can be a difficult pill to swallow.
Ed Yong/Atlantic:
How the Pandemic Will End
The U.S. may end up with the worst COVID-19 outbreak in the industrialized world. This is how it’s going to play out.
Aspects of America’s identity may need rethinking after COVID-19. Many of the country’s values have seemed to work against it during the pandemic. Its individualism, exceptionalism, and tendency to equate doing whatever you want with an act of resistance meant that when it came time to save lives and stay indoors, some people flocked to bars and clubs. Having internalized years of anti-terrorism messaging following 9/11, Americans resolved to not live in fear. But SARS-CoV-2 has no interest in their terror, only their cells.
Years of isolationist rhetoric had consequences too. Citizens who saw China as a distant, different place, where bats are edible and authoritarianism is acceptable, failed to consider that they would be next or that they wouldn’t be ready. (China’s response to this crisis had its own problems, but that’s for another time.) “People believed the rhetoric that containment would work,” says Wendy Parmet, who studies law and public health at Northeastern University. “We keep them out, and we’ll be okay. When you have a body politic that buys into these ideas of isolationism and ethnonationalism, you’re especially vulnerable when a pandemic hits.”