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The Strategic National Stockpile is depleted, the government is swooping in to seize supplies from states that are trying to fend for themselves, and Republicans are gearing up for a tooth-and-nail battle over whether to let people vote without confronting their own mortality. Other than that, and also several other things, everything is fine!
- President Trump has begun trying to divert the blame for his own failings onto the World Health Organization, threatening to freeze U.S. funding because the group “missed the call” on the pandemic. As always, the missed call is coming from inside the house: The WHO declared COVID-19 a public-health emergency on January 30; almost a month later, Trump tweeted that the U.S. had it completely under control. It now turns out Trump ignored warnings as early as November, when U.S. intelligence officials raised the alarm about the virus spreading through Wuhan, and concluded that it could be a “cataclysmic event.” Defense Secretary Mark Esper is on the record lying about whether the Pentagon had been briefed that early, just last week.
- Hospitals in seven states have reported that the federal government has been quietly seizing shipments of supplies, without providing any information about where their orders are going, or how medical workers are supposed to get what they need. The Trump administration has both told states they’re on their own to procure equipment, and stepped in to prevent them from procuring it. Those order seizures, and the administration’s routing of supplies from abroad into private companies, are happening in the broader context of Republican operatives pivoting to coronavirus profiteering, and Trump distributing resources based on partisan motivations, all of which raises the question: What the fuck?
- Even hospitals under the federal government’s purview are facing serious PPE shortages, though officials have tried to keep that under wraps. On Friday, the chief of staff at the Department of Veterans Affairs assured the agency’s employees that the department’s 170 medical centers were adequately supplied. Less than half an hour later, an official from Los Angeles’s VA hospital system told staffers that the supply situation was in fact dire: Medical workers caring for COVID-19 patients would be given a single surgical mask, rather than an N95 respirator, per shift.
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In Congress, Republicans are trying to extend provisions of the CARES act in piecemeal fashion, so that Democrats can’t impose key conditions on further emergency aid.
- Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer have introduced an interim relief proposal that would provide an additional $250 billion to hospitals, states, and food aid programs, and a provision to reserve half of the loan program for businesses owned by farmers, women, people of color, and veterans. They have not insisted on enhanced oversight requirements (as Trump fires every inspector general he can find) or new voting-protection measures (as Wisconsin braces for the consequences of its nightmare plague election), but pledged to push for those measures in the next relief bill. Republicans are already fighting and lying about the idea of voting by mail, anticipating that Democrats will demand it eventually, so Democrats might as well get in the game now before Republicans have a chance to dishonestly frame the whole debate.
- Trump and Republicans openly oppose making it easier for people to vote during a pandemic on the grounds that it will hurt Republicans’ chances of getting elected, which is a) not backed up any particular evidence and b) a very wild thing to admit out loud! When Trump isn’t confessing that he needs voter suppression to win elections, he’s arguing that mail-in voting opens the door to voter fraud. This is a) refuted by tons of available evidence and b) a very wild thing for someone who votes by mail to say out loud.
Here’s a glimmer of good news: A new CNN poll found that 55 percent of Americans now think the federal government has done a poor job of responding to the coronavirus crisis. Real good news would be if, you know, the government started doing a better job, but the public understanding what’s happening is an important bridge to cross.
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Worldos! Today on Pod Save the World: A coronavirus clusterfuck in the Navy leads the Acting Secretary of the Navy to resign, the Queen of England releases a message to the British people, and Tommy Vietor connects with some Americans stranded abroad. Check it out →
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Bernie Sanders has suspended his presidential campaign, establishing Joe Biden as the presumptive Democratic nominee. In a live-streamed speech this morning, Sanders said that he could not "in good conscience continue to mount a campaign that cannot win and would interfere with the important work required of all of us in this difficult hour." Sanders made clear that he views Biden as the party’s nominee and will work with him, but said he will remain on the ballot in states that still have primaries, to continue amassing delegates that give him leverage to influence the party’s platform.
Biden released a statement thanking Sanders for putting the interest of the country above all else, praising his creation of a movement, and appealing to his supporters: “I see you, I hear you, and I understand the urgency of what it is we have to get done in this country. I hope you will join us. You are more than welcome. You’re needed.” However you feel about Biden as the nominee, it’s an unequivocally Good Thing that we can now shift our focus to the general election, and progressive voices will continue to be part of it: Seven youth groups have already sent Biden a list of demands. Congratulations: You’ve survived the 2020 Democratic primary. It’s time to get to work.
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- Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) and her husband will liquidate their stock portfolio, in the hopes that we all forget about all the money they already stole by trading based on secret knowledge about the looming epidemic.
- A comparison of coronavirus cases in New York and California illustrates the importance of an early response. New York has seen 12 times as many deaths as California, and while it’s too soon to explain the difference definitively, the fact that California simply acted more quickly, issuing stay-at-home orders days before New York, is a likely factor.
- A French hospital has halted a hydroxychloroquine-treatment study due to cardiac side effects. They must not have heard the whole “what have you got to lose” thing.
- General Motors will build 30,000 ventilators for the national stockpile, in a contract issued under the Defense Production Act. What the Trump administration does with them after that, well, that’s anyone’s guess, baby!
- The House intelligence committee has opened an investigation into President Trump’s firing of intelligence community inspector general Michael Atkinson.
- An intelligence bulletin warns that domestic extremists may use the coronavirus crisis to target Jewish and Asian Americans. That warning is consistent with the observations of organizations that monitor online hate.
- Researchers have started examining sewage samples to determine how widespread COVID-19 is in given areas. Wastewater in Massachusetts showed a much higher prevalence than the number of confirmed cases would suggest. The federal government may be full of shit, but at least our collective shit is revealing the truth.
- Legendary singer-songwriter John Prine died on Tuesday from coronavirus complications. He was 73.
- Linda Tripp, whose taped calls with Monica Lewinsky led to Bill Clinton’s impeachment, has died. She was 70.
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Many Italians feel that they’ve been abandoned by the European Union through the coronavirus crisis, tipping the country further toward nationalism. Carlo Calenda, an Italian representative to the E.U. who belongs to one of the most pro-European parties in the country, said the widespread feeling that Europe failed to show solidarity for Italy is “an existential threat” for Italy remaining in the E.U. Because Italy wanted more emergency assistance from Europe than it’s received, thousands of formerly pro-European Italians are questioning the benefits. In a survey last month, 67 percent of respondents said they felt being in the union was a disadvantage to Italy, up from 47 percent in November 2018.
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Los Angeles, CA, has begun a massive effort to bring thousands of people experiencing homelessness off the streets and into hotels.
Library workers across the country are organizing to fight for better working conditions amid the pandemic.
Rachael Ray has pledged to donate $4 million in coronavirus relief.
Tyler Perry paid for seniors’ groceries at more than 70 stores in Georgia and Louisiana.
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