Crooked Media - What A Day: Hatchet jobs

Coronavirus is now spreading out of control across the country, guaranteeing that the humanitarian and economic crises pummeling America will continue for many more months. Or, as the president of the United States might put it: “JOBS! JOBS! JOBS!” 
 

• Buffeted by monthly employment figures showing that the economy “added” 4.8 million jobs in June, bringing the headline unemployment rate down to 11.1 percent, President Trump made a triumphant statement in the White House briefing room. “We’re down to the 11 percent number, we started at a number very much higher than that,” said the president who “started” with an unemployment rate of 4.8 percent in January 2017. 
   
• In reality, of course, 11.1 percent unemployment is catastrophic, higher than at any point during the Great Recession of 2008 and 2009, and the “record-setting” new jobs overwhelmingly represent people returning to work from furloughs, after Trump let coronavirus spread through the country undetected, and forced much of the country into a lengthy quarantine. In addition to representing just a fraction of the jobs lost during the initial lockdown, these topline figures mask the long-term economic damage Trump’s failure to contain coronavirus has already incurred, and don’t account for the damage underway right now as many parts of the country close back down.
   
• The reality for people whose jobs didn’t just bounce back is much harsher. Permanent layoffs (as opposed to furloughs) increased by half a million. “Core unemployment,” which subtracts out people who experienced temporary layoffs, and folds in those who lost their jobs recently, but have given up looking for new ones, spiked from 5.0 to 5.9 percent from May to June. Further fold in all people who want a job but don’t have one, and the rate jumped from 8.7 to 9.1 percent. The “new” economy has also expanded racial inequality (the unemployment among African Americans increased).

In a way, today’s jobs report is the last thing that a country whose leaders should be in crisis mode needed.
 

• The United States recorded over 52,000 new COVID-19 infections on Thursday. Florida alone accounted for 10,109 of those, about three times more confirmed new cases in a single state than in all of the European Union (which is why Americans won’t be allowed to travel there for the foreseeable future). Republicans (may?) have finally prevailed on Trump to stop discouraging mask usage, seemingly by convincing him he can pretend to be a swashbuckler when he wears one. Nevertheless, he insists on forging ahead with events that require congregating people in tight quarters, without requiring mask usage, which leads to stories like this: Members of the unmasked choir, which sang at the Texas megachurch that recently hosted Vice President Mike Pence, were exposed to coronavirus before he visited. 
   
• Trump should be encouraging stronger public-health restrictions, not celebrating employment figures that reflect his efforts to force people back to work before it’s safe. This mix of unseriousness about the virus and unwarranted celebration of the economy may explain why Senate Republicans continue to sit on the House’s most recent coronavirus-response bill, even as state and local governments hemorrhage money and jobs, and lack the support they need to safely reopen schools in the fall.  

Months into the crisis, Trump has proved incapable of treating coronavirus as a deadly threat that will pulverize the economy all on its own, and impose lasting economic pain on Americans until confronted by a competent government response. The sycophants he’s surrounded himself with either suffer from the same misconception, or are too chickenshit to stand up to him about it. That means we’re likely stuck with a White House that will bicker over whether to lie about coronavirus or ignore it altogether, rather than one that will implement a plan to suppress it, until January—if you get to work. 

ICYMI, the first episode of Dan Pfeiffer and Alyssa Mastromonaco's new mini-series That’s the Ticket! dropped on the Pod Save America feed on Friday. Last week’s episode focused on the vetting process for vice presidential candidates, and this week’s episode explores Biden’s pledge to pick a woman as a running mate. 

Episode one is out now, and new episodes will drop on Fridays! Make sure you're subscribed to Pod Save America so you don't miss episode two of That’s the Ticket, out tomorrow →

The FBI has arrested Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime confidante. New York federal prosecutors’ six-count indictment against Maxwell states that from 1994 to at least 1997, “Maxwell assisted, facilitated, and contributed to Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of minor girls by, among other things, helping Epstein to recruit, groom, and ultimately abuse victims known to Maxwell and Epstein to be under the age of 18.” She’s accused of enticing minors to Epstein’s various residences, where she knew they would be abused. The charges were filed by the Southern District of New York, where Attorney General Bill Barr recently attempted a bungled coup, and Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump were close personal friends dating back to the ‘90s, so in conclusion, (eyes emoji). 

• The White House is not planning any immediate response to the intelligence reports that Russia paid bounties for the killing of U.S. and coalition troops in Afghanistan, on account of the president claiming to believe that “it’s a hoax by the newspapers and the Democrats.” Anyway, intelligence officials identified a key middleman who distributed cash from the Russian spy unit to Taliban fighters for years.
   
• The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case on whether Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s grand jury materials must be released to Congress, meaning they will almost certainly not be available until after the election (if at all). It’s an extraordinary favor to Trump from the Roberts Five, in the guise of neutral judicial process. 
   
• Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has publicly urged Trump to reconsider his threat to veto the annual defense bill if it includes a provision to rename military installations honoring Confederate leaders. 
   
• The RNC has been paying a former Apprentice producer who’s been said to have “all the dirt” on Trump. Chuck Labella has pocketed more than $66,000 to help plan the Republican convention, in spite of having no previous political work on his resume. What he does have, allegedly, is the goods on Trump’s damaging behind-the-scenes Apprentice outtakes. 
   
• A New York appeals court has lifted the temporary restraining order against Mary Trump’s tell-all book, giving Simon & Schuster the green light to publish it on July 28, and encouraging Michael Cohen to follow his literary dreams.
   
• Former GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain has been hospitalized with the coronavirus, two weeks after attending Trump’s Tulsa rally sans mask.
   
• Sharpiegate rides again: The Commerce Department Office of Inspector General said department officials are “actively preventing” the internal watchdog from releasing a report on NOAA officials’ statements that Hurricane Dorian would impact Alabama. For those keeping score at home, this is now a coverup of a coverup of Trump tampering with a map as a coverup of a wrong tweet. 
   
• Clambering out of Trumpworld’s racist clown car this week, we’ve got Caleb Hull, a popular pro-Trump digital strategist who made racist, Islamophobic, and anti-LGBTQ comments on Twitter in 2014. And right behind him is Mark Burkhalter, Trump’s nominee to be ambassador to Norway, who helped create a racist campaign flier against a Black politician in Georgia, prompting a 1994 libel lawsuit. 

The voting rights of people convicted of felonies in Florida are back in limbo. Back in May, a federal judge ruled that a Florida state law requiring people who had completed felony jail sentences to pay outstanding court fees and fines before they could vote was unconstitutional—a poll tax. That represented a historic expansion of voting rights, affecting as many as 775,000 people. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, which President Trump has flipped into conservative hands, has now issued a stay on that ruling, after a majority of its judges agreed to a request from Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) to review the decision by the full court. The court set a hearing date well after the deadline to register for Florida’s primary, and may not issue a ruling until after the registration deadline for the November election. Folks, it’s another great day to adopt Florida→ 

An experimental COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Pfizer and BioNTech showed promising early results in human trials (in non-peer reviewed, not-yet-published data). 

The Business Roundtable, representing the CEOs of the country’s biggest companies, has called on Congress to commit to passing bipartisan police reform before the August recess.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) announced that she plans to block the promotions of 1,123 military officers until Defense Secretary Mark Esper confirms that he won’t block the promotion of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman.

Fifteen First Nations across Canada’s Atlantic coast have signed an agreement with the federal government to create the country’s first independent, Indigenous-led water utility.