'A very, very painful two weeks'
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Evan McMullin & Mindy Finn
Always looking for someone else to blame for the disastrous results of his incompetence, Donald Trump’s supporters are now pushing the fantasy that the impeachment trial distracted the president from rolling out an earlier, more effective response to the coronavirus pandemic. Don’t buy it. Not only was Trump responsible for the actions that led to his impeachment, he is also responsible for the inaction that led to the current crisis. And neither the impeachment trial nor the pandemic threat kept him away from his rallies (at least nine in January and February) or the golf course (at least six rounds in January, February, and March). Distracted indeed.
—Evan McMullin
1. US death toll surpasses 9/11
As U.S. deaths from COVID-19 reached a somber milestone—exceeding the number of lives lost to the September 11 terrorist attacks—President Trump abruptly shifted his messaging on the pandemic late yesterday (again). Calling the extension of the White House social distancing guidelines through April "a matter of life and death," Trump predicted Americans will soon "start seeing some real light at the end of the tunnel," but only after "a very painful two weeks." —ABC News
— Supplies on hold. A lack of adequate medical supplies has hampered the U.S. response to the pandemic, so the Trump Administration has placed a moratorium on overseas shipments of USAID stockpiles of protective gear. —Politico
— Congress on hold. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has hit the brakes on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's plan to move ahead with a fourth stimulus package that would include major infrastructure spending. —The Hill
— Cruise ship on hold. Hundreds of passengers stuck at sea, aboard a cruise ship on which four passengers have died from COVID-19 and many more are ill, are now pleading with Florida to allow them in. But officials say the state simply does not have the resources to take on the extra burden. —NBC News
— Convention on hold? Former Vice President and presidential candidate Joe Biden, who, according to a Reuters-Ipsos poll released yesterday, leads Trump in national polling by six points, says it's "hard to envision" members of the Democratic Party gathering in 104 days for the Democratic National Convention. —The Hill
More: Fact-checking Trump's attempt to erase his previous coronavirus response (CNN)
2. Conway: The impeachment distraction that wasn't
"Just as [President Trump's] focus on himself, and his re-election, led him to extort Ukraine and lie about it, so, too, it led him to deceive the public about the coronavirus. Eager to keep the number of coronavirus cases from going up, he didn't want to let a cruise ship full of Americans dock. He didn't want virus warnings to spook the stock markets, lest he not be able to brag about the markets during the campaign.
Even as late as March 8, a month after the impeachment trial, he told Republican donors at Mar-a-Lago that his political opponents were 'trying to scare everybody, from meetings, cancel the meetings, close the schools—you know, destroy the country. And that's okay, as long as we can win the election.'" —The Washington Post
Ed. Note: George Conway is a lawyer and the co-founder of Checks & Balances, a network of lawyers advocating for the rule of law.
More: Boyle: Mitch McConnell tries to weasel his way back into Trump's good graces—by blaming coronavirus on impeachment (Los Angeles Times)
3. Needy states forced to fight for resources
A chaotic federal response to the coronavirus pandemic has beleaguered state governors competing against one another for desperately needed supplies. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said, "It's like being on eBay with 50 other states, bidding on a ventilator." Tests are also hard to come by. Gov. Larry Hogan of Maryland says his state is "flying blind" due to a lack of adequate test kits. —The New York Times
— Needed: A shipping location. The Defense Dept. has committed to transferring 2,000 ventilators in military stocks to FEMA and the Department of Health and Human Services. But the Pentagon hasn't shipped any of them because the agencies have not formally asked for them or provided a shipping location.
— Needed: More guidance. Days after manufacturers were enlisted by the federal government to mass-produce medical supplies to address the pandemic, manufacturers say they've received no guidance on where to place them. FEMA also appears to be struggling to get supplies where they need to go.
— Needed: The right masks. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Monday that the federal government sent the wrong type of medical masks in a shipment that his state recently received. Instead of N95 respirator masks, the state received surgical masks, which are not totally effective in preventing coronavirus transmission. —CNN
More: Why America is scared and confused: Everyone is getting the coronavirus wrong (Politico)
4. Some signs of hope at home and abroad
Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, who until today inexplicably resisted imposing a statewide stay-at-home order—as every other state with a similar COVID-19 caseload to Florida's has done—must have taken note of the California Bay Area. The area was the first in the country to require residents to stay home. State leaders and doctors are cautiously optimistic that the early action has prevented surges of coronavirus patients from overwhelming the region's healthcare capacity thus far. —Politico
— Italy. An increase of 4,053 cases of coronavirus in one day may not sound like good news. But for Italy, which has sustained more deaths from COVID-19 than any country in the world, it marks a plateau. New daily infections have fallen from the country's peak of over 6,500 on March 21, meaning the country may have turned a corner. —The Wall Street Journal
— South Korea. That life in South Korea has not ground to a complete halt seems to suggest that an early response to COVID-19 can be effective. Aggressive testing in early February, combined with other measures, slowed the spread of the virus sufficiently enough that the country did not have to resort to more coercive lockdowns. —The Economist
— China. By comparison, in Wuhan, China, where the novel coronavirus originated, authorities went door-to-door for health checks—forcibly isolating every sick resident in makeshift hospitals and temporary quarantine shelters, even separating parents from young children. The country seems to have brought the epidemic to heel, but to what degree is anyone's guess. —USA Today
More: China concealed extent of virus outbreak, US intelligence says (Bloomberg)
5. The Guardian Ed Board: Bolsonaro is a menace
"[Brazilian President] Jair Bolsonaro's ascent was always frightening, and his record since taking power last year—with attacks on human rights, minorities, the arts, and destruction of the Amazon—has been shameful. His response to coronavirus has plumbed new depths. Many governments will have to answer for their mistakes and complacency when the pandemic is over. Mr. Bolsonaro's performance is in a league of its own." —The Guardian
More: Bolsonaro ignored by state governors amid anger at handling of COVID-19 crisis (The Guardian)
6. Presidential election goes virtual...and postal
The coronavirus pandemic is posing unprecedented election year challenges to the presidential campaigns and to election officials in every state in the country. Rallies, town hall meetings, and public events have been canceled, and at least 14 Democratic primaries have been delayed, essentially freezing the process of nominating a candidate to take on President Trump in the November election. Some states, however, are being proactive. —Al Jazeera
— Kansas. The Kansas Democratic Party announced Monday that it will move its May 2 primary to mail-only. In making the decision, the party said that more than 10% of its polling locations had already canceled their contract with the party over safety concerns. —The Kansas City Star
— Idaho. Idaho officials also announced on Monday that its primary election scheduled for May 19 will be conducted entirely by mail. They made the decision after struggling to secure polling places and poll workers for the election. —KTVB
— South Carolina. The South Carolina State Election Committee is considering a range of new policies to ensure the safety of voters. The agency presented to state lawmakers options including vote-by-mail, easier access to absentee voting, and early voting. —WLTX
More: 'I don't think you really can' make the election safe: Wisconsin gears up for next primary amid coronavirus (ABC News)
7. Dacey: Democracy by mail can save 2020
"Polling places appear to be a hazard to our public health at this point. But consider the hazards of asking citizens not to vote in a time of crisis. What can we do? One answer may be to expand the use of safe and secure mail voting programs. We have seen high participation rates in such programs. It is critical that legislators pass laws to create mail voting systems where they do not already exist and offer broader absentee voting procedures." —The Hill
Ed. Note: Amy Dacey is the executive director of the Sine Institute of Policy and Politics at the School of Public Affairs at American University in Washington, D.C.
8. DOJ IG finds more FISA problems
Michael Horowitz, inspector general of the Department of Justice, says he has found widespread deficiencies in the FBI's use of warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. FISA is the process through which the U.S. can legally conduct surveillance on agents of foreign powers.
— Horowitz's audit looked at FISA applications from October 2014 to September 2019. The deficiencies he identified center on the Woods Procedures, which require FBI agents submitting FISA applications to compile supporting documentation for each claim in the application.
— "We do not have confidence that the FBI has executed its Woods Procedures in compliance with FBI policy, or that the process is working as it was intended to help achieve the 'scrupulously accurate' standard for FISA applications," Horowitz wrote in a memo to FBI Director Christopher Wray.
— The review of the FBI's FISA process started in the wake of Horowitz's investigation of the FBI's handling of four FISA applications targeting former Trump campaign aide Carter Page. Horowitz concluded that the four FISA applications for Page contained 17 "inaccuracies and omissions." —CBS News
9. Szekeres: Hungary 'no longer a democracy'
"[W]ith a single vote in parliament, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has won the right to rule by decree for as long as he deems fit. Emergency legislation to battle COVID-19 has turned an EU democracy into something like a dictatorship, critics say.
Dubbed the 'omnipotence law' by opponents, the bill approved on Monday diminishes parliament's checks on executive power and makes it easy to jail journalists for doing their jobs, according to opposition parties and rights groups. Elections and referendums will be postponed indefinitely. Crucially, the Bill on Protection Against Coronavirus has no sunset clause, meaning it is up to the government to decide when—or if—to end the state of emergency." —Balkan Insight
More: 'Coronavirus coup'? As outbreak grows, authoritarians around the world seize the moment (Los Angeles Times)
10. An American Story: Feeding the homeless in AL
Among those most affected by the coronavirus pandemic are the homeless. Churches and other resources continue to be shut down because of the virus, causing the homeless to struggle even more than usual to find their next meal. Residents of Dothan, Ala., are stepping up and using their own resources to bridge the gap.
— Bernice Chambers and her family decided not to wait to be told how they could help. Each morning, the family goes to work making sandwiches and buying pizza for the homeless, using their own money to purchase everything they donate.
— "That's the only lifeline we got. We have nothing. A lot of us down here can't get food stamps or nothing, and if it weren't for these people right here bringing us food, well, we'd go hungry," said Kennethray Elmore, a beneficiary of the food donations.
— Chambers is calling on Dothan residents to donate and help her cause. As both the coronavirus and hungry people are ubiquitous across the country, one doesn't need to travel to Dothan to help those in need. Great job, Bernice! —WKRG
Ed. Note: We are spotlighting ways that Americans are helping each other through the coronavirus crisis. Would you like to suggest an "American Story" from your local news? If so, please forward a link to the story to editor@topline.com. Thank you!
As a senior widower with underlying health issues and on a fixed income, I've been fortunate to be able to offer a small gesture of support to my housekeepers in response to the COVID-19 virus.
I'm not allowing anyone into my home, which includes my housekeepers. Because of their minority status and lack of work now, I'm continuing to pay them for the duration of this required physical separation as if they are here doing their bi-monthly cleaning. I will be taking care of my home myself, which is the least I can do as an offer of support for our society.
If we all can simply offer a small gesture, as I have read about here on THE TOPLINE, we will keep our humanity intact and eventually find wonderful returns for ourselves with that good will gesture. —Kerry S., California
First, thank you for highlighting the story about Trump wanting to sign the direct payment checks. As you pointed out, that's OUR money, and it's especially rich coming from someone who very likely paid no taxes himself. Second, thank you for doing the "American Story" section. THE TOPLINE has been vitally important to me since it began, and stories like these are really sustaining me right now. —Linda Lou K., Virginia
Got feedback about THE TOPLINE? Send it to Melissa Amour, Managing Editor, at editor@thetopline.com.